Paint booth ideas

[ryans69chevy]

Anyone have any recommendations or pictures of paint booths to paint at home?

I have a back area in my garage that has a window on two walls that I could incorporate into a homemade booth. I was thinking of just building a booth out of 2x4's and then wrapping it in poly. I would frame out where the windows are and put some box fans in there to pull air in and push air out. Add some filters and figure out some type of make shift door to go in and out.

I'm not sure if this is overkill vs just spraying outside. I've thought about just buying a cheap car port/canopy from harbor freight to set up quick on the days I want to spray. For now, all I'm looking at is just spraying primer. If I built the paint booth, I would most likely just leave it up for a couple years while I get all the parts sprayed.

Not sure what direction I should go. What are other people doing for spraying primer? Eventually, I'm going to have to figure out if I'm going to spray color, or have a painter shoot it.

Thanks,
Ryan

[mongocanfly]

I built a "paint booth" inside my shop ,,used clear plastic for walls and ceilings..used 2x4s to do a frame..
I bought a big box of cheap spring clamps..very useful for holding the plastic together..
I also lay plastic on the floor...
I had a old screen door that I use for my entrance ,and it doubles as the air intake for the booth..
I have 2 cyclone fans with duct that I sit outside when in use..they are loud.. inside I built 2 plywood boxes that I put cheap hvac filters in..to keep from blowing paint outside..
I change the floor plastic after each use..
All in it works pretty good..

[Getter-Done]

Just an Idea in the Link below.


If you register you get 20% off right now.

You would be Money ahead and have something you could get part of your money back.

They do have different sizes this one is just the best deal for the size.

Link: https://www.vevor.com/inflatable-pai...p_010693190050

[Grounded63]

I have a decent sized shop. And, will prime "open air". With pretty clean results, which I believe is due to the larger size. It just doesn't disturb the overall air volume of the shop. To kick up dust/lint while spraying.

If your priming in a smaller area. And, priming smaller stuff. Choke the gun up some and don't spray with it wide open. You'll disturb less of the surrounding area, and have less over spray to deal with.

I've enclosed areas with clear plastic sheeting before, for painting. If you feed your enclosure with filtered air. Any gaps or openings you've missed will be pressurized with filtered air. Rather than being able to draw in unfiltered air. And, being a plastic sheet enclosure, it'll kinda keep it inflated.

If your spraying with ISO containing clears/sealers/primer. Make sure you're getting fresh make up air. Wearing a quality respirator. And changing the filters frequently. Like every 8hrs of air exposure or less. There's a reason they come in foil lined packaging. If you leave your respirator laying on the work bench overnight. They're done for ISO protection, change the filters.

[ryans69chevy]

Here is the space in the garage I'm talking about. It's my catch all space at the moment, but it's got a window on each wall for intake and exhaust. Plus its in the back, so it would be somewhat out of the way. I could build a 10x9 with 2x4's and just leave the thing up for a few years. Should be able to get just about anything I need to prime in there.

For the intake side, does a person put the fan up and have the filters between the window and fan? Then for exhaust, put the fan between the window and filters?

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

[ryans69chevy]

Getter-done, that looks like a sweet deal and like you said, would be money ahead. If I was ready to spray the whole vehicle, I would probably get that. At this time, I dont really want to set all that up every weekend to spray primer with a piece here and a piece there. Ill have to look into that in a few years when im close to spraying color.

[LS short box]

Maybe wouldn't work for you but on my hot rod projects I strip the parts to bare metal one at a time and have a local body shop prime them. Then store them away waiting for body work.
Couple of pics.

[ryans69chevy]

LS - I had one of my fenders done like that. It seems like body shops aren't too interested in that. Not sure if its just not alot of money for them, or having their name on it. That's the route I originally wanted to go though. I found a good deal on a big air compressor, so I figured just save myself some money and do it myself plus I won't have to worry about trucking all the parts back and forth.

[Grounded63]

On the exhaust, you want filter/fan/window. You want to try to filter out the paint particles before they get on the fan. The intake probably doesn't matter much. As long as it's filtered into the room.

[62c30]

I bought a party tent or whatever you call it. 10x20 that I might use at some point. It sets up easy and when tore down doesn't take up hardly any room. I think it was about $100. So far I have just been priming parts out on the driveway on days without wind. Although I have been looking at the inflatable paint booths too.

[mongocanfly]

Inflatable is ok....till its not....saw one guy using one, his kept deflating when his breakers started tripping from current draw from fans

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Inflatable is ok....till its not....saw one guy using one, his kept deflating when his breakers started tripping from current draw from fans

That would cause a Major issue.

So a Test run on one of those (For Sure)

[ryans69chevy]

I've been reading up on ventilation ideas for the paint booth that I am getting ready to build. I see alot of people talking about the caution of fumes igniting. The only electrical piece of equipment I would have in there would be a box fan. Want to play it safe obviously.

Since I'm just going to be spraying epoxy on individual parts for the time being, would it be safer to eliminate the box fan? I'm going to be all suited up with a paint respirator and have filters in both windows.

I've never used a gun to spray anything, but I'd imagine I'd be in there for a few min depending on the size of the part. Not sure how bad it will get in a 10x8x8 booth without any form of fans. Or does the use of filters make it safer in that the paint particles can't get to the box fan?

[Grounded63]

It will fog up pretty fast with no airflow. Box fans do not have brushes, there is no real spark hazard from them. Placing the fan on the incoming side, means that it only sees clean air. Letting the room fog up excessively with no air flow, will be the real hazard. And, it's not really the paint particles so much. As it is the evaporated solvents. Also be aware that posted tech flash times are dependent on ambient temperatures and proper airflow.

What brand/model gun are you using ?

What epoxy are you spraying ?

[ryans69chevy]

Oh okay that makes sense.

I'm not sure on the brand of gun. I was in a paint supplier store a year or so ago and they had a kit for about $150 that had a primer gun, a top coat gun, and a small gun for touch ups. I will probably just do that since I can get new tips for it if needed. They sell PPG paint.

[Grounded63]

If your just wanting to get stuff sealed up. See if they carry the 400 HBE (high build epoxy) series from their Commercial Performance coatings line. The activator and epoxy are available in both white and black. So you can spray them as white black or gray shades. Prior to covid it used to be pretty reasonably priced. The down side will be that they are only available as gallons.

[Chaparralman1974]

I am getting close to painting my truck as well. I will be doing it in my garage. I am by no means a professional, but I am going to give it a shot. I found this video on YouTube that shows how this guy painted in his garage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dJj15N_TC8&t=1286s

I like the idea of using a fan to suck air out of the garage and using a filter on the attic access space to draw air in. Also, for me I plan to turn my gas water heater off when I paint for added safety.


Clay

[Grounded63]

Just Don't paint like that guy, his gun control and technique are difficult to watch. Along with some of his explanations for the texture in his base coat.

[Chaparralman1974]

Originally Posted by Grounded63

Just Don't paint like that guy, his gun control and technique are difficult to watch. Along with some of his explanations for the texture in his base coat.

Totally agree! I should have noted that as well. I was focused more on how he setup his garage to paint.


Clay

[ProjectDD]

Preface: I'm an 18yr professional Painter and Body guy

I'm sharing this to show you don't need an 80k paint booth to produce show quality results. The important part of any booth is that it is a clean environment and you have good air flow. Poor airflow is not only bad for your health while spraying but will effect your product once sprayed. I worked for a guy at his home shop in my early 20s and he used 2 box fans. Hundreds of cars were sprayed out of his house.

I built a 2x4 structure that comes apart in 3 sections for each side. The vertical studs are about 3ft apart and I have 1x3x12 strips in the ceiling to bridge across sections. The wood structure is only to staple the plastic too. I forget the mil of plastic but it is around 12mil or so. I used duct tape to tape my seams. The photos of my booth look dirty because I'm at the end of the paint process, I can't find any of when I just put it together. My exhaust setup is a legit prep deck style setup used in auto shops. I'm using 22 gram 20x20 fiberglass exhaust filters and 20x20 tacky intake filters. Both I purchased off Amazon.

Everyone's home garage is a little different. Figure out where you are pulling fresh air from and where you are exhausting it. Try to get the highest CFM fan for your exhaust you can. Amazon has a good selection of louvered fans with speed controllers. A speed controller would be nice for when you're done spraying. You can set it to a low speed to keep a little flow over the job. Ideally you want 30-60min of air flow post spraying. Have your intake side filter surface area at least equal or greater then your exhaust side surface area. My exhaust surface area is 22.2sq ft and my intake is 27.8sq ft. Place your intake filters to evenly pull air across your work surface. Waist to chest high is ideal and at least 2 intake filters, each one on opposite sides of the booth space. I used trim 1x3s to build my intake framework. I used trim 1x3s because they are squared corners. Makes for tighter fitment.

This Camaro is a 500+ hr bare metal to clear, show quality paint job. 5 Coats of clear, flat sanded with 800/1000/1500/2000/2500/3000 grit and 3 stage buffed. The outdoor pictures are after the sand and buff and the last indoor pic is off the gun.

[ryans69chevy]

Thanks for all the help so far. I finally went and picked up some studs and 6 mil poly to build the booth. Im tucking it in the back corner of the garage where I have two windows. I bought two 20" box fans as well as a couple of furnace filters. Hopefully I get it all sealed up nicely and I can get enough air circulation through it. It will be about 8x10x8. Only thing left to figure out is how I'm getting in and out of it with doors big enough to wheel my cab in when the time comes. I might just build two swinging doors out of studs. I'll post some pics when I get it built.

[ProjectDD]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

Thanks for all the help so far. I finally went and picked up some studs and 6 mil poly to build the booth. Im tucking it in the back corner of the garage where I have two windows. I bought two 20" box fans as well as a couple of furnace filters. Hopefully I get it all sealed up nicely and I can get enough air circulation through it. It will be about 8x10x8. Only thing left to figure out is how I'm getting in and out of it with doors big enough to wheel my cab in when the time comes. I might just build two swinging doors out of studs. I'll post some pics when I get it built.

I see the plastic as a consumable and have just cut out sections and replaced as needed. With that said, why not make a portion of your wall removable. Frame up say a 4ft wide section separate and use a few screws to attach to the rest of the wall. Like I said above, my side walls are built in 3 sections so I can remove and stack outside. Each section gets about 2 tapcons into the concrete and about 3 construction screws to attach to the sections to each other.

Because in theory, the cab will stay in the "booth" for a bit and it wouldn't be like you'd be pulling it out in a few days. I'd leave it in the booth after priming, sand it there and reprime if needed.

[ryans69chevy]

I got the booth up. I gotta tape a few seams to make sure the majority of it is sealed. I framed out the left window for air intake - putting a filter between the window and a box fan. The window on the right I framed out for exhaust - using a box fan between the window and the filter. There is about a 3/4"-1" gap on one side of the filter on the exhaust window. Im not sure if this is concerning or not. I'm hoping it will still pull all the air through the filter instead of that small gap. I bought the same 20" box fans for each window with 3 speeds and then I bought a 20x25x1 filter for each window as well.

First picture shows the doorway. I framed out enough to roll my cab in there without taking any walls apart. Im hoping this works out. I bought some zippers that tape on the 4 mil poly so I can have it mostly sealed and can get in and out easily.

Let me know if you see anything I should have done differently. I also am going to run uni-strut on the bottom of the "joists" so I can hang parts if needed with tie wire.

[Grounded63]

Looks good. Are you going to be breaking it in this weekend ?

The only thing I would say. With those windows being so close together. You're probably not going to get much air flow though the room. You might try ducting or deflecting the incoming air flow. Into the room away from the exhaust side. Something as simple as a sturdy shallow cardboard board box fixed over the incoming window. With the opening facing along the wall.

[Tempest67]

another home made temporary paint booth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g5XGzaiKTE