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Odd Spray booth question
Gunfighter
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 07:29 AM UTC
I recently picked up an Iwata Revolution CR airbrush & PowerJet compressor and really love them. I was a bit intimidated at first, but can't wait to really learn how to use it.

I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to get an spray booth of some sort, but here's my dilemma: Neither my basement nor my garage have windows to vent a spray booth. I'd hate to have to lift the garage doors in the winter as well. Moving upstairs is a possibility, but my modelling bench is in the basement.

Does a booth exist that has enough filtration to basically vent back into the room your painting in? I will primarily use acrylics, but I want to make sure I'm erring on the safe side with the booth. I thought I'd seen a booth on the 'net that operates like I described above, but I haven't been able to find it again.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Frank
matt
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 03:29 PM UTC
I just drilled a 4" hole (same size as a dryer vent) to th outside from my booth in the basement................. if at all possible.... use the metal ductwork and keep it as short & straight as possible (it's more efficient for the fan)

HTH

Matt
daselim
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 08:28 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I just drilled a 4" hole (same size as a dryer vent) to th outside from my booth in the basement................. if at all possible.... use the metal ductwork and keep it as short & straight as possible (it's more efficient for the fan)

HTH

Matt



That's exactly what I did as well, and it works great. If at all possible, I would definitely do the same.
slodder
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 08:44 PM UTC
I haven't seen or heard of any that filter that much.

Any possibility of using a window in the garage. Then make a 4" tall 'filler' piece so the vent goes in one end and the filler keeps the weather out?
ws48
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 09:35 PM UTC
I made a spray booth using a duct fan mounted in the rear of a plastic storage box with a standard HVAC filter. I do not vent it outside as my primary concern is trapping particulate. I get the odor of solvents in the room but no heavy fumes.

Don
Gunfighter
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 09:54 PM UTC
Thanks all for the suggestions. I've been considering cutting a hole in the basement wall to run the dryer vent hose, but I want to minimize changes in the short term. Let's just say that the wife wasn't too pleased with the arrival of airbrush & compressor. Modifying the house may just be one more step than I need to take right now.

Unfortunately, there aren't any windows in the garage either. When we built the house, my wife was really concerned about security and didn't want any windows in either location.

What I'm considering is setting up my painting area in the basement and running house out into the garage and basically pulling the door closed the best I can. Not perfect, but it might work. Worst case is that I'll relocate everything upstairs to the den.

- Frank
Removed by original poster on 08/05/06 - 19:55:26 (GMT).
drabslab
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Posted: Thursday, August 03, 2006 - 09:08 PM UTC
If you have a serious ventilator, you could consider placing a watertrap in between the ventilator (or vacuumcleaner if you want to use that) and the spraybooth.

Put the tube coming from the spray booth in a 20 liter barrel and make sure that the open end almost touches the bottom of the barrel (and stays there). Fill the barrel half with water.

Close the barrel airtight, except for an additional hole for connecting the ventilator, or vacuumcleaner.

Now if you have done well then the vacuumcleaner will create a vacuum in the barrel which will cause air (coming from the booth) to be pulled through the water. A lot of the fumes and solvents will be trapped by the water.


If you think that this sounds weird, well it does, but there are actually vacuumcleaners on the market that work like this.


Gunfighter
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Posted: Friday, August 04, 2006 - 04:58 PM UTC
I definitely like drabslab's idea and just might look into it further. I did some more poking around and found this:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz269/14/

Looks like it mounts onto the edge of your workbench. Unfortunately, it's extremely cost prohibitive.

- Frank
drabslab
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Posted: Friday, August 04, 2006 - 05:53 PM UTC

Quoted Text

drabslab's idea sounds best. But make sure you don't short out the vacume (get a waterproof vac)

I once considered paint booths, and tamiya has one that looks like it has a filter attached to it. I have no idea how effective it is, but i do know it costs $300+ us.



There is a brand in the USA called Rainbow making vacuumcleaners with a watertrap but it seems way to expensive for me for the use that we want to make.

A standard but powerfull vacuumcleaner (already in the house I presume) and some DIY can do this as well.
#027
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Posted: Friday, August 04, 2006 - 07:39 PM UTC
Hey Frank,

Here's a suggestion for you, and it's not as expensive as the spray booths you've been looking at. I've built a spray out of plywood. Use a bathroom vent fan to vent the booth. Place a good filter to catch most of the particulates. At Lowe's, you can get a good room air purifier for under $100. Run the purifier the night before you're going to paint to get a positive airflow going, and you shouldn't have a problem with fumes and vapors. I work in a commercial sign shop and we have a commercial air scrubber that takes all the fumes out of the air. It will work on a smaller scale, too.

Kenny
Gunfighter
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Posted: Saturday, August 05, 2006 - 01:51 AM UTC
Kenny,

That's a good idea, too. Building the booth doesn't seem to be much of a chore. Picking the right ventilation system seems to be key.

I was thinking of one of those range hoods, through a vent, out to a box with a couple of different filters in it, then maybe to the air purifier?

Not sure if it would work. I'll have to investigate more.

Thanks again for the suggestion. It definitely has me thinking!

- Frank
TankCarl
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Posted: Sunday, August 06, 2006 - 09:45 PM UTC
Buy a piece of plywood 4-8" tall ,as long as your garge door.Splice if you must.Drill the opening for your exhaust pipe from what ever fan/duct you choose.
Open the garage door,insert plywood,bring door down onto it.Sealed.
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