Spray booth Spray area

Temp626

New User
Tom
Has anyone built their own vented spray booth or spray area. I am interested in building one that has a table approx. 30"x30". I would be spraying almost anything. Would love to get some ideas from a few of you folks that either have purchased a booth or have built one and are willing to share some of the do's-n-dont's. Thanks in advance.
 

JohnnyR

John
Corporate Member
Previously made a collapsible one using poly but the overspray on it would later flake off. Bought one of those tent like booths which work great with a turntable. Has a vent in back that you can hook up to a fan.
 

Temp626

New User
Tom
Previously made a collapsible one using poly but the overspray on it would later flake off. Bought one of those tent like booths which work great with a turntable. Has a vent in back that you can hook up to a fan.
Thank you.
 

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
I have the large and the small HomeRight Spray Shelters. Picked up at Rockler last year on sale around this time, not sure if it was black friday or just a Christmas sale. Worked good the couple of times I've needed to use them.
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
When I built my shop I included a 12' x 12' room dedicated to finishing, including spraying. Think about the largest piece you are likely to ever build, then think about fitting it in the finish room, w/ room to move around it. Also think about getting it into and out of the room. I use a roll around cart w/ a swivel top (think large lazy Susan) that I can move in and out of the room w/ a piece of furniture on it.

There are a number of other considerations (e.g. ventilation, exhaust, etc.). If you would like to come by and see my setup I'd be glad to cover what I think I got right and what I would do different if I had it to do over.
 

Temp626

New User
Tom
I have the large and the small HomeRight Spray Shelters. Picked up at Rockler last year on sale around this time, not sure if it was black friday or just a Christmas sale. Worked good the couple of times I've needed to use them.
Thank you. I will look into those.
 

UncleJoe

Joe
Senior User
This works for me, YMMV. First I move a few machines out of the way then I open the garage door high enough to sit 2 box fans with filters under the door. I lower the door to rest on the fans. I then use cheap poly drop cloths to build a booth. I have a metal door and use magnets to hold the poly across the door, cutting an opening for the 20 inch box fans. I run the poly along the garage door rails which extend about 8-9 feet back into the shop, again holding the poly in place with magnets. I use scrap 2x to weigh down the bottom of the poly and I can pull it tight. If I wanted to enclose the "back/entrance" I could stretch poly across that space but I choose to leave it open. This gives me a U shaped spray area. My shop entrance door is on the far end away from the garage doors, so I leave that open and with the 2 fans running it pulls air and all the spray excess out. I have painted 30 cabinet doors white and found zero over spray in the shop. I use a Earlex 5500 and connect it and the fans to a power strip with a switch. Turn on the earlex and the fans come on.

While this not perfect the cost is minimal and I can set it up in a few minutes. I use construction paper on the floor, the type contractors use to protect floors in finished houses. It is cheap and is bought by the roll in the big box stores. I have an old workmate that has a few height adjustments draped in poly to protect it, to hold my work piece. I built a simple turntable and use pyramids to hold doors for easy painting. I stand in one place and spin the door.
I also made a simple 2x stand with a holder to hold the paint gun when changing out doors. I mounted the power strip on that stand so I can turn the paint and fans on or off right where I am working.

The filters on the fans catch all the paint and I have no spray outside on the driveway. I use this for water based finishes but some folks use these fans with other finishes. There is a lot of air moving across these fans, I have no idea what the real fire hazard would be if you used a more volatile finish.

I have been through many designs but this one excels in that when I am done I toss out the cheap poly, but the magnets back in the drawer and I only have to store the workmate and the Spray gun holder which disassembles to the size of a 2x4 with legs.
 

mdbuntyn

Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
The YouTube channel "I Like to Make Stuff" has a spray booth build. I don't think it's as big as you want, but scaling it should be relatively easy
 

golfdad

Co-director of Outreach
Dirk
Corporate Member
I have a sperate 10 x 14 shed that I finish in. I did not have the room to include it in the shop like Bill’s is so the pieces need to be moved from one shop to another on a cart. I t is also climate controlled
28059676-8C33-4DBF-97C8-C6B02D404A74.jpeg
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
I have the large and the small HomeRight Spray Shelters. Picked up at Rockler last year on sale around this time, not sure if it was black friday or just a Christmas sale. Worked good the couple of times I've needed to use them.
Lee Valley has one too
Portable Spray Shelters - Lee Valley Tools-
Not cheap of course, but since I don't have the room for a dedicated indoor area, I do most of my spraying outside, then carry the project in. Two small tables sprayed today and I had one leaf land on each table in the course of less than 5 mins!
 

Temp626

New User
Tom
When I built my shop I included a 12' x 12' room dedicated to finishing, including spraying. Think about the largest piece you are likely to ever build, then think about fitting it in the finish room, w/ room to move around it. Also think about getting it into and out of the room. I use a roll around cart w/ a swivel top (think large lazy Susan) that I can move in and out of the room w/ a piece of furniture on it.

There are a number of other considerations (e.g. ventilation, exhaust, etc.). If you would like to come by and see my setup I'd be glad to cover what I think I got right and what I would do different if I had it to do over.
All good ideas and thoughts. I would like to take you up on that visit offer. I am in Concord NC relatively close to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. You?
 

Temp626

New User
Tom
I have the large and the small HomeRight Spray Shelters. Picked up at Rockler last year on sale around this time, not sure if it was black friday or just a Christmas sale. Worked good the couple of times I've needed to use them.
[/QUOTE

Thank you.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
We use in the field when we have to paint a basic wood frame wrap in 3-8 mil plastic film, whatever we have insert a light on top if needed , 2 - 6 to 8 inch computer fans as exhaust and one small on the other side as the input in a filtered box. this keep the dust to near zero on the finish We just cut duct tape to hold the filter material (Merv 8- typically).
Then paint away. just depends how big of an area we need. Usually it is small. Just pointing out that any of these mentioned in this post proves that it does not have to elaborate or expensive to make a paint booth, just depends how elaborate you want it.
 
Last edited:

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
From a safety perspective when it comes to ventilation, it is better to have positive ventilation than negative. In essence, have the fan blowing into the workspace, keeping the motor in fresh air, rather than using it to suck the air out which draws the fumes over the motor.

Realize that even if you filter the exhaust side, the fumes from volatile solvents will still be in the exhaust air, and if the prevailing winds are from the exhaust side, it can wrap the fumes back around to the intake fan.

Second, paint overspray/dust can be extremely flammable, so having disposable covers inside that can be easily removed can save you a lot of headaches. If you use plastic sheeting/drapes for this, especially during low humidity conditions, you may want to use a grounding tether attached to your body plus the spray gun to minimize any static discharge. Highly advisable if you are wearing disposable (tyvex) coveralls, etc.
 

Temp626

New User
Tom
We use in the field when we have to paint a basic wood frame wrap in 3-8 mil plastic film, whatever we have insert a light on top if needed , 2 - 6 to 8 inch computer fans as exhaust and one small on the other side as the input in a filtered box. this keep the dust to near zero on the finish We just cut duct tape to hold the filter material (Merv 8- typically).
Then paint away. just depends how big of an area we need. Usually it is small. Just pointing out that any of these mentioned in this post proves that it does not have to elaborate or expensive to make a paint booth, just depends how elaborate you want it.
Thank you
 

Temp626

New User
Tom
From a safety perspective when it comes to ventilation, it is better to have positive ventilation than negative. In essence, have the fan blowing into the workspace, keeping the motor in fresh air, rather than using it to suck the air out which draws the fumes over the motor.

Realize that even if you filter the exhaust side, the fumes from volatile solvents will still be in the exhaust air, and if the prevailing winds are from the exhaust side, it can wrap the fumes back around to the intake fan.

Second, paint overspray/dust can be extremely flammable, so having disposable covers inside that can be easily removed can save you a lot of headaches. If you use plastic sheeting/drapes for this, especially during low humidity conditions, you may want to use a grounding tether attached to your body plus the spray gun to minimize any static discharge. Highly advisable if you are wearing disposable (tyvex) coveralls, etc.
Thank you
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
I just spray outside.
Only negative is a delay when it rains or being brave when it is cold.

The requirements for a PROPER balanced air draft spray booth and the conditioning of the replacement air is simply not in my budget, see link below.

 

Dave Richards

Dave
Senior User
About 7 years ago I did plans for a spray booth for Fine Woodworking Magazine. Here's a exploded view.

Article available here. Plans here.
It's designed to vent outside. The frame in front of the fan holds filter material.
There are a few other smaller options shown on the website, too.
 

Willemjm

Willem
Corporate Member
About 7 years ago I did plans for a spray booth for Fine Woodworking Magazine. Here's a exploded view.

Article available here. Plans here.
It's designed to vent outside. The frame in front of the fan holds filter material.
There are a few other smaller options shown on the website, too.
The question is what happens to the fresh air coming in when we have high humidity outside, or freezing temperatures outside?
 

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