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My home DIY firearms paint booth

8K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  oO_Rogue_Oo 
#1 ·
I recently decided to get into firearms refinishing as a hobby for now and wanted a spray boot in the house so I can spray year round. So here is the start of what I have came up with. It is not the greatest but should work well for my needs. I figured I would share incase someone else is thinking of doing something similar.

The booth is 4'x4'x2', 70 CFM vent fan, LED light, 6gal pancake compressor. The fan is wired into the switch which is powered by a wall outlet. The fan will vent out the window once I get the hose ran. I also still have to run the air lines. I also ran a chain across the booth to hang pieces from.

My only concern is the strength of the fan being adequate enough to pull the fumes out. My contingency is in the summer to open more windows in the room to vent out more. Also placing a van angled back in to the booth to help direct the overspray and fumes in to the fan.




 
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#2 ·
Id be leary about putting a spray booth in my house but 70 cfm will change the air in that box twice every minute. I dont know what the cfm of airflow is on a non home built booth. I would still wear a respirator with organic vapor cartridges and keep everyone else out of the room. Maybe step the fan up to a 150 cfm bathroom unit.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Fernando, Yes I still intended to wear a respirator, keep everyone out. Once it warms up in the spring and summer I can spray big pieces that take a lot of coating in the garage which is detached from the house. One day if we decided to stay in this house I will insulate and put a woodburner in the garage then move it all outside.

For the guys who do have spray set ups what kind of air dryers or water separators are working well for you?
 
#4 · (Edited)
it's nice booth no doubt, but that small fan just isn't going to work as well as you might hope. (done tried it!)

plus, having it inside the house is going to be huge mistake. you will end up with a house that smells like paint fumes all the time. the vent fan will remove a small portion of the overspray dust, but it won't vent all the fumes. you would be better off putting it out in the garage instead. even then, the fumes will end up migrating to the inside of the house to some degree.

I built one very similar in our 60'x80' shop for painting car parts and for powdercoating. I found out within about a week that the small vent fan wasn't working. I ended up buying an industrial rated exhaust fan from Grainger. cost a lot more, but it works so much better.

Edit: I also noticed you are planning on using a spray gun. that fan won't ever be able to keep up with the overspray. we were only using spray cans and even they were too much in the amount of overspray. plus you also need to factor in the fire hazards of having that inside the house as well.
 
#5 ·
The more research i do out of concern for your safety, the more i see that the current setup may be inadequate, especially with an air compressor. That 70 cfm fan isnt even close to adequate. You need something much more powerful to properly exhaust those fumes. You may fill your house with flammable paint fumes and not even know it because you have the respirator on...then boom. Im not trying to be critical at all, god knows ive tried some home made things that didnt work out too well. I just dont want to see you or family get sick/hurt. Check out this article. I skimmed it but it may help you. http://www.finishing.com/library/green/spraybooth.html
 
#6 ·
The more research i do out of concern for your safety, the more i see that the current setup may be inadequate, especially with an air compressor. That 70 cfm fan isnt even close to adequate. You need something much more powerful to properly exhaust those fumes. You may fill your house with flammable paint fumes and not even know it because you have the respirator on...then boom. Im not trying to be critical at all, god knows ive tried some home made things that didnt work out too well. I just dont want to see you or family get sick/hurt. Check out this article. I skimmed it but it may help you. http://www.finishing.com/library/green/spraybooth.html
the booth we built, is about 4'x4'x3' with a turntable in the center and a bar across the top to be able hang things off hooks. we used incandescent lighting to increase the ambient temperature. the fan we ended up using if I remember is about 1000 or 1100 cfm. even just using spray can paint it still ends up having overspray.
 
#7 ·
I applicate the concern, however for the small amount of use it will get and the size of the parts that will be done inside I think it will be fine. I'm not doing this as a business where I'm doing lots of parts. As of right now the only parts I have lined up to do are a bolt shroud and a Glock slide...both of which will be done with an airbrush not spray gun. I don't see the airbrush putting off that much overspray and fumes that will make it dangerous and nothing that couldn't be solved by just opening a window. The room it is in has 5 windows so I sure if I needed to I could get fumes vented quickly.


If I have a bigger project later on I will wait til it is warm and spray it in my detached garage. Like I said before, If I decide to do this as more than just my small projects from time to time I will heat the garage and up the ventilation to the booth and garage beforehand.
 
#8 ·
I applicate the concern, however for the small amount of use it will get and the size of the parts that will be done inside I think it will be fine. I'm not doing this as a business where I'm doing lots of parts. As of right now the only parts I have lined up to do are a bolt shroud and a Glock slide...both of which will be done with an airbrush not spray gun. I don't see the airbrush putting off that much overspray and fumes that will make it dangerous and nothing that couldn't be solved by just opening a window. The room it is in has 5 windows so I sure if I needed to I could get fumes vented quickly.


If I have a bigger project later on I will wait til it is warm and spray it in my detached garage. Like I said before, If I decide to do this as more than just my small projects from time to time I will heat the garage and up the ventilation to the booth and garage beforehand.
I built a spray booth in my shop a while back. I do firearm restorations and refinishing. Most of the spraying I do is CeraKote. Depending on the job size, I run either an air brush or HVLP gun. For exhaust, I run two attic fans enclosed and ducted from the top of the booth to the wall of the shop. The airflow operates a louvered vent so it's closed when no air is blowing past it. Even with this set up, I get fumes in the shop. In my opinion, performing that type of work inside a home is not a good idea.

RC
 
#9 ·
I built a spray booth in my shop a while back. I do firearm restorations and refinishing. Most of the spraying I do is CeraKote. Depending on the job size, I run either an air brush or HVLP gun. For exhaust, I run two attic fans enclosed and ducted from the top of the booth to the wall of the shop. The airflow operates a louvered vent so it's closed when no air is blowing past it. Even with this set up, I get fumes in the shop. In my opinion, performing that type of work inside a home is not a good idea.

RC
i'm curious as to what his insurance carrier would think about a paint booth inside his house? seems like a fire hazard and highly dangerous.
 
#11 ·
I applicate the concern, however for the small amount of use it will get and the size of the parts that will be done inside I think it will be fine. I'm not doing this as a business where I'm doing lots of parts. As of right now the only parts I have lined up to do are a bolt shroud and a Glock slide...both of which will be done with an airbrush not spray gun. I don't see the airbrush putting off that much overspray and fumes that will make it dangerous and nothing that couldn't be solved by just opening a window. The room it is in has 5 windows so I sure if I needed to I could get fumes vented quickly.


If I have a bigger project later on I will wait til it is warm and spray it in my detached garage. Like I said before, If I decide to do this as more than just my small projects from time to time I will heat the garage and up the ventilation to the booth and garage beforehand.
I use an airbrush running around 30 to 35 psi to paint rc model planes using latex water based paint. I will do very small touchups to dents and scuff marks inside.

Any surface covering I do outside. I cannot imagine using an airbrush with gun paint inside regardless of the ammount!!

If your going to open windows which is completely insufficient for venting when spraying, why not just go outside....

The path to a darwin award is not admitting an idea is not a good one and plunging ahead because pride gets in the way.
 
#13 ·
I use an airbrush running around 30 to 35 psi to paint rc model planes using latex water based paint. I will do very small touchups to dents and scuff marks inside.

Any surface covering I do outside. I cannot imagine using an airbrush with gun paint inside regardless of the ammount!!

If your going to open windows which is completely insufficient for venting when spraying, why not just go outside....

The path to a darwin award is not admitting an idea is not a good one and plunging ahead because pride gets in the way.
Totally agree but it seems the OP is hell bent on staying in the house despite what we say... The other part of Darwinism is 'natural selection' =)
 
#16 ·
You would be better off with a rigid bar rather than a chain. The chain will have a tendency to swing and make it more difficult to get nice even coverage on your parts. Also I would use semi rigid wire to hang your parts for the same reason. If you are spraying a solvent based paint then you really need a sealed fan motor that is spark proof or just may be in for a surprise one day. Hanging a clear plastic curtain with arm holes on the front of your booth will help with overspray and fumes and if your use of the booth is as limited as you say it will be it should last a while before needing replacement. A couple of dollar clear shower curtain cut to size should last quite a while.

I can't stress enough; your fan motor NEEDS to be sealed if you spray any kind of solvent based paint. With that fan stick to water based paints. Also with a curtain on the front of your booth you will see right away just how effective your fan is. Cut a hole on the side of your booth furthest from your fan and put a air filter in it. This will give you a cross flow of air and help keep dirt and dust out of your booth and off your work. A cookie sheet with a layer of water in it placed at the bottom of your booth will help collect overspray and keep it off your work as well.
 
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