Blueroomstudios Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 I am pouring a 10X12 slab next week for a work shop/shed. I want to get more involved in painting and have set aside budget for a conventional spray gun and compressor. I also do some airbrushing. I plan on using some of the newer water based Auto Air Colors paints and maybe eventually move up to HOK stuff. I know I don't have a whole lot of room to work with but does anyone have any ideas for a small DIY paint booth for a portion of this work area. I still want to be able to do some sanding and electronic work in the there too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DannoG Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 I wouldn't try to make the sanding room the spray room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueroomstudios Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Yeah, that would be a big problem. I was thinking about this though. House painting and home renovation companies have to be able to seal off a room or portion of a house to keep dust at bay. They use tarps, plastic sheeting etc... floor to ceiling and make a vapor or dust barrier thats temporary and moveable. How about something like this if it is well cleaned prior to shooting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted February 13, 2005 Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 If you are going to venture into the world of HOK and Urethane finishes, then you will need a proper spray booth with filtered exhaust air and fresh air intakes, you will also need to invest in a positive pressure respirator system. For the size of your shop you're building, I would recommend just making a portable (removable) type booth with plastic tarps on a track on the ceiling. This means you'll have to clean your spray area big time before spraying, but I have to as well and I have a certified booth. 10 x 12 is the size of my booth alone and it's to small for my purposes, it's fine for a couple guitars at once, but bigger would sure be nice. However, if you're going to do the portable one, you can spray the HOK base paints, but don't do the clears or any of the Kandy's etc that need to be mixed into the clears, those aren't paints to screw with. They are isocyanate based and WILL kill you over time. If you use a positive pressure respirator, remember that the turbine compressor has to be somewhere with clean air, not in the booth with you or you're just breathing the same fumes as if you weren't wearing anything. Here is a picture of the outside of my booth http://www.lgmguitars.com/images/shop_tour/shop3.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueroomstudios Posted February 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2005 Thanks for the reply Jeremy, I will give the tarps and tracks method a try. As far as the Auto Air colors paints are concerned are they to level were forced ventilation and filtered exhaust are necessary? They are advertised as water based and non toxic. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted February 14, 2005 Report Share Posted February 14, 2005 The auto air is safe to use without the forced air stuff, in fact, all you really need with it is a dust particulate mask. However, you still need to clear coat them, there are many clears available, the automotive urethanes are still the best but that sticks you with the needed facility and safety equipment again. There are other clears available in rattle cans, or just single part clears you can spray in a gun, but if they are solvent based, definitely use at least a carbon filter respirator, they're only about $30, so a worthy investment. You'll still want an exhaust fan, use some furnace filters in front of the fan to keep overspray from blowing outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueroomstudios Posted February 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 This answers a bunch of my questions. Once again thanks Jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Just a little Safety-Nazi note - if you're going to be shooting anything solvent-based, like nitro lacquer, be sure that any ventilation fan motor(s) are either completely isolated from the exhaust air or rated explosion-proof. A single electrical spark in a booth full of solvent fumes can kill you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted February 15, 2005 Report Share Posted February 15, 2005 Just to scare you a bit. Make sure that your motor is isolated from your fumes but also make sure that your fan blade is aluminum or plastic. Twenty years ago we had a shop in town that had a steel fan blade. The guys there had it set up so that it pulled rather than pushed air. This caused lacquer dust to build up on the blades. They didn't clean it. One fine day at lunch time a chunk of the crap fell off unbalancing the fan which caused the blade to rub on the housing shooting sparks out. Luckily only one guy was still in the shop. They found him about a block away. The front of the building blew off and nearly everything in the shop followed. Ever since then the local fire marshals have busted our chops for some strange reason. You also need to make sure that your outlets and light fixtures are explosion proof. Put in a plexiglass "window",seal it with caulk and put flourescent fixtures in back for a cheap sloution. Leave the outlets out of the booth area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 What's the best way to isolate the motor on a belt-drive fan to keep it away from fumes? No way I can think of would completely isolate it. I really need to set up a spray booth, and I'm sure I can talk dad into paying for it it I set it up since he'd use it more than I would. That is as long as it's halfway affordable. Explosion proof fans aren't at all from what I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueroomstudios Posted February 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 OK, I'll just send everything to Jeremy to Paint, I'm too freaked out now. Just kiddin. Hey Devon, is your dad looking to adopt a 30 year old? Thanks guys for all of the tips and safety concerns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 Well I'm off to college next year, so I"m sure I can get him to front at least most of it. He's been talking about setting one up for a long time. I keep telling him he's going to kill himself breathing those fumes. Plus the dust from downstairs winds up in his spray area, so if one of us is spraying, the other can't work downstairs. And it's his shop, so I basically have to work around his schedule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 I'll take a picture of the exhaust set up in my booth, it's very easy to complete isolate the motor, not hard at all, you just have to use the right type of fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted February 16, 2005 Report Share Posted February 16, 2005 That'd be great. The only picture I can get in my head of belt drive fan would be impossible to isolate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted February 17, 2005 Report Share Posted February 17, 2005 They do make motors that are rated for class 1 div.1 locations, and with conduit seal offs and proper type of raceway you can install in these areas. The spray booths I have wired up are usually rated class 1 div1 inside the booth (depending on what solvents are used). If the booth is put together correctly the area around it is either not classified or class 1 div3. What that amounts to is don't put any electrical devices in the space. Seal it well, use sealed venting out of the area, and use sealed plexiglass windows with flourescent fixtures mounted on the outside of the sealed booth. If you run any electrical in the space or through the classified area you will have to use proper raceways and sealoffs, any light fixtures in the space will have to be rated for that purpose (all of which is $$$$$). Every time an electrical inspector starts to look at a spray booth they get nervous because requirements vary so much depending on how it has been built. Home made booths really get them nervous because they don't have documentation defining how the areas are to be classified. Use a lot of common sense, and wear (appropriate)respirators.Just my 2cents. P.S. I hope I got those classifications correct (I didn't have an NEC handy to look them up.) Peace, Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Ok, sorry it took so long, I forgot about this thread, anyway, here is a pic of my fan setup. As you can see, it is a standard furnace fan with the motor outside and a pulley used to drive it. The bearings are all sealed, it was enviro checked for iso cyanates and registered 0ppm while spraying. I run a paint booth filter inside the booth (which you can't see in this picture) and then 2 furnace filters before the fan, and one after the fan (the spots that are duct taped, I just tape them to keep any fumes from coming out, works like a champ. All the seams are sealed off with aluminum tape, and the exit outside has a filter in it as well, but I have never needed to change that one, it stays totally clean, I change the first 3 filters regularly, but the one after the fan, and the one at the exit never need changing, there is no paint on the fan itself, and this is after I don't know how many hundreds of gallons of paint have been sprayed in there Safe, no chance of a Kaboom, and you can breathe in the shop while I'm in the booth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted February 24, 2005 Report Share Posted February 24, 2005 Hey, thanks. I'll have to see if I can't find and old furnace fan. Then again, I could just come up with something on my own. The biggest problem with my shop is that it uses wood heat, so I'd have to make sure the room was sealed off well. The setup I have now is basically a booth dad built to catch the majority of overspray. It gets dusty sometimes, though, so I can only spray when nobody's working in the shop. It's a two story building, so that helps, too. The shop is downstairs and we spray upstairs. I think as long as I'm just spraying small amounts of lacquer (one body at a time is the biggest job I've done so far) it'll be safe. We've never had any problems before anyway. Then again, dad mostly uses waterbased poly, and he's the only one that sprays a good amount at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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