# Spray Booth Build - Updated!!



## Richard Findley (20 Jan 2011)

Hi all,

This is the tale, including lots of pictures of my Spray Booth build.

As a professional turner spraying is not a main part of my business, however, my biggest customer is a Gothic manufacturer so everything I make for them is sprayed gloss black, so at least once a week I spray something that I have made, usually a small batch of Walking Canes or batch of MDF display boards.

I didn't have a spray booth so use the Morrells 362 Waterbourne Lacquer, which I find to be excellent. I wear a proper spray mask which gives good protection, but there are no fumes as such, which is the main reason I use this finish. The problem is that the over spary is a very fine blck dust which settles EVERYWHERE!!!!:







Every surface is covered and this had to stop!!!

I am fortunate to have 2 levels to my workshop. The main work area is downstairs with the upstairs being for spraying and general storage. Upstairs bore the majority of the black dust but even the downstairs surfaces got it too!

My old set up was based around an old table and lots of plastic sheeting:






You can see how the black goes everywhere!

I've managed for the best part of 3 years with this set up but I got fed up and so decided to get something sorted. With this winter beingso cold I couldn't even have the workshop door open for natural extraction!!

I saw my friendly Morrells rep for a stain colour match problem I had and asked casually about spray booths, he said "Yeah, you shouldbe able to get something for about £2 grand..." he obviously noticed my faceat this point and went on to say "or for what you need you could probably build your own. We sell filters."

I got thinking about the problem and came up with the following....

To be continued tomorrow..... (its getting late and I've got to be up for the night feed!!)


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## wizer (20 Jan 2011)

ah Interesting Rich. Look forward to seeing what you've come up with. I know Mr Oryx has been building his spray area recently.


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## Richard Findley (23 Jan 2011)

Apologies for the delay in part 2 of the post. You know how it is!!

Thanks for the interest Tom!!

Right then, where was I....

I had to get myself a fan of some sort to extract. I initiallly looked at this one from Machine Mart:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/p...in-hd-axial-plate-fan/path/axial-plate-fans-2

But I'm not sure about the quality of Clarke kit so I did a bit of digging and came across this company:

http://www.fansandspares.co.uk/shop/category/271-plate-axial-fans

They seem to be a bit more specialist and had a better range at a better price so I gave them a call. Turns out they've got branches everywhere, including just down the road in Leicester!! Result!!

I decided the smaller one would probably be big enough but as I am only filtering the air and pumping it back into the workshop I didn't want it too powerful so I'm continuously blasted with air. After a chat with the guy I went for the small fan at the faster speed but with a speed control unit (only an extra £35). I found the company very helpful with good service. Highly recommended!!











Next step was to cut my 18mm MDF which I was to use for the body of the booth and fit the fan into the back section:






At this stage I should point out that I had cleared the area and disposed of the old plastic sheeting! The table which had featured in my old spray area will remain as my spray surface:






The fan in place:






I then attached sides to the booth. You can probably begin to see where I'm going with this now:






Then a top and base:






The filters I chose came from Morrells and are 500mm square by 50mm thick so the opening you see is 1000mm square and I then added some MDF as a frame around the edges for the filters to sit against:






I then sealed every possible edge with silicone sealant to make sure the only place the fan could draw air from is through the filters:






Filters in place:






I then decided to add another strip of MDF across the top to keep my overspray in the booth:






The speed controller was fitted to the side:


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## Richard Findley (23 Jan 2011)

The results then?

I'm really quite pleased actually. I decided to seal the filters in by running some tape around the edges and across the centre joins. I asked my brother in law to wire it in for me as he's a sparky but he's quite busy so, being impatient (and having work that needed spraying :roll: ) I wired the fan straight to a 240 plug. That I could manage, I wasn't confident enough to wire through the switch though. As it turns out, I needn't have bothered with the speed controller, its fine at full pelt!

So, from my initial quote of around £2000 my actual spend was(roughly):

£145 for fan and speed controller
£35 for 2 sheets of 18mm
£40 for 4 filters
about £10 for cable and silicon and other bits and bobs

Total of around £195!! Thats a bit better, don't you think??

My first spray job was 12 walking canes which needed 3 coats of black gloss each. I found that the booth filters all of the air born visible dust really well, there is still a slight smell though. The filters look very similar to the front filters on my Jet air filter and they filter down to 5 microns, if I could get some finer filters I think I would be happier. Also, the filters take quite a battering from the spray, so I'm unsure how long they will last. I almost need a fine filter sheet of some sort as a sacrificial fine filter infront of these main filters. Any ideas anyone?

All in all, really pleased but will continue with my search for improved filters, both in filteration and in price!!

As a recommendation to anyone elso with a similar idea, the fan is great, but you could possibly go for a bigger one with the speed controller for more power potential. My supplier has a massive range of sizes available to choose from so I'm sure they would have one to suit every aplication!

I hope you have enjoyed reading. Any thoughts, observations or ideas would be most welcome!!

Thanks for reading,

Richard


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## oddsocks (23 Jan 2011)

Thanks for the build and supplier info Richard - this is something I think I'll be copying later this year. I like the idea of a sacrificial screen, but is there anyway of telling when the filters are worn out (I suspect they will change colour very quickly but still be able to function)

Dave


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## petermillard (23 Jan 2011)

Thanks for sharing this. What about just some cotton fabric as a sacrificial front sheet - wouldn't need to be particularly fine, and would be absorbent too? Or some fine nylon mesh, or perhaps landscape fabric - the kind of thing you lay down to to prevent weed growth?

Cheers, Pete


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## CHJ (23 Jan 2011)

Richard have you considered fitting some forward facing (angled) side wings and a top sheet to form a hood to entrain the air movement directly across the pieces as opposed to it leaking in from the sides.

I've used lightweight agricultural frost protection fleece as a catch membrane in the past.


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## Mattty (23 Jan 2011)

CHJ":2e2dko0h said:


> Richard have you considered fitting some forward facing (angled) side wings and a top sheet to form a hood to entrain the air movement directly across the pieces as opposed to it leaking in from the sides.
> 
> I've used lightweight agricultural frost protection fleece as a catch membrane in the past.



Nice job.
I agree. I think it needs splayed sides and a top. this would help just draw the air from the correct place.


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## sometimewoodworker (23 Jan 2011)

Richard Findley":1uht3x5w said:


> I hope you have enjoyed reading. Any thoughts, observations or ideas would be most welcome!!
> Richard


I don't see any mention on the web-site of the fans having an explosion-proof motors. Does yours?


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## Richard Findley (23 Jan 2011)

Hi all,

Thanks for all the comments.

How much difference do you think having angled side cheeks would make? I think I see where you are coming from, it's just that the only place air can be drawn from is through the filters, so is there any need?

As for explosion proof motor... I only spray waterbourne spray. What is the explosion risk please? Maybe I'm being thick?

Thanks

Richard


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## CHJ (23 Jan 2011)

Richard Findley":4g6kai7j said:


> How much difference do you think having angled side cheeks would make? I think I see where you are coming from, it's just that the only place air can be drawn from is through the filters, so is there any need?...



I think you would find that the volume of the air mass passing from your area passed the work piece and entrapping the overspray would about double.

Think of it as funneling the air from the front as opposed to from the sides and top at up to 90 degrees, how effective would your lathe dust extraction be if the hose was 2 ft away from the work piece compared to fitted to a cone right up against the workpiece..


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## sometimewoodworker (24 Jan 2011)

Richard Findley":jg5koaja said:


> As for explosion proof motor... I only spray waterbourne spray. What is the explosion risk please? Maybe I'm being thick?
> Richard


Not you me  I missed the "waterbourne spray" sorry


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## Richard Findley (24 Jan 2011)

Hi Chas,

Possibly double it!! Wow, well worth giving it a go then!! Do you reckon just set at about 45 deg to the booth would do it?

*sometimewoodworker*, no problem, I guess it needs to be a bit more speciallist kit for a "proper" spray booth. My main aim was to reduce the air bourne dust/overspray to improve my finish and keep the place (and my lungs) clean. Seems to be working ok so far!!

Thanks again for all of your comments.

Richard


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## CHJ (24 Jan 2011)

Richard Findley":3a70flt2 said:


> .. My main aim was to reduce the air bourne dust/overspray to improve my finish and keep the place (and my lungs) clean. Seems to be working ok so far!!
> ..



Then a forward facing hood can only improve things, if nothing else the side panels will deflect any side drifting/directed spray towards the filter. 

45deg? not critical, just take it to the front corner of your table, assuming that still gives you enough working room, can you drape some of your plastic sheet around as a temp. test.
You should see the plastic bow in slightly with fan running, proving that you've lowered the air pressure in the 'hood' area.


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## lemonjeff (24 Jan 2011)

Richard Findley":42cisynd said:


> The filters look very similar to the front filters on my Jet air filter and they filter down to 5 microns, if I could get some finer filters I think I would be happier. Also, the filters take quite a battering from the spray, so I'm unsure how long they will last. I almost need a fine filter sheet of some sort as a sacrificial fine filter infront of these main filters. Any ideas anyone?
> 
> Richard


The filters your using are for secondary filtration to catch dry paint dust, they ain't gonna last very long the way your using them.
You need wet filters like these to catch most of the wet overspray http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... SA:GB:1348
Here's a good thread on the subject http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=7&t=4763
This is my version of Davy's booth in the above thread 




The wet filters need replacing after approx 16L of Morrells waterbourne.
Another thread on the subject http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=4&t=5155

Jeff.


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## Richard Findley (25 Jan 2011)

Thanks for that info Jeff! I have done a bit of pocking about and found these filters from the same company as your Ebay listing:
http://www.spcb.co.uk/acatalog/Procart_H_Filters.html
These, I think, should do the job better for me as they have the card/filter front that you describe and a secondary filter on the back which should get rid of the fine dust. 

I will update once they arrive!!

Thanks

Richard


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## Richard Findley (30 Jan 2011)

A little update for you. After reading comments here regarding my filters, I did some research and bought the ones I did the link to. They came and I fitted them:






I bought 8m of filter but wasn't entirely sure how much I would need for my booth. Its a 1m wide booth but measuring a concertina is as easy as measuing elastic!! So I counted the pleats (216 in total) so I divided that into 8 and got 27 pleats required for my booth. Imagine my disappointment when this only reached 3/4 of the way across :evil: :evil: !!! Turns out I need more like 1 pleat per inch of booth, so I went for 36 pleats in the end. This worked but I have wasted 27 pleats!! Grrr!

I had never seen this type of filter up close and had always imagined that behind the holes that you see are filters of some kind but I was surprised to see how they actually work. It's hard to discribe but this picture, that is on the box shows it really well:






The filters I bought have a fibre type filter behind this to help trap the dust. Fingers crossed it works better than the other type!!

I will keep you updated when I spray more canes so I can give a like for like comparison.

Thanks for looking,

Richard


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## Richard Findley (2 Feb 2011)

Hi all,

Just a quick update. Today I sprayed 12 walking canes, 3 coats each, using my new filters. I sprayed a similar amount of canes using the other filters and I have to say that I think the new ones are better! Result!!

My next job is to add the wings that Chas suggested and see if it improves the booth any more.

The other thing I wondered, how d oI know that the filters need changing? Is it as simple as they no longer filter the overspray?

Thanks

Richard


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## lemonjeff (3 Feb 2011)

Richard,
In a word yes, as the filter becomes clogged the fans efficiency drops, the obvious sign is over spray build up around the workshop.
Do you still have the blue cartridge filters behind the Concertina filter?


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## JanneKi (3 Feb 2011)

I've seen some fans fitted with small string of paper or old cassette tape, which would then blow in the air when the airflow was right, but if the airflow would drop, the strings would "hang around" rather than "fly" properly. Perhaps you could device some sort of visual indicator of them, as the clogged filters drop the airflow.

Very good article thread by the way, I'm planning on making a small booth myself (portable), so it's been an interesting reading.


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## Richard Findley (3 Feb 2011)

Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeff, I have taken the blue ones off and am now just using the new filter.

I was wondering, because there is evidence of the dreaded black dust on the back of the booth which has obviously been blown out by the fan, could I add a box of some kind around the fan with another filter on, to filter the extracted air? (possibly using the 500mm square filters I originally bought?) Something in the back of my head is telling me it might effect the "suck" though. Any thoughts? If it is possible I think it will pretty much remove all of the dust from the area.

Thanks

Richard


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## scholar (4 Feb 2011)

Richard

I was reading your thread with interest.

My own experience thus far is summarised here home-spray-booth-lots-of-pictures-t41183.html?highlight=spray and here http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/viewt ... f=7&t=4763

Based on that experience, I would venture two suggestions, both of which have been recommended by other posters above:

- it would help to add some splayed "wings" to the sides and top to funnel the spray through the filter/fan box;

- I have the same pleated filter as you are using, but still find that some fine dust is emitted through the rear of the fan Based on discussion in the second thread I have linked above, I need to add a dry dust filter in between the pleated filter and the fan; I intend to add a frame to hold this in the middle of the fan box, but have not yet got around to finding suitable filters - the ones you had from Morrells look ideal, so I will follow up there. 

I would guess that the fine dust you are finding is getting drawn through the fan as it is too fine for the mesh behind the pleated filter.

Hope that helps - will follow your continuing experiments.

Cheers


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## lemonjeff (5 Feb 2011)

Richard,
My filter set-up is the same as Davy's in the link I posted, a front (wet) filter then a rear or upper (dry) filter.
The dry filter is a home made jobby out of sheets of pollen filter material, the set-up is only approx 95% efficient but very cheap.
Can you exhaust outside?

Here's some more info http://www.rdmengineering.co.uk/pdffile ... ochure.pdf a commercial booths brochure, it gives an idea of fan airflow necessary for a given booth size.
Also the same sort of info http://www.finishingnews.com/pdf/How%20 ... 20flow.pdf

As JanneKi said you only need something simple to check airflow, when all the booth filters are clean & new I use a sheet of newspaper held vertically then move away from the booth until there's no pull on the paper.

Jeff.


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## Richard Findley (5 Feb 2011)

Thanks for all of your input guys.

The wings will be going on soon (whenever I get some spare time!!)I'm sure this will help draw more of the overspray in to the filters. Every little helps as they say!

I am well pelased with my little booths performance so far but it does look like my fan is a bit on the small side, esspecially if you look at the last couple of links given   .

So my thinking is this: I am happy with the amount of "suck" the booth gives but I am concerned that if I put the other filters back on as well it will reduce the amount of "suck", so my thought was to filter the exhausted air, which I can't vent out side, so I wondered about building a 500mm cube box on the back of the fan and put one of the filters in that. Would that work? From my laymans point of view I see no reason why not but I have a nagging thought it may affect pressures or something and essentially reduce the "suck". Anyone know or is it a case of "suck it and see"?? ('scuse the pun :wink: )

Thanks

Richard


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## CHJ (5 Feb 2011)

Front or back the results are the same Richard, obstruction = flow restriction, too much restriction results in dispropotionate flow rate loss because the airflow in effect stalls as it can't pass the fan blades quick enough.


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## Richard Findley (13 Feb 2011)

Thanks Chas. I feared this might be the case! I will fix on some wings and report back with the results. In the meantime I will ponder how I might be able to filter a little finer without loss of suction!

Cheers

Richard


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## lemonjeff (13 Feb 2011)

Richard Findley":1njzsv4t said:


> In the meantime I will ponder how I might be able to filter a little finer without loss of suction!
> Richard


I did think about trying a variation on a drop-box before the fan, there's various posts on here about it for dust collecting.
Essentially the fan sucks the dust through a box with baffles and the dust "drops" to the floor of the baffles. :?:



Chris_belgium":1njzsv4t said:


> My box
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Chris's is big but gives you an idea of the gubbins.

Not a simple or guaranteed solution, that's probably why I haven't tried it yet :wink:


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