Home made garage paint both (1 Viewer)

[gpfj40]

I took some advice out of paint 101 thread stickied in this section and made my own paint booth in 1 half of my 2 car garage. I just screwed some 2x4's to the ceiling and floor so I had something to staple the heavy poly/vapour barrier to, since I drywalled my garage instead of just sheeting it with osb. On one end I framed a very basic door and a place to tape 4 furnace filters. On the other end I mounted a 2000 cfm into a sheet of 7/16 osb and closed the overhead door on it to hold it in place. I took the 2nd from top rollers out too so I could push the door up to the seal at the top and held it in place with vise grips in the track. In the areas that the gaps were greater than 1/8" I tuck taped to be sure dust doesn't get pulled in and to force the air to come in through the filters. It seemed to clear the overspray pretty quick, 2000 cfm should change the air in the booth about once per minute. I also made a 10ft poly/vapour barrier sock to prevent the overspray that is pushed out by the fan from getting all over the outside of my garage. This sock worked great, the sock is lined with paint on the inside and there is a little paint on the gravel 10 ft away from the building. I spent about $200 on lumber, poly, fan and furnace filters; it is worth every penny.

 

[Icantdive55]

I like it. Looks like something I can do in my garage. Hopefully life settles down soon and I can get back to my build.

 

[tls3601]

Very, very cool................

 

[Clutchee]

Very cool- I've also heard of spraying the floor with water to keep particles from coming up as you walk & spray.... just though.

 

[gpfj40]

Paint Booth Update:

It is working better than I ever expected. I painted and seam sealed the top earlier in the week, then put a solid effort in on the hood and upper door stops. I forgot to take a pic of the finished cygnet white top.

Just finished a midnight paint session, have to say I’m pretty happy with the fact I’m spraying freeborn red now……things are finally looking like they are happening:

 

[shelfboy1]

explosian proof fan ?

 

[gpfj40]

Not that I’m aware of. I’m using a HVLP gun and low VOC paint. Do you think I should be worried about it?

 

[Kief]

Nah, the fan will blow the flames outside, you've got about .5 seconds to get out..

Seriously, it is a pretty flammable mix but if you don't let the fumes build up too thick then you stand a pretty good chance of not blowing up. A brushless motor doesn't spark normally, it is a possibility but not likely. Switches and receptacles do when under load..

 

[Bambino840]

Explosion fan is expensive around here

 

[gpfj40]

I did more web searching on the topic of paint booth explosions, which I had not done much of prior to building this. It seems to me it is a pretty rare occurrence, but my researching did make me a little more cautious and lead to a few changes. I moved my lighting and cords ousting of the booth, will leave the fan switch on and turn on before I start and leave it on till well into the curing. If a build up of vapours and air borne paint solids can be avoided I feel I’ll be alright. I’m actually more nervous about a explosion from the gun wash while cleaning up out side of the booth, it seems far more volatile than the paint I’m using. I did consider changing the fan set up from negative to positive pressure, but decided against it as it would push exhaust out the unsealed edges of the booth in to the rest of the garage which could lead up to the build up of fumes or vapours in the area where there are far more ignition sources. The current negative pressure configuration sends all the fumes and vapours outside. I’ve used this set up 4 time already and not blown up so it seems to be alright. Yesterday i sprayed primer on the tub and it cleared well, no real fog to speak of and I paint pretty slow so fan has time to clear. The HVLP gun at 24 psi contributes greatly to the low build up, in my opinion.

Yesterdays progress:

 

[Splangy]

Primers don't usually "fog" up as much as paints do. Also, are you measuring 24psi at the inlet of the hvlp gun? That seems awfully low.

 

[gpfj40]

That is correct, I have a regulator on the handle of the gun. If I use much more the over spray gets bad and I have trouble avoiding runs.

 

[antFJ]

my gun calls for 40-50 psi at the gun to get 8-10 psi at the cap. this thread also just got me nervous about my fans sparking so i put a cheap 20x20x1 inch filter from lowes over the fans. Now only filtered air passes over the fans.

 

[dirtyboots]

What kind of compressor?

 

[gpfj40]

It is about 11 cfm, 60 gal and single stage, it is more than enough for spraying paint. I discovered a couple things about air for spraying paint by trial and error: You MUST have a dryer, and those crappy cheap little inline dyers will not work because they will kill the air flow. I purchased a $100 princess auto dryer and it works great, it is about 2” in diameter, about 24” long and has 25 ft of hose between it and the compressor running along the floor to cool the air and let the moisture condense to liquid before the dryer so it can work. Before the I ungraded to the shop size dryer, the inline driers were limiting me to 25psi when the trigger was squeezed and air was flowing, regardless of how high I cranked the gun regulator.

With regards to the post I made above about using 24psi for spraying, I’ve taken more time with trial and error, including widening out my spray fan, matching the increased width with more paint volume and now that I can get dry air at what ever volume/psi I want here is what I am doing:

The primer sealer I’m using fogs and runs at any more than 35psi with a 1.8mm hvlp gun. The hi build sandable primer I’m using needs 50-55 psi with a 2.2 mm hvlp gun. The final colour (single stage, no clear) works best at about 35-40 psi with a 1.4mm hvlp gun.

I am by no means an expert at this but I’m getting more confident with my ability to get an ok outcome repeatably. And I have not blown my self up yet lol.

 

[MrMoMo]

Great booth... We do very similar at work when we need to paint 70' long 22' wide boats. No paint shops around that have a booth to fit that! We made a whole lot of 8'x10' box tube frames from aluminum, each covered with Poly. When we need them we pull them out and bolt them together to make the structure, then when we are done it all comes apart and packs away so we have the production space back.

 

[rustybucket]

If you want more of a dust free enviroment, buy a fan with a hepa filter, have it blow clean air into the tent that will create a positive air pressure enviroment. So each time you open the door, it is blowing air out the door..keeping the dust outside. Also, wet the floor down that helps.

 

[Kief]

I worked near a body shop and the painter would smoke a cigarette while mixing paint- he said it burned off all the fumes.

I wondered while they always hosed down the spray booth until I tried to paint some parts-Yep, dust control!

 

[gpfj40]

All the painting on my project is complete, and I’m still alive to talk about it: No explosions!!! It worked great, I’m happy to have the other half of my garage back too.

 

[BAJA FJ40]

If you want more of a dust free enviroment, buy a fan with a hepa filter, have it blow clean air into the tent that will create a positive air pressure enviroment. So each time you open the door, it is blowing air out the door..keeping the dust outside. Also, wet the floor down that helps.

Diddo on the Positive Pressure HEPA Filtered environement, add the cheap filters for effluent air/vapor and you'll have yourself a much safer and sterile painting environement. Always easier to push air, than pull. The ignition source (Fan) will not be exposed to the flammable vapors (hypothetically ) being first in the process, if a sock is used from the fan to the paint booth...is that geek enough for you?