Help - DIY Paint booth ideas/designs? (5000 posts, crap!)

[Gunny]

I just use those cheap HF blue tarps, screwed into 2x4s at the top to cover a corner in my shop. If you hang the 2x4s at the same height, the grommets will line up on the corner and can be tied together with just about anything at hand.
On mine, I just hung small pulleys on the roof joists then used 1/4 inch rope tied to the bottom grommets, then I can pull the tarps up out of the way when they're not needed. The only downside I have with mine is that the top isn't covered, so I do get some occasional dust

 

[dragoneggs]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far... please keep them coming!

 

[dstig1]

This was mine. I now have a decent 10x12' spray booth room built into the new shop. in the new one I made a panel, like a window made of a section of foam and sheathing that I pull out and drop in my fan when i want to spray. So normally it looks basically like a solid wall with some trim around this one section, until I want to spray. I have full inlet filters on this now.

The old one was knock-down but only filtered the air going to the fan so it wasn't great in that regard (stuff could easily get into your finish). You can see the fan's shadow behind the filter in the middle there. I made it from 1/4" luaun plywood glued to 1.5" foam (IIRC). I painted the inside bright white for lighting purposes, and hinged them together with basic door hinges with pins I could knock out to break it down. The center section was a bit sturdier as it had to hold the fan. I got the fan from Grainger and found one that was pretty well sealed but not explosion proof ($$). Yes I took some chances, but I sealed up everything else that i could with silicone to minimize the risk of anything getting to see a spark. I also mostly spray water-based, so less of an issue. I called it my "explosion resistant" fan and just put a long flex cord on it, so I could plug it in well away from the booth. I would take the fan off when I broke it down. I also made a lid for it out of 1/2-5/8" cheap plywood with a cutout to lay a 4' fluorescent light on top for extra lighting (first pic). I screwed in a clear plastic piece to the plywood to help seal the light away from any fumes. I also made a turntable from a lazy susan from HD which is helpful as others have pointed out (sitting on the horses, though not obvious). Once I had it set up, I would put 2" cheap masking tape over the hinge seams to direct airflow better and help keep bugs and stuff out was about all I had to do before starting. Oh yeah - I also put down a heavy canvas painters tarp before setting it up. Mounted a screw-in hook for the spray gun to hang it when I needed to. Just unscrew it when breaking it down. I bought a box of spray booth paper filters and stapled a few up over the opening to the fan. Never had to change them the few years I used this (sporadically).

It was kind of a PITA to setup/teardown, but I would batch things so I only set it up when I had enough to do. I always did it solo, but a helper would have made it a little easier. Yeah I put some thought into it... If you can find 1/8" plywood use it, but it needs to be able to take paint to make it white (hard to do with slick, dark brown hardboard)

 

[jenkinsph]

Dave,
Have you considered the melamine sheet goods? These are available with egg shell white finish and have a smooth finish. Used to make cabinet boxes and available in 1/4" for sure maybe thinner too. Domitar is one brand I can think of right off.

 

[dstig1]

That would also work. Like I said that was V1.0 I have built a permanent room in the new shop for this, fully painted white (drywall). You just have to watch weight as these can get heavy quickly with more or more dense material.

 

[dragoneggs]

This was mine. I now have a decent 10x12' spray booth room built into the new shop. in the new one I made a panel, like a window made of a section of foam and sheathing that I pull out and drop in my fan when i want to spray. So normally it looks basically like a solid wall with some trim around this one section, until I want to spray. I have full inlet filters on this now.

The old one was knock-down but only filtered the air going to the fan so it wasn't great in that regard (stuff could easily get into your finish). You can see the fan's shadow behind the filter in the middle there. I made it from 1/4" luaun plywood glued to 1.5" foam (IIRC). I painted the inside bright white for lighting purposes, and hinged them together with basic door hinges with pins I could knock out to break it down. The center section was a bit sturdier as it had to hold the fan. I got the fan from Grainger and found one that was pretty well sealed but not explosion proof ($$). Yes I took some chances, but I sealed up everything else that i could with silicone to minimize the risk of anything getting to see a spark. I also mostly spray water-based, so less of an issue. I called it my "explosion resistant" fan and just put a long flex cord on it, so I could plug it in well away from the booth. I would take the fan off when I broke it down. I also made a lid for it out of 1/2-5/8" cheap plywood with a cutout to lay a 4' fluorescent light on top for extra lighting (first pic). I screwed in a clear plastic piece to the plywood to help seal the light away from any fumes. I also made a turntable from a lazy susan from HD which is helpful as others have pointed out (sitting on the horses, though not obvious). Once I had it set up, I would put 2" cheap masking tape over the hinge seams to direct airflow better and help keep bugs and stuff out was about all I had to do before starting. Oh yeah - I also put down a heavy canvas painters tarp before setting it up. Mounted a screw-in hook for the spray gun to hang it when I needed to. Just unscrew it when breaking it down. I bought a box of spray booth paper filters and stapled a few up over the opening to the fan. Never had to change them the few years I used this (sporadically).

It was kind of a PITA to setup/teardown, but I would batch things so I only set it up when I had enough to do. I always did it solo, but a helper would have made it a little easier. Yeah I put some thought into it... If you can find 1/8" plywood use it, but it needs to be able to take paint to make it white (hard to do with slick, dark brown hardboard)


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Thanks for sharing Dave! I was imagining a hinging fold-up type as well. I would love to get my hands on some fiberglass faced honeycomb aircraft floor panels for the walls. These are quite rigid and strong and super lightweight. I had a chance to buy a bunch of it long ago when Boeing had a surplus store. You could buy just about anything from mill bits to aircraft surplus parts, raw materials, and office surplus. Now they auction stuff off in lots and they tend to be far bigger than I could consume and don't want to be stuck having to pawn off what I don't need.

 

[crazyal]

A number of years ago when I was occasionally doing body work on cars I had a portable booth made out of sheet metal. The panels were 4x8 sheets with all 4 ends bent at 90 degrees to make them stiff. They would just hook onto each other and had foam stuck on the ends to seal them. They also had hooks on them so a 1/2" pipe could drop into them to stiffen up long runs and make an easy place to hang lights off of. One of the panels had a screen door. I'm pretty sure it was homemade but worked well. I could set it up in about a half hour. You just built 3 sides and the roof, pull the car in, and then put up the last side. The panels for the roof had furnace filters in it and several of the side panels had holes that you put box fans in front of to pull the excess paint out of the booth. I don't have any pictures of it and no longer have it.

I kind of miss it so I've been looking for a replacement. I've been watching Crag's list for used metal garage doors. They are also light and easy to handle and are plenty ridged enough to do the job. I was just going to make a frame out of metal that could go together quickly and then stack the door panels on top of each other. The insulated steel door panels are easy to cut down. I often see smaller 8x8 and 8x7 doors for sale for cheap. Most people want wider doors so the narrow ones don't sell easily. I've never bothered but I bet you could even talk to garage door installers and see if they get damaged panels (that you could cut off the damage) or old doors they removed.

 

[dstig1]

Yeah honeycomb panels would be great, if you could get them. I strongly recommend doing the lid and a light up above. Otherwise it gets hard to see details in the booth. I set up a couple halogen worklights back a ways to throw more light that way (and so they are not in my way), but you end up blocking some of that light with your body as you move around, so setting them up towards the left and right more will help (and the light above is a BIG help). That single fixture with 2-4' bulbs was a massive improvement. It is a "washdown" style wet location light which works good for this as it is pretty well self contained and sturdy. Also watch the height if you need it to tuck under a garage door like I did. I ended up having to shave it down some more to fit under the 7' door.

 

[MossRoad]

I recall helping my youngest with model building for 4H. She did a really good job, and we bought some very expensive Japanese lacquer in spray cans. We set up a large cardboard box on sawhorses in the shed and started spraying. Now, I was well over 225# back then. She was lucky to be 65#. After a few minutes of spraying, we take a quick break. She looks at me and says "Dad, what's getting high feel like?"......

Soooo..... we stopped painting and took a good, long walk around the yard a few times. :laughing:

Don't forget good ventilation.... Bad dad! Bad dad!.

 

[dragoneggs]

I recall helping my youngest with model building for 4H. She did a really good job, and we bought some very expensive Japanese lacquer in spray cans. We set up a large cardboard box on sawhorses in the shed and started spraying. Now, I was well over 225# back then. She was lucky to be 65#. After a few minutes of spraying, we take a quick break. She looks at me and says "Dad, what's getting high feel like?"......

Soooo..... we stopped painting and took a good, long walk around the yard a few times. :laughing:

Don't forget good ventilation.... Bad dad! Bad dad!.

Just caught my wife making some halloween decorations using wine bottles, spray paint and masking tape. Other than the overspray from her carefree spraying in my shop that had me cringing, I had to tell her to wear a filtration mask!