Topic: building a dedicated painting booth

[gregwaits]

I imagine that this has been discussed in here, but in case not....

I am considering constructing a booth that will be dedicated to painting and painting only. It won't be very large (like a commercial booth that one would drive a car into), but not as small as a closet either.

I had thought it would be part of my motorcycle work shed, but I don't want overspray and fumes to mess up my space.

Anyone on here have any photos, plans etc that I could check out?

Thanks!

[nickjtc]

A friend bought some of that heavy duty vapour barrier plastic sheeting from a hardware store and after hanging it in from the ceiling of his garage fabricated a simple vertical frame of 2x2's. He rigged up some kind of extractor fan (can't remember what he used), and Robert is your mothers brother, he had a quick, cheap paint booth. By having the plastic all around (with one edge overlapped to allow access) he avoided overspray issues and dust contamination.

[Rocking-M]

what nick said, just don't use light plastic. I tried that last on two cars I painted.
The plastic flaps and stirs up dust which floats into the finish and requires
water sanding and buffing (which I do anyway but seemed more troublesome than a
finish without the dirt in it).

[TwoTired]

Most important aspect of a booth is protection for the painter.  Consider air flow, where the painter will be and the air that he breathes.  Also consider the type of paint you will be using.  Some paints will poison the painter directly through skin.  Internal organs then need to clean the blood stream of these poisions, without being damaged themselves.

Cheers,

[Rocking-M]

to add to tired, once years ago I painted a car in an open building trying to suck fumes out with
a house fan. Old enamel paint and the fan didn't work to good and I was sick as dog that night.

Wear as much clothing as you can stand, a white paper suit is best.
Buy a good mask. 3m sells a one time use mask and most paint suppliers keep it.
It comes in an aluminum foil zip bag. You can reuse it for about 2 jobs if you reseal
it in it's bag carefully.

[seaweb11]

A friend of mine had a smaller one, but did the complete commercial model at home recently.

Drop him an email motorhead@telus.net his name is Rolly. Perhaps he still has some fan stuff advise, photos etc. from his smaller one. At least he could get you started in the right direction

[oldfordguy]

I've done the hanging plastic in the garage thing, and it works ok, but you have to be meticulous about cleaning the garage first, wet the floor down, etc.  I've been toying with the idea of making an outside, portable paint booth, using the two support rods from a large dome tent.  I thought I would replace the tent material with a heavy duty polyethelene, and cut a hole in one end for a box fan blowing out, and one in the other to duct tape a furnace filter into to provided filtered, cross flow ventilation.  The advantage in having it outside would be reduction in the number of lights needed (can't have too much light.)  Probably will still need a few spot lights to eliminate shadows. 

As far as the comments about personal safety goes, it cannot be stressed enough that you should have your skin completely covered, and use the best mask you can afford.  I got a fresh air mask 15 years ago that I still use, and feel that this is one of the best investments I have ever made.  Don't take your health for granted!

Matt

[mrblasty]

PAINT FUMES ARE EXPLOSIVE some thing to keep in mind when lighting and ventilating your paint booth, open arcs and paint vapor can go BOOM!!

[6pkrunner]

A friend of mine about a half a mile from me redid his garage as a paint booth. Pretty much didn't spare any expense and it turned out very nice. However I gather some neighbors must have complained and his insurance agent paid him a visit and showed him the local zoning laws and also how his house insurance did not cover a business nor hazardous materials and he could be in a position for legal action against him.

So much for the paint booth.