I made a paint booth

[Ken Bartz]

I though I would share this with you all. I just finished making a 8 ft X 8 ft paint booth. I will use it to paint the fenders and other small parts of my 1952 Plymouth business coupe project car. It has two 20" x 20" filters for incoming air. The box on the floor has a furnace fan with two 20" x 20" filters for outgoing air, then is vented out the roof. I can make lots of dust outside in the shop area and still maintain a clean environment inside the booth.

[Normspeed]

That's sharp Ken. Beats the heck outta the old 6 person dome tent I've been using. I like the bright overhead lights too, good to really see what you're spraying. A question, maybe a dumb one. On the exhaust fan, is there any hazard of the fan motor igniting paint fumes, or is it spark proof?

[Joe Flanagan]

Nice work, Ken. I really could have used one of those this summer. The thing I learned to value more than anything is good lighting. It makes all the difference in the world because you really need to see how the paint is hitting the surface. I painted my car in pieces, too. A mistake I made was trying to paint too many pieces in one session. I was bumping into freshly painted pieces and dragging my air hose across them and generally trying to do too much at once. I had much better luck when I reduced the scale of each painting session.

Your booth looks good. Keep us posted on your project.

[JerseyHarold]

Ken,

Nice work on the booth. I thought I was the only person in the world to frame and hang the '52 Plymouth fold-out brochure. Looks like I was wrong!

Harold

[Ken Bartz]

Normspeed, That is a great point about the spark from the motor. I don't know how to tell if this motor is safe for paint fumes environment. I turned off all of the lights and started it up, I did not see any arcing inside the motor at all. The motor number is GE, 5KCP39PG. How else could I pull (or push) the paint fumes from this room? Does anyone have any ideas?

[claybill]

ken...remember i have a few motors and fans from my pottery kilns...yu saw the big squirrel cage..and i have a few more..!

bill

[Olddaddy]

I've built a few of these type booths over the years, especially when painting a motorcycle. I built a slightly larger version to paint my Suburban last year closing in part of my carport. I use ordinary box fans from WalMart for outoing air, and use home AC filters for the incoming air.

[Ken Bartz]

Olddaddy, Great idea with the box fan. I shall go with that solution. Once I get the small parts primed I will make a larger version of this paint booth to cover the whole car. Thank you for your suggestion.

[claybill]

sparks!?...simple, put the motor outside your paint booth and not inside where there is little room.

build the filters into the lower wall framework..duct from there to outside.

you wont need a motor to bring the air in..the exhausting air will bring in fresh air through another filter built into the wall framework on other side..

.an idea..does it makes sense..?

bill

[Robert Horne]

I though I would share this with you all. I just finished making a 8 ft X 8 ft paint booth. I will use it to paint the fenders and other small parts of my 1952 Plymouth business coupe project car. It has two 20" x 20" filters for incoming air. The box on the floor has a furnace fan with two 20" x 20" filters for outgoing air, then is vented out the roof. I can make lots of dust outside in the shop area and still maintain a clean environment inside the booth.

I did a 6x10 section of my shop like this to keep my cycle in to keep it clean.

[Plymouthy Adams]

if the motor does not have start and run contacts the source of a spark is greatly removed from the equation..a direct drive fan usually does not have this feature..

[Ken Bartz]

Tim, Thank you for your answer. How does one tell if there are the start and run contacts? This is a direct drive GE motor (5KCP39PG) which I surfed the internet about and did not find any specific data about it. If it does create a spark it is not the fire that will kill me it is the lack of oxygen that the fire used to burn that will kill me. How do I know for sure if this is a safe motor? I have found Fabco ventilator in my stuff that may work also work. This is a smaller unit and definately has a direct drive sealed motor. This would be able to mount externally on the booth frame. But the fumes still pass through the motor area.

I cannot use the floor box fan as previously suggested as the fumes will just moce from the booth to the shop area. It is better to have them exit from the building. Thanks, all for your comments.

[Plymouthy Adams]

if your fan is belt driven you need to look closely..you will see a start capacitor and a run capacitor mounted on the housing...the start capacitor is in the circuit to knock it out of phase enough to have the torque to start the motor..at a set rpm the counterweight will swing out and disconnect the start winding and make contact to the run capacitor that will hold the power out of phase to keep it running..it is these contacts that are spark generators..an inductive run motor...no problem..

[T120]

..Didn't mean to hijack the thread.Safety issues were already recognized and being discussed.I've deleted my comments. ,Ralph

[Plymouthy Adams]

I read your comment entirely...yes there are safety issues as you stated in your comment..they should never be over looked..you air flow needs be fast enough to keep the PPM down to a safer level while at the same time not create a too fast disturbance in air flow in the booth...I have had my home booth tested for air flood and solvent contaminates by a friend who is an industrial enviromentalist..and I also have gone an extra step here at my house in the fact that the booth I built has exit filters...I have painted a many car in the booth and yes the exit grills still are bright white on the backside because my filters trap the deposits..HOWEVER..these filters do require changing real often..they are cheap AC filters but most effective..My filter door has 12 opening that are 16 x25 and each opening gets doubled filters..does a very good job..these input filters when changed are then saved and used as exit filters..so you get double the use...I recommend a cover over the filters to protect them when not in use..by the time you use all the exit filters from one change..it is time to change inputs..so you can do a filter change for about 15.00

anyway...even with all this I would never say there is no way a mishap could occur...but do not taking this in account to start with does increase the odds against you...

[T120]

..You've done your homework ,Tim and I'm sure it's done properly.I wouldn't want someone to risk loss of property or personal injury because they were unaware of the hazards.Also in event of a mishap the "fine print" in fire insurance policies can sometimes cause problems.

[Plymouthy Adams]

in todays economic downturn and the not assuming risk even aften collecting preminum for said risk..the insurance company is going to do their best to prove neglience on your part..I really do not see anyone coming out today regardless, outside of some natural disasters..even these are being less and less covered...ask the folks in the hurricane regions today...so you do what you think is needed with the best intentions and safeguards and enjoy life or you live in total fear and sit on your hands afraid to lite a candle against the dark..

[T120]

...That comment caused me to laugh.That's the world we live in....