Spray booth?

[Gerry in Oz]

Hi All,

I am concerned about the toxic nature of the primers we use on our RVs. To mitigate this problem I am pondering about how to make (or buy) a spray booth for my workshop. It would need to have a good exhaust fan which would then pass through some kind of filter so as to avoid poisoning my neighbours. (Always a good policy) The fan motor would need to be remote or designed for the purpose so as not to be an ignition threat for the (presumably) flammable primers.

I would be most appreciative of any ideas you may have, and or how you overcame this issue. Many thanks, Gerry.

[Kyle Boatright]

It depends on what primer you are using, but <arguably> the worst part of most primers is the solvent. That's going to end up in the atmosphere regardless of what filters you use.

I suggest that unless you're close enough to worry about getting primer overspray on your neighbor's cars, you may not need to worry about a booth for priming. Most of it can be done outdoors in good weather. I did all of mine that way.

[Bill.Peyton]

I made a booth using pvc tubing and clear plastic sheet. I purchased a high power dust collector at the local harbor frieght and installed several furnace filters at one end and the evacuation fan at the other. and sent the fumes outside. I purchased a professional full face paint mask, use gloves and cover all skin. I wet the floor before I paint so the dust goes into the water. It worked for me. I did this only for the primer. If I paint the entire plane I intend to expand the booth and add more ventilation. I also have a positive pressure full face paint mask, although I did not use it with the primer.

[terrye]

I agree with Kyle, most of my primer spraying has been outdoors. I did build a little indoor spray booth for small parts, 36"wide x 48" high by 30" deep, just fits into a corner of my shop (some people think it's a family room). The front is open and the back has 4 cheap fiberglass furnace filters. I found a used house furnace blower and motor, this gets stuck out thru a sliding door and connected to the booth with an 8" flex hose. It works fairly well with an airbrush and an HVLP spray gun.

The biggest problem is the preparation of the parts. This is with Alumiprep and Alodine and this must be done outside with my setup, so the weather has to be well above freezing, and then as long as it isn't raining, you might as well paint outside. So the spray booth has been limited to parts about wing rib size when it is used.

I'm using epoxy primer which is not very toxic (but use a good mask), but check the MSDS sheets for the paint you intend using.

[bret]

I built a booth in 1/2 of my 2 car garage, for the actual paint job. primered the internal emp parts outside like most. For the real paint (exterior) I used epoxy primer and was sprayed in the booth with in and out filtration 1" PVC, 4 mil clear and 2 4' lamps.

[DanH]

If you really want clean priming, build a spray bench. It's a box with a mesh top set against an exterior wall. The inside of the box is vented to outdoors, through a cheap furnace filter if you like. You blow air into the room, which pretty much eliminates explosion risk.

Same concept works for sanding and cutting composites...all the nasty dust is drawn away from the operator.

[szicree]

I primed everything outdoors on a screen and used a good hvlp gun. It was really no big thing.

[Av8torTom]

Originally Posted by DanH

If you really want clean priming, build a spray bench. It's a box with a mesh top set against an exterior wall. The inside of the box is vented to outdoors, through a cheap furnace filter if you like. You blow air into the room, which pretty much eliminates explosion risk.

Same concept works for sanding and cutting composites...all the nasty dust is drawn away from the operator.

Dan - do you find you need to filter the air coming into the room via the fan? What do you do when it's cold outside?

Thanks,

Tom

[mike newall]

Check this.

http://www.romeolima.com/RV8/Paint.htm

We copied both the idea for the spray booth and the colour scheme !!

Screw vine eyes - things with rings on..... around the top of the walls.

http://www.leofixings.com/fixings-pr...FcYLtAodzGbn0Q


Get some big blue plastic tarps from Home Despot.

Carabiner the tarps onto the walls when you need to convert to a paintshop and crack on !

Worked really well in my shop.

[DanH]

Originally Posted by Av8torTom

Dan - do you find you need to filter the air coming into the room via the fan? What do you do when it's cold outside?

The OP's questions seem to be more about not poisoning himself and his neighbors while priming small parts, for which the box is quick, cheap, and effective. A few flyspecks in primer don't matter much inside the airplane structure.

However, you can get as fancy as you want. The blow-through concept works fine for finish-quality painting with the addition of a filter wall across the shop between fan and outlet. The filter wall catches the dirt and diffuses the air flow. A nice uniform flow across the paint area is better than a jet from the fan.



My own shop was designed with a choice of intake air source. If it's cold but sunny I bring air in through the full length of the attic so it picks up some warmth. Of course this is Alabama and we call 50F "cold".

Recirculating and cleaning heated air entirely inside a winter shop is more complicated.