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Spray Booth Recommendations


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I've been working out of my garage in South Florida now for years... My house faces due east, and the sun bakes the entire area. I only maybe get 2-3 months of tolerable weather other than that, it's awful... I git quoted 8k for a mini-split AC until which is hard not for me... SO..... My Wife gave me the green light of moving everything inside a spare room. Now IM not particularly fond over airbrushing inside, and I don't know much about spray booths. Can someone tell me if this will work, or if any of you use one? I still don't see it feasible or healthy to spray inside with clean-up, excess spray etc... Enamels, lacquers etc.. 

 

Ok many thanks again and have a great day all of you! -Ed 

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I was faced with the exact same issue. I went with a cheap spray booth. This one to be exact:

https://usartsupply.com/collections/airbrush-spray-booths/products/mas-b440dclk

It's plastic, and cheaply made, but it does a good job of removing paint fumes from my modeling room. I use smelly lacquer based paints, and when I run it while airbrushing I can clear my small modeling room of fumes in minutes, and nothing gets to the rest of the house. Of course there are better (and more expensive!) options out there, but I'm cheap!!!!

 

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I use the larger Pace booth, the Pacemaker, vented outside. It is probably too big but I use the large size to inevitably pile up painting supplies such as mixing cups, close-up glasses, nitrile gloves, etc.

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3 hours ago, Collin said:

https://www.pacepaintbooth.com

 

I've got the 24-inch mini-plus paint booth in my basement indoor model room now.  Can't recommend it enough.  I vent mine outside via a window/dryer vent material.  It's not silent, but it's provides plenty of "suck" to vent a majority of the particles outside.

 

Cheers

Collin

 

Those Pace Paint Booths are Bad-A$$...  They look high quality... What Im thinking of doing, is running the hose out the window, which opens from side to side using a long Styrofoam board that ill cut to fit and use a hot knify to carve out the vent and secure with tape. This way the window can close tight, with just the vent through the foam board. I think it should work nicely.

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I have the PACE Super-Mini. One of the best purchases I have made in this hobby although I do wish I would have sprung for the larger one. I bought a stainless-steel vent adapter for the window and its worked like a charm.

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Do you have any woodworking skills and tools?  There’s a great webpage on how to build one.  I used them but made it bigger.  Yes, it works great to get those lacquer fumes out.  
I did close to what you want to do but with plywood. I have a standard window though.  Just don’t forget to put the vent in the window before you start spraying. :rolleyes:

 

My latest build is the 39” Seaview.  Would not fit!  I put it on a cart and rolled the front of it into the booth as best as I could. Still did a great job of pulling the fumes out. 

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15 hours ago, Scott Smith said:

Do you have any woodworking skills and tools?  There’s a great webpage on how to build one.  I used them but made it bigger.  Yes, it works great to get those lacquer fumes out.  
I did close to what you want to do but with plywood. I have a standard window though.  Just don’t forget to put the vent in the window before you start spraying. :rolleyes:

 

My latest build is the 39” Seaview.  Would not fit!  I put it on a cart and rolled the front of it into the booth as best as I could. Still did a great job of pulling the fumes out. 

In all honesty, I love my garage set-up. It just gets too damn hot down here where I live. The humidity disappears around late November, and you can easily go December thru March but let's face it, 4 months isn't going to cut it for a time-consuming build, and I feel rushed now to get things done before it gets too hot. I still, in good conscience can't imagine spraying lacquers inside a spare bedroom booth or no booth especially coating a big 1/32 scale plane. Another advantage regarding the garage is that if I spill something, I really don't care. lol 

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With a good fan vented to the window, it will be no problem!  Trust me. Just crack another window open up wind close by to eliminate negative pressure.  
As far as the floor around you, a good 4X8 by 3/4 ply will give a rolling chair stability and protect the floor.  
If you really like the garage, make it livable?
Insulate the garage doors with the foam panel kit from Home Depot and install a window unit?  No windows in the garage? Yea, that might be a problem. 

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If you have the ability and the tools, I'd build my own, that's what I did. Nobody makes a booth that fits my needs. If you don't, I'd invest in the PACE booth especially since your painting in the house. Also like Scott suggested above, use a piece of plywood for your window insert.

Steve

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Not sure if yu guys are still following this or not, but.. Personally I like holding my model and moving it in different angles while I paint. Let's say, a 1/48 jet. It seems as if you seat the model on the platform and spray away, not able to hold it. Seems like there isnt enough room inside the box am I right?  

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Ed, still following.  
I kind of do the same thing when I can. My booth is 3’ wide since I build mostly 1/32 aircraft.  I also built a stand out of an old flexible microphone gooseneck and weighted stand. This works great for jets with the hole(s) in the back still empty.  I can slide the model down over the gooseneck after I have it positioned at an angle that works best.  
When I painted my 1/32 T6 Texan I had to get creative and spray mostly the bottom first and then spray the top since it was all yellow.  Shooting lacquers makes it much easier with the quicker drying times too.

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32 minutes ago, Scott Smith said:

Ed, still following.  
I kind of do the same thing when I can. My booth is 3’ wide since I build mostly 1/32 aircraft.  I also built a stand out of an old flexible microphone gooseneck and weighted stand. This works great for jets with the hole(s) in the back still empty.  I can slide the model down over the gooseneck after I have it positioned at an angle that works best.  
When I painted my 1/32 T6 Texan I had to get creative and spray mostly the bottom first and then spray the top since it was all yellow.  Shooting lacquers makes it much easier with the quicker drying times too.

Scott hi! Right now, I use dowels. Place them inside the rear exhaust opening before the burner cans get installed and move the model around that way.  Ok.. So when you spray, what is the distance away from the booth that you can be and still have the plume aspirated into the filter?  Unless of course, the dimensions can be 36" in width and 36" in height.. That would do the trick while staying inside the box.  What I observe is these booths are maybe 15" in height at the most, which would prevent me from moving a 1/32 around. Unless I can be outside the confines of the spray box. A figure builder or even a car builder would be all set!! I really need to get one of these booths but worry I may be restricted in moving even a 1/48 aircraft the way I do.. 

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Here’s a good example of how good this setup draws air.  This is the 39” Seaview I just finished.  It would not fit in the booth.  I had it sitting on a cart I put together where it was easy to spin around.  
I positioned it as close to the booth as I could and sprayed the front half, spun it around and sprayed the back half giving a good overlap to blend the paint.   
Yea, there was a little paint dust cloud, but I cracked open the sliding door and let air in so it would draft air easier from the door that’s 10 feet away.   It did a great job of pulling out all the fumes.  
TprGmo.jpg

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Built it myself. 
I used these online plans and modified the size and a few slight designs. Ok, they weren’t “modifications” but more like “Happy Little Mistakes”. 😁

 

https://vent-works.com/blogs/the-ventilation-blog/15945741-diy-hobby-spray-booth

 

I used MDF and ample coats of sanding sealer to seal off the MDF edges. Something like 6 coats on the edges. 2 or 3 on the rest of the surface.  The table is built from 3/4 ply and legs from Amazon.  The riser in the back was something I reused from my old table, but retro-fitted in the Harbor Freight storage boxes.  Best move I ever made! 
 

w69lnU.jpg

Edited by Scott Smith
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