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Temporary paint booth?

Mistfarer

Member
Hi everyone,

I am getting to the stage where I will need to prime stuff, and I am looking for ways to have a well closed paint booth for small parts. This post is to fish for inspiration. :)

How are you guys doing it? Is there any product that helps?

Thanks!
 
How I did it. Frame…paint booth filters. I blow air in through one filter and it blows up the booth with positive pressure. You can buy the zips online to stick to the heavy duty plastic. Wear safety gear in the booth. I use an iwata full fresh air mask but you could use a niosh approved mask. Depends on how poisonous the stuff you are spraying. I don’t go near hexavalent chromium stuff but happy to spray two pack epoxy in there. Works well but wish I made it a bit larger.
 

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I initially made a booth from the PVC pipes, but disassembled it since then. It was very awkward to use, took too much space outside of it and was too small inside.

paint-booth.jpeg

Since I am using water-based products and I typically only prime small batches, I now spray them on a frame with a chicken net on top of the sawhorses, with no walls of any kind. I have a box fan under the table, but I don't know how effective is it. After the priming session, I don't enter the garage without a mask until the dust is gone.

I do get overspray dust, but as long as my wife's motorcycle is covered, it does not bother me that much. Everything in the garage gets aluminum dust from the deburring, too.
 
Paint booth

If you live in a sensitive area, you may have to have a booth.
I used one in the Winter because painting inside the shop demanded it. Most paint work was done outside on saw horses with a cheap baby gate accross.
The temp booth served me well when required.
Six sections of 3/4 conduit.
12 plant hangars
5 old shower curtains
2 boxes of cheap curtain rod closed loop hangars
Box of big binder clips
Slip the plant hangars over the garage door rails where the door will still open and close. Frames have holes.
Place a conduit along each rail. That's four.
The other two go crossways at the end of the tracks inside.
The doorway has none.
Hang the curtains from the rack in a box with one curtain on top.
For exhaust, I installed a dryer vent port in the wall. Inused a bildge blower (Amazon) and section of dryer hose.
Worked really well and only 5-10 minutes to set up.
Leave the conduit frame. I use mine every day. It's great for holding stuff.
 
$50 spray tent from Amazon with a 20” box fan and furnace filter. It’s 9’ long. That’s the aft fuse skin of a -8 in the picture. Not much contamination control but keeps the parts out of the sun with virtually no overspray.

It’s primary advantage was that it could be setup and torn down in minutes.
 

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My paint booth. As a bonus, I have a vented propane furnace inside for working in the winter, along with a cooling fan for the summer. When it’s time to paint, filters installed in the ceiling and two torpedo fans to ventilate.
 

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paint booth

Yo David
What is that semi clear reinforced material you used on your booth. I have a similar design idea, But the fabric was going to be Visqueen. And I didn't like the idea of it.

Thanks Art
 
My paint booth. As a bonus, I have a vented propane furnace inside for working in the winter, along with a cooling fan for the summer. When it’s time to paint, filters installed in the ceiling and two torpedo fans to ventilate.

Painted a 172 in a T hanger that was built out like your booth. It worked good. When the plane was done the owner sold all the wood on FB Marketplace.

If anyone does something similar, don’t put plastic on the floor. Use masking paper instead. Plastic is only clean once. If you leave it, the second time you paint the previous overspray flakes off from you walking on it and your paint becomes trash central.
 
Yo David
What is that semi clear reinforced material you used on your booth. I have a similar design idea, But the fabric was going to be Visqueen. And I didn't like the idea of it.

Thanks Art

It’s a string reinforced clear visqueen that is used at construction sites. I found mine on CL.
 
Painted a 172 in a T hanger that was built out like your booth. It worked good. When the plane was done the owner sold all the wood on FB Marketplace.

If anyone does something similar, don’t put plastic on the floor. Use masking paper instead. Plastic is only clean once. If you leave it, the second time you paint the previous overspray flakes off from you walking on it and your paint becomes trash central.

Thanks for that tip Bandera. I’ll definitely cover the floor with sacrificial paper before I paint. I have about $500 in materials. All screwed together so easily taken down to salvage the wood. The floor is 1/4” fan fold polystyrene insulation topped with 7/16” OSB, then topped with a rubberized coated house wrap. The insulation and OSB is really nice to get my feet off the concrete during the dead of winter. My furnace is just a Reznor ceiling furnace I built into a rolling cart.
 
I once bought an old used tent on Craigslist and used it as a paint booth. I cut a hole in one side for a fan and a hole in the top for air intake. After I was done with it, it went in the trash. I think I spent $25 for it.

Then later I bought one of these at Menards for small parts:

https://www.menards.com/main/paint/...lter-small/c900051/p-1543390006401-c-8060.htm

I still have this one, and I’ve used it several times. I don’t know if the one pictured above is exactly like mine. Mine is about 3’ tall.
 
Look into inflatable paint booths. Can be had on eBay and Amazon. Many different styles and sizes available.
 

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Thanks everyone for the input! Lots of good ideas.
It seems all of you, without exception, are using some sort of fans to manage airflow. I am probably asking stupid questions - but why does it matter so much?
 
Overspray

Thanks everyone for the input! Lots of good ideas.
It seems all of you, without exception, are using some sort of fans to manage airflow. I am probably asking stupid questions - but why does it matter so much?

Mainly to keep you healthy. That fog is not good for you. Yes, PPE will provide protection, but it's still best to stay out of it.
The fog will settle everywhere. The overspray has to be cut and buffed out.
Easier to see the paint fan impact zone if you're not im a fog.
That said, the air flow needs to be clean or there is more particulates to get stuck in the paint. There is a lot of static buildup plus the paint is like glue. Everything wants to stick to the paint.
Exhaust is filtered to remove contaminates from the exhaust air. Ideally, air should be filtered coming in as well.
 
$50 spray tent from Amazon with a 20” box fan and furnace filter. It’s 9’ long. That’s the aft fuse skin of a -8 in the picture. Not much contamination control but keeps the parts out of the sun with virtually no overspray.

It’s primary advantage was that it could be setup and torn down in minutes.

i did exactly this. also using stewart systems etch cleaner and single part primer, with the 3m accuspray system. i live in high density housing (large homes, small lots), so have to be careful of overspray and noxious fumes. after experimenting with other optios, this seems to be the sweet spot for me.
 
For priming, especially with Akzo, you can shoot it outdoors with little issue. It dries super fast. If you're in a place where no one will care.

Since I do a lot of work at night, I actually bought a shed and made it into a paint booth. A splurge for sure, and it works pretty well, and is ready whenever. Can paint all the small stuff in there. I paneled the inside with tileboard, sealed up the trusses with plastic sheet, and added a ton of lights. I have a fan panel that fits under the rollup door. There is a partitioned off area for mixing and such and it has a window, so I just open that when painting to provide the intake air.

For painting the plane, I took two HF portable garages and made one longer frame. You can't buy PVC for the price of one of these (and I got them on sale). Covered it with plastic sheeting and used the roof tarps that came with the "garage" as flooring. Used leftover pipes on the sidewall to help with "pull-in". Again, added lights and an intake filter panel and big HF fan (those Walmart box fans are fairly useless). The fan shown has to run on low or it pulls in the sides and lifts the floor tarp.

I have the advantage of space. You can get by with much less for sure. I sprayed a lot of primer on grid tables on the driveway with no problem for years.
 

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Read MSDS sheets on what you intend to spray. A lot are carcinogenic and some absorbed through eyes and skin as well. I use an iwata full face mask which pumps in 300 litres of fresh air through a carbon canister from my filtered compressor which has a devilbiss filter. Even though it does not seal the fresh air inflow means you get zero smell…then if like me you can wear glasses as a full face mask that seals with silicone holds up on your glasses and let’s the smell in. The full face with the niosh canisters are great too but just the glasses issue is something to think about. I wear a suit and nitrile gloves as well. The air is pumped into maintain positive pressure….yes…filter in and filter out.
 
How I did it. Frame…paint booth filters. I blow air in through one filter and it blows up the booth with positive pressure. You can buy the zips online to stick to the heavy duty plastic. Wear safety gear in the booth. I use an iwata full fresh air mask but you could use a niosh approved mask. Depends on how poisonous the stuff you are spraying. I don’t go near hexavalent chromium stuff but happy to spray two pack epoxy in there. Works well but wish I made it a bit larger.


No wonder that tail kit is taking so long Glen ;)
 
Are any of you guys spraying in booths inside your garage or basements that are attached to your house? I’m wondering if you can vent well enough to the outside that you don’t have to worry about any of the fumes getting into the house.
 
I’m wondering if you can vent well enough to the outside that you don’t have to worry about any of the fumes getting into the house.

My choice of water-based epoxy primer was primarily because I didn't want to worry about the fumes. I do keep the door closed so overspray dust don't get outside of the garage, but nothing beyond that. But again, I spray small batches, probably, wouldn't be adequate if I decide to spray the whole large assemblies...
 
Garage

Are any of you guys spraying in booths inside your garage or basements that are attached to your house? I’m wondering if you can vent well enough to the outside that you don’t have to worry about any of the fumes getting into the house.

I live at 7500'. No choice in the Winter. The temp booth and exhaust port worked just fine.
 
Interesting possibility

I was searching Amazon for temporary spray booths and I got an interesting hit. While it looks like this product was designed for other purposes, I wonder how well it would work as a spray booth. It has a frame that can be broken down easily, it's completely sealed with a floor, and it has multiple built in ducts for air circulation... Has anyone used one of these for priming smaller parts?

https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Hydr...ix=grow+house+frame,aps,69&sr=8-52-spons&th=1
 
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