My workshop is located in my basement, however the house is built on a hill and the rear of the house is at ground level. As a result, I really didn't want to cut a hole in the backside of the house for an outlet for a paint booth. My solution was to build a simple paint booth that vents into my workshop but seems to absorb many of the fumes. I use a floor fan that is about twenty inches square and mount it in a book size moving box. Photo 1 shows the rear of the booth. The fan fits tightly within the box and is aimed to draw air into the front of the booth and exit it out the back. A cutout is made on the box for the handle of the fan and for access to the control knob.
To absorb the paint over spray and a majority of the fumes and in my opinion, to eliminate any chance of sparks from the fan motor causing fire I taped a furnace filter over the front of the fan (see photo 2). I use one of the higher quality pleated filters that are advertised as odor removing. From my point of view, it works well. I can paint all night without being driven from the area and I have completely eliminated that fine coating of over spray that eventually covers everything in the shop plus, my model finishes remain much more dust free than before.
To improve the visibility within the booth, I cut out an opening in the top and taped a piece of diffusion pattern Plexiglas over the opening. I have a desk lamp set on top of the booth to provide the lighting. Finally, I made a rotating platform, kind of an elevated Lazy Susan, to hold the model and position it for spraying. |
