Anyone got any recommendations on how to keep dust out of your work area? I am running into this more often than I care to admit. Spraying paint in my airbrush booth and there are flecks of fibres in the paint or clearcoats. Looks like fibres from swabs. Often I dont notice till the paint is set and its too late to fix.
Anyone using something like a air filter or electrostatic device?
Thanks
I have an electronic air purifier in my basement near my work area that helps. I also dust everything, top to bottom, about every two weeks, whether it looks like it needs it or not. Its not a huge job if you keep up on it regularly. I use microfiber towels, slightly dampened with 409 as my dusting cloths. No lint and no waste like you get with paper towels. I airbrush a little differently than a lot of people do, so I haven’t found a paint booth to be necessary. I own one, but it just sits unused. Religious upkeep of the work area is what is working for me. For paints with a longer cure time, I usually put a large, clean Gladware container upside-down over the top of what I have painted as an extra precaution. I just put something under the edges of the container to elevate it a tiny bit for ventilation.
I am trying to design and build a dust DIY dust collector. I cannot yet decide whether to build a simple box, furnace filter and fan, or to build one of those fancy vortex filters.
We have a 24/7 air filtration system that keeps the house fairly dust free. The workers here change the filters twice a year in the system and also the furnace.
When I am finished painting, I pull the sheer curtain on the booth closed and leave the exhaust fan on to aid in drying. The sheer catches any dust heading into the booth while the paint is drying. When I’m done for the day, I shut down the exhaust fan. When the sheer gets a fair amount of dust on it I take it down and throw it into the washer.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/6qRgCKpKSSfYgKxS6
I turn the exhaust fan on when I’m painting small items, with a brush, with enamels or lacquers on the bench and the odors go out the window.
Stay safe.
Jim [cptn]
Well, like with any gun - for me…I just look before I shoot.
Thats a great idea. A garbage can upside down overtop a drying item. I have a little cup I put overtop canopies when set to dry after dipping in future.
I will try and find a suitable bin.
My problem seems to be that no matter how vigilant I am about making sure there are no flecks on the item I am painting, somehow I always end up with at least one fibre in the paint.
I use compressed air to clean the subject matter before I spray, then find mars once painted.
What I’m using is actually a large, plastic, food storage container. They’re a great size for models usually, unless its something really big. If you don’t already have them, I also highly recommend getting a full set of MicroMesh sanding sticks. If you do get the random piece of schmutz in your paint, the 3200 grit stick is great for removing it after the paint has fully cured. Then its just a matter of dialing your airbrush down to blend a tiny bit more paint into that area. I use that method for fixing random, unexplained scratches and chips also.
I stapled 4 mil poly to the ceiling of my basement in my paint area. This can be wiped down with a damp cloth. Also keep a spray bottle of water to spray on the floor to keep dust down. Concrete floor. Cover the work with a plastic bin while drying. It is very difficult to keep dust off a gloss paint model. The Tamiya spray paints, the TS, dry much quicker than the enamels I used to use, which helps. Also use Tamiya compounds to rub out a dust spec.
Flat paints on military models are much easier than gloss paints on model cars, where every spec shows.
Hey, Deeve… I have a couple of suggestions.
When I am not being lazy, I use one of them sticky rollers for picking up pet hair and such. I roll that on all the inside surfaces of the booth. It does not seem to create static electricity and it pulls up dust nicely. And that is key because even using a papertowel to wipe the inside surfaces can create a static charge that dust collects to. So, though, it may seem you wiped it all clean, the static will pull any airborne dust floating around. Then, when you spray, the charge releases itself and the dust/lint falls onto the model.
Be carefull what use to wipe out your color cups. I no longer use papertowels or cotton swabs because inevitably, fibers stick to any paint residue inside the cup. It may look clean, but … it probably isn’t. In the cleaning process some may get stuck in the neck of the color cup too. Then guess what happens. As you add paints and solvents for the next job, those fibers come loose and pass through your airbrush. I had the same problem you are describing and I narrowed it down to that. I goes as far to order lint free foam swabs and I use them for cleaning paint cups.
Since making those changes, I seldom have an issue. If I do, it is usually because I got lazy.
This sounds silly!
When painting or brushing(I know, that’s painting too) I keep a damp rag on the bench. I haven’t had a wanderer (That’s what I call them, since I started doing this.) It needs to be the kind of rag that looks like a little plush hand towel, like you get at Harbor Freight! I think that’s what they were?( Factory seconds maybe?)