Shopsmith Forums

I'm looking for ideas for a spray booth, specifically something that isn't permanent but cobbled together to function like one for a week or two and then be dismantled and stored for future projects. The main purpose to prevent over spray an second to cut down on dust/dirt while the project dries.

I was thinking I could tack sheets of clear painters drop cloth poly to the ceiling joists and reach joist to floor. A 6' x 6' area? And tack 50# mono-filament finishing line on swivels to the joists and attach items to be sprayed to those. They could hang and turn easily so I could spray all sides.

But I'm interested in how you who have sprayers are handling things. Or ideas that those of you who are engineers and problem solvers would approach this.

Thanks for reading and sharing your ideas.

I've often thought of building a booth from PVC pipe, not gluing any joint.
I have no rafters available. Your idea sounds like a good one.

Or did you mean engineers that over design things!!!LOL Not in the thinking mode yet but dont over look some type of exhaust/ventilation depending on what finish you are spraying, and if lacquer it will have to be explosion proof.

Don't forget to have a tarp accros the top of the joists.

Wish I had one! You'll want to filter incoming air, ideally, and have positive pressure (so dusty air isn't drawn thru the cracks. )

Concerns re some of the suggestions above.(good suggestions if they are applicable)

Unless the joints are open above, covering them is likely unnecessary.

Venting will draw outside air(and dust) into the 'booth'.

I like the swivel detail.

Rather than tacking the curtain to the joist, use a stick, roll the curtain around it and tack the stick to the joist(I assume open from the bottom). By rolling you can adjust the height on/off the floor. Nailing the stick eliminates piercing the plastic. The sticks also provide a storage option. If practical, the sheets could be tacked to the stick. The sticks could be merely set on permanent nails in the joist.

Just rambling here!:D

berry wrote:I'm looking for ideas for a spray booth, specifically something that isn't permanent but cobbled together to function like one for a week or two and then be dismantled and stored for future projects. The main purpose to prevent over spray an second to cut down on dust/dirt while the project dries.

I was thinking I could tack sheets of clear painters drop cloth poly to the ceiling joists and reach joist to floor. A 6' x 6' area? And tack 50# mono-filament finishing line on swivels to the joists and attach items to be sprayed to those. They could hang and turn easily so I could spray all sides.

But I'm interested in how you who have sprayers are handling things. Or ideas that those of you who are engineers and problem solvers would approach this.

Thanks for reading and sharing your ideas.

I look at all of the above recommendations as a bit of over-kill IF you are using a HVLP sprayer.

With a HVLP sprayer I got by just fine using only a drop cloth behind what was being painted. I was using latex paint, thinned. I was painting shutters.

The large plastic drop cloth was held by top boards in my lumber rack. The sides of the cloth were secured by large cardboard boxes containing tools as weights.

I also wanted to be able to do some finishing in my basement workshop -- without choking on fumes, or stinking up the entire house. So I installed a medium-sized bathroom exhaust fan between the ceiling joists next to an outside wall, and ran the exhaust outside through the wall. I use the area next to that wall as my "paint booth".

It works pretty well for keeping down the fumes in the shop. When I first tried it, some odor did get into the rest of the house. But then I realized that I had left the HVAC vent in the workshop open while painting. Now I close the HVAC vent when I turn on the exhaust fan, and even when I spray lacquer my wife can't detect any odor in the rest of the house. The fan pulls just enough negative pressure in the workshop to keep the air from migrating anywhere except through the exhaust fan.

Back in the 1970's my dad owned a body shop, and had a custom paint boot built into one end of the building. He installed a bank of furnace filters on one end of the booth, and a great big fan to exhaust the air on the opposite end. Well, it turned out that the fan was way too powerful -- it would pull dust right through the filters and it would settle on the wet paint. The solution was a much smaller exhaust fan.

I do like Charlese's dropcloth idea -- I think I'll hang one to protect the pegboard wall underneath my exhaust fan.

berry, you are approaching the garage spray booth the way I did by hanging poly from joist. As for hanging the items, that is what I did but you need to think about how to control them when you hit them with paint and they try to turn on you!

Hopefully, your garage floor can stand the paint stains. Trying to put poly on the floor makes for a slippery place to stand while spraying. Don't ask how I know.

I used a box-style fan fan with a furnace filter on it to exhaust air from my 'spray booth' and draw in fresh air at the same time. As pointed out, dust will come in so I took two days before spraying by using my leaf blower to try to move as much dust as possible out of the nooks and crannies in the garage. That also was great to find everything loose!

Don't forget to use an organic filtering respirator even though you use water base paint.

Uh, you ARE using water base paint aren't you??!!! Otherwise you have a gross explosion booth possible!

Forrest

PS if you have a garage door opener, don't forget to unplug it when you hang poly.

Check out Jeff Jewitt's book, "Spray Finishing Made Simple". Early in the book he describes a booth that is durable, quickly assembled and is fairly cheap. Here is my quick and dirty explanation.

1. The main parts of this booth are 3 42" X 84" panels of rigid foam board cut down from 48" x 96". Get this at the box store (Homedepot in St Louis has this at $17.57 per 48" x 96" sheet).

2. Glue 4" wide strips of 3/8" thick plywood (stiffeners) along the vertical edges of the 42" x 84" panels.

3. Join the three panels with 3" utility hinges thru the plywood stiffeners. (Again from the box store)

4. In the center panel cut out a square about 36" off the floor to vent a cheap 20" box fan (under $20).

5. On the inside side of this vent make a plywood frame to slide in a cheap furnace filter. ($2)

6. On the outside of the vent create/build a stand to support the box fan. Jeff used a 55 gallon barrel for his stand. I plan to build a folding shelf with legs.

7. Jeff also place a 48" x whatever length panel as a roof on this booth. He added velcro to the sides and roof. Once added you can hang trouble lights here too.

8. Make or find a table 30" or higher to support your work and you are ready to go.

When done fold the 3 panels together and slide it into the back of your garage or shop. Reassemble it again when you need it.

I used google and found some images of this style booth pop up to help where my words fail.

Also, I found Jeff's book full of good techniques and advise for someone like me, just getting into HVLP. I recommend it highly.

Good luck,

Les