Do I Need A Spray Booth

[Guest]

Hello everyone


It's been a long wile since I posted on the forum, after watching several U Tube videos on air bush painting I notice several model makers do seem to be using an spray booth, I'm nearly ready to spray my first model with acrylics so do I need to get a spray booth, I may consider building one as the ones I have seen on line are not very big and my 1;48 mosquito would not fit into these small booths...


Any advice most welcome.

[Guest]

If you can afford one, then definitely get one Phil. Although acrylic paints aren't toxic, there's always overspray & that means particles in the air that shouldn't end up in your lungs.


Some people have put 2 of the type John sells side-by-side, but another option is to build your own. That way it'll fit your needs.


Building one isn't hard or expensive. Some MDF, a filter, a fan or two... job done!


Cheers


Patrick

[stona]

Wot 'e said ^^^^


Before I got one I used to spray outside which here in the UK severely limited my ability to spray at all. When it wasn't raining it was often cold and spraying in a hat and gloves was a bit tricky too


Cheers


Steve

[PaulTRose]

definatly yes.........in fact the building one is a fun thing to do in it self......im getting ready to build my third in 10 years and am thinking of doing the next a little different to the others........its cheap to do and definatly improves painting quality.....only down side i can think of is that you need somewhere suitable to put it

[Guest]

I'm an ex joiner so making one is no problem. I think I will go down this route as I can make it the size I require.

[Guest]

yes you do if you value your health and that of those around you.

[Ian M]

As others have said. although not directly toxic acrylics do produce a nice cloud of particles in the air. Always wise to open a window and wear a mask of some form.


Funny story, I was never really aware of the extent of the particle problem. Then one day I used some Vallejo Silver acrylic... later I found that just about the whole room was covered in "glitter". as the airborne particles settled....

[Guest]

Here's an interesting link concerning homemade spray booths. I was thinking about revamping mine to have overhead extraction, but from reading this it seems not such a good idea


http://www.modelersite.com/Abr2003/english/Spray-booth-design_Eng.htm

[stona]

That's an interesting article, though I always take exception to the phrase 'explosion proof motor'! which I see a lot in this context. I would love someone to explain to me how a potentially explosive particle/air or solvent/air mixture can be produced in the normal spraying of hobby paints. Has anyone ever heard of an explosion or fire being caused by normal hobby spraying into a booth using a 'non-explosion proof' motor?


It might be a requirement in some commercial spray booths but I'm prepared to stick my neck out and say I don't believe it is for a system designed for normal hobby use.


Take a look at my Exagon spray booth. It's just an ABS plastic box with some moldings to take filter and hood.It could be imitated in wood or similar.


At the back is the fan:






I have no idea of its technical specifications except that it is a brushless motor (I guess to minimise the so called risk ) and shifts 355m3/hr. In front of the extraction system sits a particle filter (595x435). This you'll need to buy. The ones I use cost about 17 quid each but I don't change them very often. Obviously it depends on your usage, but the one pictured is at least a year old.






Finally a molded hood fits on the front (could do with a clean, just a wipe with cellulose thinners does the trick):






It's not rocket science! This system set me back about 250 quid a few years ago but could be replicated for far less.


As for drawing foreign matter onto the subject being sprayed, I can't say I've ever had a problem with that. I know some people spray water to damp down the dust in the atmosphere before spraying high gloss and highly sensitive finishes (like car body shells) but I've never bothered or felt any need to go to such lengths!


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

Steve, I completely agree about the guff that gets talked about when discussing which fans to use in a spray booth.


A couple of years ago I decided to investigate these claims of paint fumes potentially blowing up in one's face.


I took a clear plastic storage box ( 24 litre ), drilled a hole & epoxied in a sparking gas igniter. Covering the box's opening with clingfilm, I then sprayed pure cellulose thinner into the box.


I'd fitted the spark ignition device with a long lead to allow for remote activation & retired a safe distance!


After clicking the sparker repeatedly, nothing happened! No explosion, the fumes simply wouldn't ignite.


Whilst there's absolutely nothing wrong with being careful & protecting oneself, certain things have grown into common belief, simply by being repeated often enough.

[Guest]

I don't mean to piggy back another thread, but I'm in the same boat as the OP. Just bit the bullet and bought a modest AB set up: Iwata Neo, cleaning station and brushes and an AS-189 compressor from John at the shop (good price too). Now I'm beginning to realise that I will need a spraybooth, as I'll be spraying indoors, although only acrylics. Lack of space dictates a fold-up kind, like the ones John has. Will you price match Ebay John?


My question is: If I can't run the exhaust to a window or door, what else can I do with it? Into a paper bag, an old pair of Mrs B's tights or something else?

[Guest]

I would bite the bullet and get one Like Ian I have found the mist created while spraying in a room with no extraction covers everything. My built kits were shelved in the man cave and when doing my usual clean around I noticed one of the colours I had recently used heavily was all over them.

[PaulTRose]

My question is: If I can't run the exhaust to a window or door, what else can I do with it? Into a paper bag, an old pair of Mrs B's tights or something else?

interesting you should say that.....last place we lived was a flat which i claimed the spare room to put my workbench in, but it had a top opening window which was too high for my homemade spraybooths hose to go out of...........it also had this strange shaped walk in cupboard which was 12 feet long but only 3 foot wide, we simply used it as a place to store boxes of stuff til we were ready to move where we are now......it seemed a natural place to put the spray booth.....i placed it on top of a stack of boxes to bring it up to a nice height and put an empty box (actually a banana box acquired from Morrisons....great for when you are moving house) behind it, cut a hole it just the right size for the vent hose, the little holes in the side of the box means you dont get some kind of pressure build up so the 'extraction' stops working


it worked a treat since the paint dried as it hit the back of the box....was only supposed to be in use for about 9 months but it lasted 2 years before we moved again and when i dismantled it i was surprised how little paint there was actually in the box!

[Guest]

Thanks Beowulf, I was thinking that the exhaust will be just paint particles, and as long as I trap them somehow it doesn't matter if they go outside or not. So a cardboard box with vent holes in it would do the job.

[Guest]

Steve, I completely agree about the guff that gets talked about when discussing which fans to use in a spray booth.
A couple of years ago I decided to investigate these claims of paint fumes potentially blowing up in one's face.


I took a clear plastic storage box ( 24 litre ), drilled a hole & epoxied in a sparking gas igniter. Covering the box's opening with clingfilm, I then sprayed pure cellulose thinner into the box.


I'd fitted the spark ignition device with a long lead to allow for remote activation & retired a safe distance!


After clicking the sparker repeatedly, nothing happened! No explosion, the fumes simply wouldn't ignite.


Whilst there's absolutely nothing wrong with being careful & protecting oneself, certain things have grown into common belief, simply by being repeated often enough.

The reason why there was no explosion could be that the combustion chamber (the plastic storage box) had no air following the spraying of the cellulose thinner into it. No air means no oxygen (or more accurately not enough oxygen concentration to allow combustion. This is because each inflammable gas or vapour has a minimum oxygen concentration needed to allow burning. (It also has a max. oxygen concentration beyond which burning will not occur but that's not relevant here).