Making Paint Booth!!

Hey guys

so i decided i'm gonna make a paint booth because i bought airbrush..

now.. i just got some plywood and made a box, but now i'm having a hard time deciding where to mount the fan.

I bought a 120MM Sunon Computer fan which says it moves 90CFM, probably enough for what i need it for ..

Should i mount it closer to the opening in the front so it'll suck up all the fumes before they escape into the room, or mount it towards the back so when i spray, the over spray will go towards the fan....

the problem i see with the fan being mounted closer to the opening is that it won't get some of the overspray cuz it'll probably give it a chance to settle... and if i don't put it closer to the front it might let fumes out??

any thoughts??

:eek:Take great care with this projec! A build up of paint fumes can be highly explosive:eek:.

I remember Scale Automodeler did an article on building a spray booth a few years back and they reconed it was best to get a fan designed for the job. The problem was the sparks from the motor of a regular electric fan could cause the fumes to explode...

Let me know how you get on, I've just moved house and now have my own modelling room, so I'm planning on building a booth when I have the time (and I'm not building cars!).

Very good point by lotus-man. It would suck not having eyebrows for a few months!:eek:

Here are some spray booths from Paasche.
http://www.paascheairbrush.com/main.html
(look at the bottom right...)

It looks like the rear or top 3/4 fan mount would work the best.:bandit:

If you put the fan at the back of the booth, it will draw the air back into the booth and this will prevent the fumes coming forward.....this will also help draw the over-spray away .......what are you doing about a light source?
I cut a window in the roof of my booth, put a piece of lexan over the opening and have a fluorescant light above....it works pretty good.....
make sure to duct the fan to the outside so the fumes aren't just getting moved too....most computer/panel fans are brushless anyhow, so there should be little to worry about when it comes to sparks....

Ray

yeh i got a brushless fan :) i rather enjoy my eyebrows!

for lighting i'm gonna try some mounted lamps outside of the booth first.. if that's no good i'm gonna get some clear lucite or lexan or whatever and get a flourescent tube..

looks like i don't really have anywhere to put my paint booth right now..

i'm gonna try sticking it under the range hood and having that suck the crap outside..
hope that works good..

For my booth i fitted a bathroom extractor fan which is not very good at all. I want to fit a better one and thought a computer fan may do the job, but i want to know how a computer fan will hook up the mains??? They normally plug into a motherboard, don't they?

Chris,
Not all do....I have an industrial type panel one, I say that because I have only seen them used in the large control panels used in a factory or the like. Anyways, mine actually runs off mains power, which is the usual 110V here in the USA, but you may be able to get something similar.....I am not sure where though, I got mine at RadioShack, but I guess you could try any computer/ electrical wholesale place.
Hope this helps....
Ray

Thanks Ray, I'll look into it.

I just simply use the range hood in my kitchen. I erect a detachable cardboard box around it. I'm not too worried about exploding paint fumes, I have never EVER heard of a paint booth exploding. I remember somebody did a study and found the air/paint mixture was far too lean to cause an explosion.

probably not a explosion but a nice fireball might happen..

the amount of air vs the amount of flamable gases that we are spraying is very high in air.. i mean air is everywhere :)

Originally posted by daggerlee
I just simply use the range hood in my kitchen. I erect a detachable cardboard box around it. I'm not too worried about exploding paint fumes, I have never EVER heard of a paint booth exploding. I remember somebody did a study and found the air/paint mixture was far too lean to cause an explosion.

I read on another forum about a member that had an explosion of the fumes in his booth, the story was related to the forum after a lengthy stay in the hospital for severe burns to the face and upper body !!
:bandit: Mike

Originally posted by modelfan1


I read on another forum about a member that had an explosion of the fumes in his booth, the story was related to the forum after a lengthy stay in the hospital for severe burns to the face and upper body !!
:bandit: Mike

hmm interesting..
so how abouts did this happen... what kind of fan was he using?

does anyone know how to make one without atmosphere venting? I live in an appartment so I can't exactly vent outside. Someone linked a site a while ago.

[hmm interesting..
so how abouts did this happen... what kind of fan was he using?]

One that had brushes and was not shielded!

I use a Hepa rated air cleaner that removes 99.9 % of all particulate
matter from the air as well as fumes like lacquer and cigarette smoke.
It's connected to the spray booth by a dryer hose.

:bandit: Mike

Originally posted by modelfan1

I use a Hepa rated air cleaner that removes 99.9 % of all particulate
matter from the air as well as fumes like lacquer and cigarette smoke.
It's connected to the spray booth by a dryer hose.

:bandit: Santa

Pics?

:bandit: Alex

Originally posted by modelfan1
[hmm interesting..
so how abouts did this happen... what kind of fan was he using?]

One that had brushes and was not shielded!

I use a Hepa rated air cleaner that removes 99.9 % of all particulate
matter from the air as well as fumes like lacquer and cigarette smoke.
It's connected to the spray booth by a dryer hose.

:bandit: Mike

what a silly guy

well i'm gonna get a nice filter and put it infront of the fan so dat should be good!

Originally posted by ales


Pics?

:bandit: Alex

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/841595ptbooth1.jpg
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/270764ptboth3.jpg

Looks SERIOUS!!!!! :eek: