The current thread on airbrushes has me thinking about getting one. But... seems like I ought to get a paint booth if I'm going to do that. After pricing a few of the options, it seems that the cost of an airbrush and compressor don't look so huge compared to the cost of a paint booth. Yikes! Are they made of pure unobtainium, or what? Is this something I can build myself? Seems like a box with a fan in it should not be so hard to do.... what am I missing?
-dave
Make sure you use a sparkless motor....or have the exhaust duct away from the motor by using belt/pulley. Thatw ay the paint fumes going out the exhaust pipe don't explode!
I use a fan, recycled from a computer power supply. It has a sparkless motor, and is cheap (you can buy them seperately at an electronics store) It is fitted in a tube, leading the explodable gasses outside. In the spray bootk I mounted an old record-player, the belt-driven turntable is powered by another sparkless motor. I fixed the speed to 78rpm, but I think 45rpm would do fine, too. This allows mee to easily airbrush objects on all sides - very handy for painting trees etc.
More tips on
Greetz
"Steve Hoskins" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 07:10:56 GMT, Steve Hoskins purred:
The sort of fan you need is called a "squirrel cage" . It has the motor offset to the side so it never is inline with the fumes. you can find these easily at any surplus place or online. Also many furnaces use them as do some cars (for the heater blower) You can build the box from sheet metal, wood or cardboard. Put a turntable/lazy susan in the middle and you are set to go. I usually mount a cheap fluorescent light at the front top to see where the spray is going. If you are a decent scrounger you can build a booth as good as the commercial ones for a few dollars. You can even make a simple cardboard vented box with no fan (using gravity as a vent system) with nothing other than a cardboard box or 2 from the grocers a knife and some tape. I have used them as much as the fancy ones and they work fine (I won a "best paint" in a major car model contest years ago using the cardboard box booth, so it works fine, just not fancy) If anyone is interested I can write up details for the thing.
cat
Buy a range hood and build a plywood box under it. Use disposable furnace filters under the top to catch particulates before they go through the fan. If you are using volatile solvent paints, run the exhaust through a dryer vent duct to the outside. If using acrylics exclusively, the furnace filters should be sufficient. You may want to use double filters depending on the density of the ones you can get.
-- Ed Davis snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net
I'm interested! Please?
Mike Tennent
"IronPenguin" MRR Electronics Special Effects Lighting
You're not missing much.
The important things are to get a adequate fan that does *NOT* have the motor in the air stream ... that is, a "squirrel cage" type fan (widely available and cheap at surplus stores). You do NOT want the motor IN the potentially explosive vapor environment of the exhaust stream.
The other consideration is to run the exhaust hose OUT of you home/shop. You want to get RID of the vapors. Filters merely remove the particulate dust, no the potentially toxic vapors (depends on WHAT type paint you are spraying). DON'T exhaust back into the room or house .. this defeats
90% of the reason to have a booth.Other than that, I've seen decent spray booths made from old cardboard boxes. Not pretty, but cheap and functional. When they get dirty, just make a new one.
A turntable of some sort, to rotate the item being sprayed, is VERY convenient in the spray area. Some form of 'pegboard' to retain a variety of clips and posts for holding items being painted is also desirable. All this can be cobbled up from junk ("lazy susans", spring clothespins, etc.).
A commercial booth is nice, and will last years, but is not really needed for adequate performance.
Dan Mitchell ============
"Sparkless" (brushless) motors are better than the other kind for this purpose, but the best solution with ANY motor is to get it OUT of the exhaust stream. The fan has to be in the exhaust, the motor driving it does NOT. The common 'squirrel cage' fans are the easiest of this type to obtain.
I've seen 'sparkless' motors get so HOT they could be an ignition source, sparks of not.
Dan Mitchell ============
Model Railroader a few years ago (sorry I am vague, I can't find my copy of the article and I don't have the original mag) had plans for building a spray booth and a good article about the safety requirements. I built one and I am pleased with it.
Don't scrimp on the fan, a range hood fan or bathroom fan doesn't move nearly enough air. For my booth which has an 18" x 24" opening, I have a 550 cfm fan and it is adequate but a bigger one would be better.
Dale.
snipped-for-privacy@arrl.net wrote:
Hey! This is great guys! Thanks!
I'm off to scrounge a squirrel cage and nab some furnace filters. Happily (?) my wife's mail order habit provides an endless stream of cardboard boxes...
-dave
Model Railroader ran an article back in the mid-80's on building a very good booth out of sheet metal and a Dayton fan. I still use mine daily.
Bob E.
I'm more than happy to email the old MR plans again, and also to post them on alt.binaries.pictures.rail.
Hi:
A spray booth can make or break painting projects. The main functions are to remove toxic fumes and control overspray, without interfering with spray patterns. Our tests have shown that most are not properly designed to handle the latter due to their shape and venting locations.
Air flow throughout the volume is the key factor. Excessive velocity distorts spray patterns. Square corners create eddy swirls, which can carry overspray back to wet surfaces. Even the human body parts deflect flow.
The easiest exhaust system can be made using a brushless, computer box fan and dryer venting parts with some heating/cooling duct fittings. Squirrel cage fans are difficult to connect.
Along with test methods and construction, a good starting example of a complete system is shown on my site.
For more details with methods and extensive discussion of problems and solutions, see first site below in Methods Index..
Hope this helps.
Thank you,
Budb
Author of:
MODELRAILROAD TECHNICAL INFORMATION
snipped-for-privacy@arrl.net wrote:
The Model Railroad article from 88 if I remember right, will get you on the right track. I've been using mine since then and have made them for friends. You don't even know that you are painting when you use it. If I remember right, sometime later there was a follow up about some one who didn't use a booth, that developed some type of neurological problems that proved fatal. Made me wonder, I never paint with out the booth.
There are a couple of articles out there. The most recent one in RMC
Building a spray paint booth Railroad Model Craftsman, September 2004 page 58 using commercially available materials ( BOOTH, "LEIDER, DAVID", PAINT, TOOL, RMC )
A Forced-Air Fan Spray-Painting Booth Model Railroading, Winter 1981 page 70 A Simple Device That Makes Painting A Pleasure ( AIRBRUSH, PAINT, SPRAY, SPRAYBOOTH, MRG )
A deluxe spray paint booth Model Railroader, August 1983 page 103 ( AIRBRUSH, "BREHER, KEN", PAINT, SPRAYBOOTH, MR )
Paint Shop: Safety in painting Model Railroader, November 1987 page 153 ( AIRBRUSH, PAINT, PAINTSHOP, SAFETY, "SPERANDEO, ANDY", SPRAYBOOTH, MR )
Paint Shop: The Paint Shop spray booth Model Railroader, January 1988 page 128 ( AIRBRUSH, PAINT, PAINTSHOP, "SPERANDEO, ANDY", SPRAYBOOTH, MR )
that should keep you busy for a while...
Martin
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