How to make a home-made spray booth

[bubbles2]

Not that you would,notice, the first mark 1 used computer 12v fans but were no where near good enough, the second one used an old cheese ripening box provided by Bubbles2 of this forum.

 

Gone posh now with mark 3' it's fully enclosed and I keep meaning to fit a light into it as well.

 

At the mo it is in the loft as it was doubling up as a damp air extractor up there as well!! :-)

 

As a PS, the cable was an extension lead from B&Q with about 5 m of wire with a double socket, just cut the sockets off and wired to the fan! It was cheaper than buying the wire and a plug!!!! :-)

 

Good to hear those boxes are still being put to good use Neil.

[BlackRat]

Good to hear those boxes are still being put to good use Neil.

There's still a few left Geoff!

[Bruciethefish]

Virtually all mains-powered fan motors will be induction types, i.e. brushless, as these are the norm for low-power applications, having a low current consumption & long operating life. Motors with brushes are more generally used in domestic appliances such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines, & refrigerators where a much higher power output is required in order for the appliance to function effectively. 

I've been using an 'Xpelair' fan (fished from a skip) on a regular basis for 20-odd years, & just knock the dried paint off it every 5 years or so when it starts to lose its suck, or the shutters start to stick... I've used just about every kind of paint or solvent you're likely to encounter, & have never, ever managed to cause anything to ignite. The real problem with volatile solvents or gases comes when they exist within an unventilated or confined space where vapours can build up to a potentially explosive level. In an 'open' situation such as a basic domestic spray booth operating in free air & discharging outdoors, these circumstances are highly unlikely to arise...

 Let's enjoy our painting & try not to worry, shall we?

[tomparryharry]

Had mine several years, well I have made more than one version, I reckon again about 10 years plus and no fires, explosions or underpants threatening moments at all! I

 

I even have the fan mounted direct to the box!

 

I use it now I preference to the ready to go portable model which I have never used!

 

Don't forget the cake icing turntable as well, £1.99 in Trago Mills :-)

 

Yes. Watch out for the Marzipan dust if you're using the Trago Mills turntable. It's best to use walnut halves in the Marzipan. You don't get a lot of spray, but it tastes nice....

 

Ian.

[BlackRat]

As an update...... using the box again today, and yesterday and many times over the last few years since the thread started........still no issues and that includes spraying acetone through to clean the nozzle!

Edited June 29, 2017 by BlackRat

[Valentin]

Hello,

 

If today, after 18 months, you're still there, and no explosion happened, maybe you can help with an advice.

 

I intend to build such a spray booth and I was thinking to use a 6" (150 mm) diameter extraction fan (air-flow: 200 m³/h); would this be better than the standard Manrose 4" (100 mm) diameter fan, with 85m³/h air-flow? I can see the air flow for the professional spray-booths are rated at 3 cubic meter/min (or 180 m³/h).

 

Regards,

[cypherman]

Hi all,

My spray booth is made up of 2 large cardboard boxes cut and taped together. I have built several wooden mounting blocks to use in it to hold the model in the position I want. I also used an old microwave base to make a rotating base plate to turn what ever I am painting without touching the model. When the boxes get past their best I just build another one. Nice, cheap and simple. I do all my spray painting in the shed with good ventilation so do not use an extractor fan. For lighting I use 2 battery powered LED lights stuck to the top of the boxes.

Edited January 27, 2019 by cypherman

[Valentin]

Instead of the microwave base I am going to use one of these rotating platforms. I've just bought one from a model railway exhibition for £2.99.

 

As for the booth, I have a 24L plastic storage box I got from Range for £3.99.

 

I wouldn't use an extracting fan but I cannot spray outside (or in the garage) this time of the year, with temperatures usually in single figures.

[timbowilts]

Instead of the microwave base I am going to use one of these rotating platforms.

If it is as good as the one that I bought chuck it in the bin now!

The dratted thing never rotated freely at all

 

Tim T

Modelling Cwm Cynon in EM

[russ p]

I've just bought a fan and turntable for less than a tenner off eBay and I'm hoping to put a kitchen worktop light in too.

I think a decent filter up stream of the fan will be a good idea when I can find a suitable filter

[Valentin]

If it is as good as the one that I bought chuck it in the bin now!

The dratted thing never rotated freely at all

 

Tim T

Modelling Cwm Cynon in EM

 

Then I must be lucky as mine works just fine. And for the price I paid, i wouldn't mind if I have to get another one when this brakes.

 

Anyway, I am going to get the larger fan (£12,89 on eBay, new). As for the filter, I have some of these laying around.

[AndrewC]

One thing to remember, with extraction you are trying to only create an area of low air pressure inside the booth to keep the spray from escaping, and just enough air flow to be able to push the spray through a filter. Too much airflow and you end up sucking dirt, dust, and the neighbour's cat past your nice cleanly painted model. Subtle and gentle = good. Wind tunnel = bad. 

[Valentin]

One thing to remember, with extraction you are trying to only create an area of low air pressure inside the booth to keep the spray from escaping, and just enough air flow to be able to push the spray through a filter. Too much airflow and you end up sucking dirt, dust, and the neighbour's cat past your nice cleanly painted model. Subtle and gentle = good. Wind tunnel = bad. 

 

I agree with this, and for this purpose I have a PWM controller to adjust the fan's speed.

[AndrewS]

Hello All, a couple of years have passed since this topic was last active, so I'm just wondering if anyone has been consumed in a fireball from ignited lacquer thinners yet? 

On a serious note; have there been any evidence-based shifts in thinking, with regards to the possibility of vapours igniting in a home-made spray booth? I'm about to make one, following AngryMeerkat's original design, and it would be good to know of any recent developments.

 

Cheers, Andrew

 

[boxbrownie]

On 21/07/2014 at 11:45, PGC said:

Looking at the B&Q site, the manufacturer of the unit is Manrose. I did a quick Google search - they're based in Slough so I 'phoned them up. All their fans are IP44 rated. When I asked if the motor in the B&Q unit would be an induction motor, the reply was "No, it's just an ordinary axial motor". Surely every motor of any kind is axial as it goes round, or am I missing something? Because of that, I decided to give up asking technical questions of the technical department! I then decided to use Google again to find out what an axial motor is, and I found this link. To my mind, this means an axial motor is brushless and therefore highly unlikely to spark. However, that's a guess - anyone want to shoot my theory down in flames? Please feel free to do so - I'm willing to learn!

 

After I'd been told about the IP44 rating I decided to try and find out what it means. From this link the first figure of the IP44 rating means that the fan is protected against most screws and wires of less than 1mm diameter. The second figure means that water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect on the fan.

 

I explained that there is some discussion on a modelling forum about the use of the extractor kit for a spray booth, and the immediate response was that they're not suitable, but surely that would be the natural response if the unit is being used for a purpose for which it wasn't designed. However, to my mind, the unit must be suitable, as I really wouldn't like the idea of having a motor to which water could get access - even though it's a long time since I did 'O' level physics, I do seem to recall that water and electricity aren't natural bed fellows! 

Phil

Nah you’ll be fine, just don’t try and respray an entire full size Range Rover with cellulose in the booth.....I made almost exactly  the same but used a large plastic storage box as the booth.

 

I tend to spray (well do really) exclusively acrylic paint.

[boxbrownie]

On 21/07/2014 at 19:37, JeffP said:

Wot's Trago Mills? Anything like Dunelm MIlls?

Nothing at all...really.....you want a 3 ton plastic elephant playing an Oboe.....they probably have one 

[Phil Mc]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

Nothing at all...really.....you want a 3 ton plastic elephant playing an Oboe.....they probably have one 

 

We regularly call in Trago Mills when on our way to holiday in Cornwall.

Rarely do we have any room in the car to actually buy anything, we just go to marvel at the sheer amount of random guff they have for sale !! 

It's like an Aladdin's cave of tat. 

 

To actually add to the relevant discussion, I use an old kitchen extractor unit, stood up vertically, as a spray extractor.

There's a vent brick in the wall of my garage which usually has the vent pipe from the tumble dryer connected to it, but when I'm spraying I simply remove the pipe, and attach the one from the extractor.

After about 5 years of use the cloth filter blocked up, so I just removed it and carried on !

Not managed to blow it (or me!) up yet.

 

Cheers,

Phil.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Phil Mc