Dean Jenkins
Promoted Users
I had a thread a year or so about a cheap paint booth I made. It worked, sort of, for motorcycle and other parts, but also had some limits.
I've learned a lot since then, and now I'm doing full cars, so improvements needed.
First thing I did was get Strip Curtains from strip-curtains.com, they are really good to work with and made me a custom set, with all hardware, for a very fair price.
Here is a picture of my "booth." Notice that the curtain just touches the floor and there is a 6-inch gap at the top. That is by design, I wanted most of the airflow coming in at the top, not picking up dust from the rest of the shop. The ends and corner velcro together to make a pretty tight seal.
I would just open the window on the opposite side of the shop to let air in, and then raise the garage door a few feet and have two, 24" HF fans to exhaust the fumes and overspray.
Worked great as long as the "wind is your friend" and blowing the right way. Painted complete Suburban and VW Bug this way with great success.
Last week we had a semi-stormy day and the wind was NOT my friend, it was stronger than the fans and blew trash in all over my wet clear.
Change needed.
I had bought two of these blowers before, and installed the duct work in the celling for them, but never really got them dialed in and working, since the floor fans were working so well. They are 2295 CFM each, with 12" flexible ducting.
Here you can see the intake ports in my shop ceiling, in the booth area. Four 8" inlets, with Wye fittings 8" X 12" to connect to the 12" duct on the blowers.
Here are the blowers exhausting out the back of the shop.
**My shop has a dropped ceiling with a grid and acoustical tiles, similar to an office setup. This was the easiest way to insulate and provide a clean look. Still have 10 foot ceilings, so plenty of room, even if I get a lift someday.
I need to put some wire mesh over these openings to keep critters out.
For intake, I just put one of the HF 24" fans in the window. At low speed it provides 5250 CFM.
The combined exhaust fans are 2295 X 2 = 4590 CFM, with some loss through the ducting etc., probably more like 3500-4000.
This should give me positive pressure, which I prefer.
For now I'm just using the window screen as a filter. In the winter in the Pacific Northwest, everything is perpetually wet. No dust etc.
Come spring when pollen starts, or in the summer when dust is present, I'll just add a furnace filter to the window opening.
This setup should be "good enough," regardless of what the wind is doing.
I did the "cigar test" last night and it worked beautifully. Smoke in the shop was drawn up to the ceiling, through the top opening above the curtain, and then whisked out through the exhaust vents.
Should have a real world spray test in the next day or so and we'll see how that goes.
I've learned a lot since then, and now I'm doing full cars, so improvements needed.
First thing I did was get Strip Curtains from strip-curtains.com, they are really good to work with and made me a custom set, with all hardware, for a very fair price.
Here is a picture of my "booth." Notice that the curtain just touches the floor and there is a 6-inch gap at the top. That is by design, I wanted most of the airflow coming in at the top, not picking up dust from the rest of the shop. The ends and corner velcro together to make a pretty tight seal.
I would just open the window on the opposite side of the shop to let air in, and then raise the garage door a few feet and have two, 24" HF fans to exhaust the fumes and overspray.
Worked great as long as the "wind is your friend" and blowing the right way. Painted complete Suburban and VW Bug this way with great success.
Last week we had a semi-stormy day and the wind was NOT my friend, it was stronger than the fans and blew trash in all over my wet clear.
Change needed.
I had bought two of these blowers before, and installed the duct work in the celling for them, but never really got them dialed in and working, since the floor fans were working so well. They are 2295 CFM each, with 12" flexible ducting.
Here you can see the intake ports in my shop ceiling, in the booth area. Four 8" inlets, with Wye fittings 8" X 12" to connect to the 12" duct on the blowers.
Here are the blowers exhausting out the back of the shop.
**My shop has a dropped ceiling with a grid and acoustical tiles, similar to an office setup. This was the easiest way to insulate and provide a clean look. Still have 10 foot ceilings, so plenty of room, even if I get a lift someday.
I need to put some wire mesh over these openings to keep critters out.
For intake, I just put one of the HF 24" fans in the window. At low speed it provides 5250 CFM.
The combined exhaust fans are 2295 X 2 = 4590 CFM, with some loss through the ducting etc., probably more like 3500-4000.
This should give me positive pressure, which I prefer.
For now I'm just using the window screen as a filter. In the winter in the Pacific Northwest, everything is perpetually wet. No dust etc.
Come spring when pollen starts, or in the summer when dust is present, I'll just add a furnace filter to the window opening.
This setup should be "good enough," regardless of what the wind is doing.
I did the "cigar test" last night and it worked beautifully. Smoke in the shop was drawn up to the ceiling, through the top opening above the curtain, and then whisked out through the exhaust vents.
Should have a real world spray test in the next day or so and we'll see how that goes.
