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Paint Booth
Tim,
I use a fan that is about 36" diameter. The fan pulls the air through the filters that are on the opposite end of the booth. I am drawing enough air through the booth that the sides of the booth get sucked in. The fan is not rated as explosion proof.:eek: |
simple safe alternative
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Blowing air into a spray booth never gives good results. It moves over spray all over the place and will induce a lot more contaminants into the paint surfaces because it is stirring everything up.
Professional paint booths draw the air out. Household box fans (the ones sold here in the U.S. anyway) are typically arc free (they have a brush free motor). You can test the one(s) you have by running them in a dark room. |
I built a small paint booth in my basement for this project. Just some 1x2s covered with plastic sheet. Framed in a furnace air filter and use a $16 box fan from Wal-Mart sitting in a window. Cost me less than $100 total and took 3-4 hours to build. Never did this before. I had always just painted parts outside and dealt with the bugs and contaminants that would inevitably invade a wet coat. Now I know I'm inviting critique when this airplane hits the airshow circuit, and believe me, I am nobody's painter, but I am far more pleased with the finishes I'm getting now than have ever been before.
If you have the space, build a booth. It is worth the time and effort. |
When I built my -8A in the garage of my condo (with the neighbor lady's living room on the other side of the wall :D), I built a paint booth much like the one Mitch described, likewise using furnace filters for the inlet air and a cheap box fan from Walmart to exhaust the fumes. I also added some filters in line with the box fan to catch as much overspray as possible. Before I started painting I put some thinner in the paint gun and sprayed it straight into the fan...figured if it was going to ignite anything it was better to do it that way than blow me to smithereens with an entire booth full of flammable vapors. I didn't have any issues although I did keep a fire extinguisher handy just in case. I worried more about static electricity igniting fumes than the fan...
Mitch have you had any issues with smelling paint fumes in your house? I am planning to build a booth for my -14 in my basement. Several people I've talked to think it will smell up the whole house, but in my experience with the booth in the garage, if I left the fan on a low setting while the paint was curing it always provided a negative pressure in the booth and never had any problems with the house smelling like a paint shop. |
Hey Mark,
The smell does permeate the whole house for a while, but not long. I tend to try and schedule my painting to times when my wife and daughter are away. I get much less complaining that way. I do find that if I keep the fan running for about 30-45 minutes after the session, it greatly reduces the fume level while the paint sets up. Less fumes=less smell=less complaints. |
Exhaust Fan
Door and exhaust fan at end of paint booth.
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In answer to a few posts back, I will bet good money that the avionics packages will look almost identical to the offerings for the RV-12. Dual screen Dynon or Garmin, autopilot, ADSB, etc, using the AV5000 box, prefab cables, plug and pray.
Is the pitot included yet? It should contain an AOA tube. |
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This “everything included” concept will be carried into the entire aircraft. For instance, the wiring harness will be included as standard (it could be omitted if a builder wants to design his own), as will a master control box that allows easy interconnection of common EFIS displays and avionics. The control box also includes such common items as an intercom, flap controllers and trim controls. Johnson says it is not a highly “active” box, but more of a patch panel to help the builder interconnect systems quickly and without error. |
Almost Done with Interior Trim
While waiting for the finish kit I have been working on the interior trim panels.
The instrument panel was easy. I don't know why everybody stresses over the wiring and install. :) If I could only figure out how to power up the templates. ![]() The green matches the green stripe on the exterior. ![]() Wrapped some of the structure with 3M vinyl. ![]() Carpet is glued to 1" thick foam to eliminate seeing the stiffener in the floor. |
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