Ok, so I’m looking for some advice about a paint booth. I live in an apartment and my other half is asthmatic so I have been shooting my kits out on the patio. As you can expect the result have varied. She wants to get me a paint booth so I don’t have to go on the patio and paint and so I don’t have to do so much rework. Does anyone have any suggestions on a brand and size that would fit my needs. I build all types and and scales, the largest I have in my stash at this point is a 1/350
I have no advice about the paint booth, but I do have some about your wife.
Keep her, she must be an angel.
Asthma sufferer, and wanting to you get a paint booth for your apartment to reduce your do-overs? My goodness.
Mine has an opening of 16 x 20 inches, since I built it using a furnace filter of the same size. I use a muffin fan for a fan- simple to install, reasonably priced, and non-sparking.
Ditto on the missus, she’s a gem.
I reviewed a couple of cheapies if you want to have a look at those, the links are below. There’s also my home made job which is bigger and would be better for 1/350.
Cheers from Mick.
I have a “Peacekeeper” from pace enterprises. It works very well and the peace of mind
it gives me is worth the price. No sparking and safe removal via a dryer outlet. You do need extra filters and it is actually made here, in the USA.
I’d definitely make sure to keep the better half lol - as others said, she does sound like a winner!
I bought the cheap model on Amazon for $88, the one that comes with LED lights. It’s been great, I am very happy with it, and it was easy to vent to the outdoors…
If you are industrious, Alisa Amor shows how to build a spray booth cheaply and easily:
I am continually amazed at how many different ways folks convert cardboard boxes into spray booths. My first several booths were all cardboard boxes plus auto air filters and muffin fans. But I have seen many other conversions, various filters and various suction sources.
I bought two bathroom vent fans from Ace Hardware, which are rated at 50 cfm each. Then I bought a clear storage tub from Walmart that was big enough to cut the bottom out and put both fans side-by-side in it. I secured and sealed them to the tub with duct tape. I bought an 8’ long 3" wide aluminum duct tube that fits the fans to vent them out my window. Keep in mind, you don’t want to have a long distance for your air to travel to get outside. The shorter the travel distance for the ducts, the better your booth will work. My booth is right in front of my window, so the air only travels about 1 foot out the window. You can’t just put the ducts out an open window, or the wind could just blow back the fumes. I opened my window halfway and used old cardboard to fit in the space with 3" cutouts to fit my ducts. When I’m done spraying I can easily remove the cardboard and close my window. If using two fans, you can either use two extension cords, or if you are electrically minded, I’m sure you could wire the two fans together. The fans make my spray booth a little back heavy, so you have to secure the front down somehow with weight or tape or something so it doesn’t tip back. Lastly, you will need a furnace filter to catch the paint particles. I would stay away from the really cheap ones, as I think they would let paint particles pass through them too much.
Also use paper towels or newspaper to cover the bottom and sides inside the booth for easy cleanup.
Some people might think that my combined 100 cfm fans are not strong enough for a spray booth, but with my short ducting distance they work great. I can open a bottle of Tamiya extra thin cement and place it in my booth and not smell the fumes at all. That being said, I still recommend using an organic filter mask like the one that 3M makes.
Here’s a list with approx cost:
Storage tub: $8
2 Bathroom vent fans: $32
Ducting: $5-10
Ducting clamps: $4
Duct tape: $4
Furnace Filter: $7
Extension cords: $5-10
Approximate total cost: $75