RFC - Temporary Paint Booth

So I’m just spit balling here on what it would take to make a temporary paint booth next door.

We have a couple of options:

  1. Dexter style kill room - put up drop cloths hanging from the ceiling, a couple more on the floor
    Cost ~$20 - $40.

Materials:
A few packs of these $5 drop cloths. http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-9-ft-x-12-ft-0-7-mil-Drop-Cloth-3-Pack-DCHD-07-3/204711646
Some rods, say these $3 1/2 conduits. http://www.homedepot.com/p/1-2-in-EMT-Conduit-101543/100400405

Pros:

  • Cheap
  • Easy to install

Cons:

  • Flimsy
  • High Ceilings make it difficult to hang, might need some poles or something suspended from the rafters
  1. Kill room with 2x4s
    Same as first one, but we build some 2x4 frames for the drop cloths. I think this would be more expensive, but easy to more

  2. Foam board
    3-4 of these boards with 2x4 to brace the corners. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Expanded-Polystyrene-Foam-Board-Insulation-Common-1-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Actual-0-937-in-x-3-875-ft-x-7-875-ft/3365576
    Cost $40-50
    Something like this: http://www.finewoodworking.com/2007/11/01/make-a-simple-spray-booth
    Pros:

  • Durable
  • Easy to Assemble
  • Material can be re-used in other projects

Cons:

  • More expensive

Ventilation:
For now I think a box fan with a course filter rubber banded to the front. Walmart has a few in the $15-20 range.

Now the important thing to understand is that these are designed to be temporary and therefore cheap and easy to take down, move around, etc. If we decide this is what we wanted I’d suggest something a bit more robust. Further a box fan is a really poor idea for anything that’s going to be used with spray material because it’s going to get messed up pretty quick with all the stuff going through it.

Would compressed air need to be ran?
If Yes how much would this cost?
If no, Is it necessary? or could/should we use a small portable unit, if the hive doesn’t have one cost?

The .7 mil situation won’t work… They are too light to stay in place, so any air current will have them them flapping more than a woman in a sparkly dress in the 1920’s. You can’t weight them down, because they can’t support any additional weight because of how thin they are. Also, the solvents in a number of paints will do them in over time. Not that I was witness to these exact failures in a situation previously or anything…

That’s sarcasm, I totally was.

If you want to go the cheap route, you need to use either the expensive clear vinyl curtains. Or you can use a fabric with weights sewn into the bottom. You can get away with modifying bedsheets for that.

Yes, we’d need an air drop. We could run it from the line over the woodshop. So we’d need a junction, pipe, a quick disconnect, and some hose. I can loan the hive some hose for this, I have no idea what the rest would cost.

The .7 mil situation won’t work… They are too light to stay in place, so any air current will have them them flapping more than a woman in a sparkly dress in the 1920’s.

Good point, wasn’t really thinking to much about the thickness, but thicker is better. I’ve done it before with the really gauzy stuff, I find making sure 1-2’ is dragging on the ground fixes some of this, but you’re right, far from prefect. Putting it on a 2x4 frame would help, but get expensive. Also this seems reasonable:

If you want to go the cheap route, you need to use either the expensive clear vinyl curtains. Or you can use a fabric with weights sewn into the bottom. You can get away with modifying bedsheets for that.

The bedsheets is an interesting idea, not sure where I’d get some cheap/used, maybe somebody would want to donate?

Oh, also not sure what to do about the issue with spray paint or other air borne stuff flying around. I’ve been told we’ve used the dirty room for spray painting in the past, so this just shifts that around.

Bedsheets are easy… especially plain ones…
Keep in mind that you usually want your atmosphere in the booth to be clean… lint/hair etc falling onto wet paint can ruin a nice finish… So all that air coming in ought to be cleaned… and the air thats being vented out has to come from somewhere if you use plastic.

True, but I think for our purposes, being out of the saw dust factory is going to be as good as it gets. The air in the annex isn’t going to be super clean, since it’s an old industrial building, but it’s not super nasty either. Anything more I’m guessing requires very expensive air scrubbers in, and I’m not sure how I would do that on a Hive budget. For that matter, I think that more professional setups don’t worry about it too much until you get to a car paint booth.

If you’ve got some suggestions, I’ll willing to look into them.

Yes a major factor is how perfect you need it. If you are doing a metallic gold base with candy apple red colorcoat and a gold metalflake overtop, the hive is not going be exactly appropriate for that kind of painting application. Free dust particles in the air are a major concern.

If you are using a rattle can, I think the main worry is piles of sawdust, grabbing wet paint, spraying something that shouldn’t be painted, and pissing off people in the space that didn’t want to get high on paint fumes.

The first is expensive to achieve, the second is easy to achieve. For a small amount of money we should be able to achieve something in between those two.