sosugrad

It has been about 7 months since I painted and all is still good so I feel comfortable enough to post what I did for a paint booth. I chose to build one in my driveway instead of paint in the garage. I started with one of those cheap party tents from ebay, 12x20, then improved it with cheap 1/2 inch boards for strength since it would have to be up for a couple weeks and I did not want it to blow down. It might have been cheaper to build a wood frame but this was very easy to put up and take down. I got a roll of 20x100 feet of 1.5 mil plastic, since the frame was 20 ft long I wrapped it completely around to include the floor. Then cut pieces to enclose each end, ended up sealed pretty tight. I played with the ventilation because I wanted a slight positive pressure so I put 2 cheap lowes 20in fans up high for intake and 1 fan for exhaust. I found if put my big shop fan about 5ft down from the exhaust fan I could control the pressure. Then I put A/C filters over each fan then added a couple more to the walls. I put in several shop lights but found during the day did not really need them. Made a rack out of my stepladder to hang the small parts on. Painted the door jambs and hood surround, put the car back in the garage and installed doors and hood then started painting. I did run into some issues on the actual painting but with help of a guy, owner Barry at a Southern Epoxy/Painting company who I called numerous times and walked me through each issue it worked. At least I am happy with it

sosugrad

The rest of the pics

USMC 0802

Well done, that's a clever set up!

I suspect you don't have many neighbors to complain?

Dt86

The third photo reminds me of the show Dexter.

Plasticfreak

Looks great............what a nice job,you saved yourself about $3k


Not mine, just one killer ride!

sosugrad

closest neighbor is a couple acres away, a normal neighborhood the fumes would bring the cops, I would think

LT1driver

nice, very nice

Dave Tracy

Fortunately, the EPA expressly has a provision that a hobbyist is allowed to paint 2 cars per year without all of the equipment production shops are required to have. I'm ready if the cops come by on my 1 in 20 years project.

Plasticfreak

That's good to know!

DUB

YES...the EPA rule is the 6H rule. I am compliant and took the class and all the stuff I have to have to keep them happy.

If anybody is going to do something like this I will give you some advice.

The CORRECT TYPE OF exhaust filers are important so you do not have mists and oversprays getting out. As for the vapors...they are what they are and I have yet to see where I have to install an afterburner. And this is also why I use the approved HVLP paint gun. BUT...if you are painting.... I do know that getting the exhaust air to be routed up is best...and DO NOT paint at night. Painting at night...due to the inversion of the atmosphere...all of your paint fumes will stay at ground level....and you can actually get it to the point that what you are exhausting is being sucked right back into your 'booth'.

DUB

M_T_0

did the same (well sort of) but used positive pressure fan with inlet filters (after the fans)
then on the outflow installed swamp cooler mats with a water mist spray, I could hardly tell when I was spraying, Before I installed the water spray I was always afraid someone would call the cops.

porchdog

ideal time is early am . cool , humidity is lowest and bugs are gone .

DUB

I do know that painting at night is not wise due to an inversion of the atmosphere....and what happens is that the exhaust fumes and such linger at ground level. It can look like a foggy night on a mountain lake sorta thing. So..painting it as like what 'porchdog'
has advised is correct...due to the temps are increasing and the vapors go up into the atmosphere instead of staying at ground level...which is also depending on how you have your exhaust going....generally.

DUB

sosugrad

Learned this lesson the hard way on my first time. It was around 95 during the day so I thought I would be smart and shoot the last coat of epoxy in the evening after it cooled down. After I shot the coat noticed tiny bumps all over the top back of the car. Little tiny gnats were attracted to the lights and were sucked in by the fans ending up all over the car. Delayed another day to sand that coat back off.