Is there anyone that knows of a body shop in the Houston area that will rent out their spray boothe for me to spray my Vette? Looking for a recent technology spray boothe with good ventilation/filtering and possibly infrared curing.

 

I don't know of any booths in your area, but here is a link you should read. It details the restoration of a '59 Cadillac and a '63 XKE and how he built a paint booth to paint the cars.

Long read, have plenty of time to do it.

http://mckennasgarage.com/

 

Boy - that is nice body work on that caddy

 

You're welcome to use mine but I'm up here in NW Ohio. Now that my paint is done, I'll be tearing it down soon.

http://picasaweb.google.com/BubbaTruck/CarPaint

 

The notion that you need to paint in a spray booth to get good results is not correct. I've painted dozens of cars outside in "natures" spray booth, and several in my house garage with results as good as those sprayed in booths. And I've seen other guys get top quality paint jobs that were painted outside or in their house garage too. Especially with base/clear urethan paints where you sand/buff the clearcoat afterwards. What a spray booth really does is allow a painter a controlled environment for repeatable results. For production work, ya need a paint booth. For occasional paint jobs, ya don't.

The key thing is you need to have a place where you can spray where you can reduce or minimize dust and other particulate. This can be a spray booth, but it can also be your house garage. You can do this in a garage if you blow off the garage walls and ceiling and clean and wet the floor prior to spraying. I prefer to spray outside but it's critical to choose the right location and time. It has to be on a cloudy day and not under trees. Start early, don't do on a hot day. If the sun comes out, you're tanked.

Also, as for spraying in a booth, it takes a leval of experience to get good results. First of all, not all spray booths are well maintained. I've seen guys get big gobbs of crap in their paint from material that fell off the filters. If they run a lot of negative pressure and someone opens a door, you can get lots of dust/material in the paint job. Also, the air-flow characteristics and lighting can conspire to produce an undesireable finish. Poor lighting leads to orange peel and/or runs or poor metal flake lay-out. Guys that spray in the same booth all the time, learn how to work around the booth and also know how much paint they can "push" and how quickly the reducers will evaporate. Outside, you'll have the best lighting you'll ever have. Plus fumes are a non-issue. I don't have close neighbors, but that might be an issue for some.

I've sprayed in a couple different booths. I found it difficult to go from one booth to another. Ya aren't used to the lighting, the air flow isn't the same, etc. I'm used to my garage and I've gotten nice paint jobs. Bear in mind that the most dust will likely come from your clothes, hair, the floor or dust that's trapped in folds of the masking paper. These are easy to eliminate. Personally, I've grown to accept that I will get some dust and a few minor boogers in the paint, but now I know how to tackle them. With clearcoat paints, the boogers can for the most part be eliminated after the fact. Also, I've known a lot of good painters and they'll say that there is almost no such thing as a perfect paint job. I've seen these guys jobs out of the booth and there is almost always a small sag or two if you get really critical. Anyway, good luck, ...booth or no booth.

 

I hear you Mark - I have painted my share of cars in the drievway (spots) and in the garage (complete)... the dust is indeed an issue. I used to do R&M lacquers, so dry time was quick - wasn't such an issue.

I actually was hoping to especially gain the infrared drying from the boothe. The newer paints are tougher and I was just thinking the infrared cure would make it even tougher (ie: better). Now that you challenged me, you make me realize that with or without cure, the new paint is more resilient than lacquers.

If I cannot land a boothe - you bet - the garage will be hosed with air, taped with plastic and an attempt at filtration/venting. The wet floor is a must.... HEY ! maybe I will devise a DOWNDRAFT platform in my garage

 

When I painted my car in my garage, I additionally added a large number of florescent lights to the ceiling. Also, I did wet and wash the floor thoroughly, although I did wait until it dried before painting. I was concerned the wet floor would elevate the humidity. At the time I was spraying lacquer and didnt' want dew forming on the wet lacquer.

 

We have a brand new Ameri-cure heated, down draft booth available. You would have to have the car ready for paint, all your supplies and come in Saturday afternoon to spray the car, let it cure until Monday and pick the car up that morning.
$600.00 for the weekend.
Drop me a line and we can work out the details.
Skip in Houston

 

Hi Skip - good to hear form you... will PM.

BTW guys... I already did the fluorescent lights - man they are sweet !!!!!!