Ghetto paint booth

[Mudhen]

Paint?  Mudhen's ready to paint?  Inconceivable!

Well, it's true - it IS inconceivable!

I'm so far off from any sort of finish painting I never even thought about a paint booth.  But awhile back someone here made the comment about overspray getting on everything in your garage...and with my driveway being dirt, outside isn't really an option either.  So figuring even primer would require some type of protection for the junk in my garage I thought I better do something.  And since everything I do I do wrong the first time, I thought others may take note of the wrong way to do it if they're attempting a PVC ghetto style paint booth.  22.gif

I still need to add some finishing touches like the zipper door and air filters, but this is first part.

I started with hanging a 2" PVC frame - approx 10'x16' - from the ceiling at the back and the underside of the garage door runners up front.


Then I covered that with plastic as the roof of the booth.  I used duct tape to hold it but it only took a week or so before I found out that wasn't a permanent solution...so I put in little self tapping screws every couple of feet - these little guys:


Then I made the bottom frame, which was a foot or so bigger than the top.  I put some eye hooks into it and tied rope through them.  I put a hook into the garage ceiling and put a pulley on it so I could hoist the lower frame up.  I really wanted to use a single attachment in middle but couldn't figure out how that would work with the roof of the booth in the way.  8.gif

So I used one per side.


And welded up some cleats to tie off on.


I bought a roll of 10x100' 6mil plastic and went around the frames with it.  Unfortunately, I went fully around the top frame, thinking I had plenty of extra plastic to reach around the bottom corners (and some dummy made the bottom bigger than the top) - so my corners wouldn't reach.   50.gif

Since that same dummy had already put a bunch of screws in...I had to make some patches for the corners.  Man I should have gone around the bottom first...stoopid...


Amazing Goop works wonders once again...I love this stuff.  I'll probably go around the plastic and seal it up along the PVC at some point, too.


So now I have the plastic attached and can pull it up with the ropes to get it out of the way when not needed.  Ummm, sort of.  Trouble is the middle hangs down still.


So I sunk some rope into a few places on each side and glued it in.  I'm telling you, that glue is awesome.


Here it is down:


And up (still hangs down too much for my liking - will probably put some more rope on each side to keep it up):


Inside it looks like this:


The soft light inside makes me think that if it doesn't work for painting I could probably put a bed in it and make some sort of adult film studio.  20.gif

Now I need to work out the zipper door and air filter...

[94touring]

Hey nothing wrong with pvc and plastic!  Worked for me.

[MiniGene]

"I could probably put a bed in it and make some sort of adult film studio."

LMAO!!

The booth looks really good! Looking forward to seeing the door and air filter.

[MtyMous]

This is pretty awesome. I'm jealous. And that last picture makes me kind of sleepy. haha

[Mudhen]

A couple months ago I went to paint my MINI hood and realized I never finished this thing...I dropped the sides down but no air in or air out (other than the corners I still haven't sealed).  Unfortunately, having put it in the middle of the garage there's no easy way to get air out.  I guess I should have put it in the corner, that way I would have had direct access to the walls.  Pissah.   50.gif

So in order to at least have some outlet I put in a 4" dryer tube from the ceiling of the booth out the side of the garage.  Then I picked up one of these from vminnovations:



http://www.vminnovations.com/Product_9447/Hydrofarm-Inline-Fan-ACDF4-Active-Air-4-Inch-In-Line-Fan-165-CFM.html

Happy with how it turned out, assuming it will be grossly inadequate.   ::)







Next up, finish sealing the corners and put in something for air intake...

[jchealey]

I just used plastic to paint my car.  A few hints :   
1.  The type of plastic might be a problem.  I used regular plastic and the airborne paint would stick for a while but sometimes fall dont into my fresh next coat.  I switched to a plastic that is made to have paint stick to it.  No more falling specks.
2.  Air flow, you will get good airflow but might want to put a filter on the out flow to pick up the wasted paint.  You will be amazed at the volume.  I also put a filter in the inflow, to make sure air coming in did not have any specks in it.   
Your booth will work ,  looks similar to mine, but I like your idea of raising up the bottom frame when not needed. 

Jerry

[Mudhen]

I just used plastic to paint my car.  A few hints :   
1.  The type of plastic might be a problem.  I used regular plastic and the airborne paint would stick for a while but sometimes fall dont into my fresh next coat.  I switched to a plastic that is made to have paint stick to it.  No more falling specks.
2.  Air flow, you will get good airflow but might want to put a filter on the out flow to pick up the wasted paint.  You will be amazed at the volume.  I also put a filter in the inflow, to make sure air coming in did not have any specks in it.   
Your booth will work ,  looks similar to mine, but I like your idea of raising up the bottom frame when not needed. 

Jerry

Thanks Jerry.  I do plan on putting an air filter on the inbound side...picked up an extra one when I was buying the house ones (2'x2'x1").  Think I'd like to try putting it up on the roof since that's not going up/down like the sides, not sure yet, though.

What kind of spec would I be looking for on the plastic?  Replacing it would be a pain but at least I could dig myself out of the mess of having the bottom too short.

Appreciate the input.

Pat

[jchealey]

http://www.carquest.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/subcategory__10151_-1_10651_11777
Here is a source ,  I actually bought 3 M brand but it probably does not matter.  The disadvantage is that it is so thin, the air flow makes it billow and that is a problem with touching parts.  With your bottom frame, that may not be an issue.  I put 2x4 on the bottom the keep it from moving.  In any case, you can do a good paint job in that booth.  I just finished a Triumph TR3 and my Mini.  I can't say I like painting but they look pretty good for an beginner. 
Jerry