Wall to wall

Not trying to be negative but trash doesn't come from the floor it comes from the vehicle, yourself, and how you tape the vehicle. If you have something dirty like in collision repair (where you can't get them completely clean and don't tape off openings and backmask wherever possible you are going to get dirty jobs. Wheel openings and the gap between the hood and cowl are prime areas for getting your job dirty. Seal those areas your job gets cleaner. Once I realized that (doing collision repair) I went from dirty jobs like everyone else to almost trash free. Free enough that I almost never had to buff. Usually 3 or 4 jobs a year out of several hundred. (no exaggeration). If your booth is picking up stuff off the floor you need to turn the fan speed down and if you can't, figure out a way to do so. I've known old guys who painted cars on dirt floors and had almost no trash in those jobs.
To me carpet would just be an extra source of trash, linty stuff especially. I've never seen anyone do it. Again not trying to be a jerk just giving you my experiences.
 
I have, and I have had success with it. Everyone will have their own opinions on subjects like this, so youre best off just trying what you want to and seeing your own results.
 
Not trying to be negative but trash doesn't come from the floor it comes from the vehicle, yourself, and how you tape the vehicle. If you have something dirty like in collision repair (where you can't get them completely clean and don't tape off openings and backmask wherever possible you are going to get dirty jobs. Wheel openings and the gap between the hood and cowl are prime areas for getting your job dirty. Seal those areas your job gets cleaner. Once I realized that (doing collision repair) I went from dirty jobs like everyone else to almost trash free. Free enough that I almost never had to buff. Usually 3 or 4 jobs a year out of several hundred. (no exaggeration). If your booth is picking up stuff off the floor you need to turn the fan speed down and if you can't, figure out a way to do so. I've known old guys who painted cars on dirt floors and had almost no trash in those jobs.
To me carpet would just be an extra source of trash, linty stuff especially. I've never seen anyone do it. Again not trying to be a jerk just giving you my experiences.
You're not being negative or a jerk! Thanks for your thoughts and you're right about the origins. My "booth" is also my garage. So there are a thousand places that could be an issue.
 
I live in Arizona, dust is a way of life here.
I filter my intake air and let the airflow drive everything out the garage door. Forgot to move our car once when spraying clear - won't do that again. o_O

Bet the Wife won't let you forget it either.:)

You're not being negative or a jerk! Thanks for your thoughts and you're right about the origins. My "booth" is also my garage. So there are a thousand places that could be an issue.

Painting in your garage may change things. I was assuming you were in a booth. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that when I paint in my garage I'm gonna have to cut and buff. So many more sources of dust and dirt.
 
I, too, like Chris, very rarely buffed a collision job when spraying in a nice booth. Spraying in near perfect conditions teaches you the source of the trash in a paint job. I can still get cleaner jobs than a lot of painters I've seen painting in nice booths because of what I learned. Everything he said is spot on. 90% of trash comes from the vehicle or the painter, even under less than ideal conditions. It is nice when Mother Nature cooperates with a little shower and calm winds, though:)
 
Remember the character "Pig Pen" in the Peanuts comic strip? There is a case of trash coming from the painter.;)
 
As much as I hate to admit it I have almost learned to deal with the trash and always plan to cut and buff all of my jobs. I do collision repair and have tried everything possible to shake the trash, and it just won't happen. Where Chris has 3 or 4 jobs a year that he doesn't buff, I have 3 or 4 jobs a year that i do not have to buff. Granted I only do it part time so not putting out large volumes. I do have an older crossdraft paint booth as well, but I stay so frustrated that i cannot get clean jobs. I back tape all of the jambs and keep my booth and cars as clean as I possibly can. I wear a suite and tack off my air hose. I have tried wet floors and dry floors and new filters and nothing helps to get my jobs trash free.
 
@jcpettit
One thing to keep in mind is your fan speed in the booth. If it is too fast, meaning you are pulling in too much air you'll have trash issues. Epecially if the booth is not completely tight. I've never had the luxury of painting in really high end boothes, mostly just entry level cross drafts. When I'm shooting one, if the booth speed is too high I will get trash in it even doing the taping as I described. Try lowering your fan speed, if you can't, have a Variable Frequency Drive installed so that you can. With one of those on the booth I was shooting everything using 32% of the fan speed. It makes a difference.
 
Chris on average when you sprayed clear in the booth with the fan at 32 percent did you have any fogging problems in the booth. Or were you at kind of a happy medium keeping turbulence down but still exhausting enough to not fog up too bad.

Reason I ask is just to try and compare with what I had and what direction I would want to go if I build another booth.
 
When clear coating it would be a light fog that exited out within about 30-45 seconds. That was when doing multiple panels. Something like a bumper cover you'd have no buildup of overspray. Probably could have been a little faster but it was what I got comfortable with.
Like you said a happy medium. I experimented with the settings until I found the lowest possible speed that would still exhaust reasonably quickly.
 
In a typical crossdraft or semi down draft (intakes on a ceiling plenum /exhaust on the wall) if it's hard to open the door with the booth running it's too high, or if you hear a noticeable roar (air), it's too high.
I always like to back a vehicle in if I'm painting a hood for example I found that the closer to the exhaust filter wall, the more trash I got. So if I did a front end job with blending into the doors I would back it in.
 
My booth moves a lot of air and it does roar. I feel the improved air quality while I’m spraying is a good trade off for a little more trash. I cut and buff everything anyway.

When I was at Kindigit they had a couple of downdraft booths. They were awesome. They used sticky booth paper on the floors. No trash coming from the floors in those booths.

Don
 
If I cut my booth fan on with the side door open it will quickly slam it shut so I am sure I can cut the speed down some. I am going to do some checking into this. I will also try to backing them in to see if that helps. Thanks for the tips. On the collision side it is frustrating for sure when you lay down a nice paint job only to have to cut and buff because of the trash.
 
If I cut my booth fan on with the side door open it will quickly slam it shut so I am sure I can cut the speed down some. I am going to do some checking into this. I will also try to backing them in to see if that helps. Thanks for the tips. On the collision side it is frustrating for sure when you lay down a nice paint job only to have to cut and buff because of the trash.
Also make sure there is not a lot of restriction on the intake side. Plugged filters or not enough intake area will cause a lot of negative pressure.
 
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