Spray booth question

[Paul Cozzolino]

I am new to finishing so I appreciate any help. I currently have my workshop in my garage and am thinking of putting a portable spray booth that I could set up and take down when I need it. If my intent is to only use a water based stain in my HVLP could I use a tent that is big enough to put pieces in. To establish a cross flow I will use 2 fans for exhaust and intake through the windows of the tent. These fans will have a furnance filter on them to clean the air. In addition I am thinking about lining the inside of the tent sides with a sheet of plastic to be able to keep the tent some what clean. What are your thoughts on potential drawbacks of this design.

[Scott Holmes]

Dependiing on the size of the peices you are spraying; a tent may be over kill...

The fans will create too much breeze. Water-borne finishes are pretty easy to spray make sure you protect yourself.

I use plastic/paper disposable painters drop-cloths hung from the ceiling with a piece of PVC pipe in the bottom to hold them down.

[Paul Cozzolino]

What do you do to move fumes in and out of the area. I assume that even if it is a water stain it will still displace oxygen in the immediate area.

[Tony Bilello]

"If my intent is to only use a water based stain in my HVLP............"

You are not going to spray the finish?

[Paul Cozzolino]

Yes my intent was to spray everything.

[Tony Bilello]

Since you dont have a complete profile, I have no idea where you live so we will have to deal with ambient weather conditions as a separate issue.
Fist off, I just bought an HVLP gun and already sprayed about 40 major pieces of furniture with it and probably about 60 or 70 drawers so I have i have some idea of the damage or lack of damage to expect. I sprayed black lacquer as well as other colors. Did not turn my shoes black, did not get any on my cheap watch and when I forgot to wear goggles, I didnt get any overspray on my eyeglasses. I was knee deep in lacquer dust, but virtually no overspray. I did not however spray stain so I cant tell you what to expect on that matter.
Here is my take on your situation......you dont need a tent.
If I were you, I would get several cheap blue tarps from Harbor Freight or Home Depot. HF will be much cheaper. Get one at least as wide and high as one overhead garage door. Get 2 pieces of about 1 1/2" PVC plumbing pipe from the BORG that are at least as long as your overhead door is wide. Also get a little tarp grommet kit for a few bucks. It will come with the "hole puncher". Roll the pipe up on the 'top' and 'bottom' of one tarp and measure it for the height plus about a foot more than your garage door opening. Figure out a way to suspend one pipe overhead over the garage door opening and the other pipe side to lay on the floor, more or less creating a tarp wall. cut a hole in the tarp about 6" to 1 foot off the ground and square enough to put a fan in front of on outside and this will be your exhaust fan. New air coming in can be from your house or any other source including from under the other garage door. All you will have to do is drop tarps on anything less than 3 feet away from your spraying area.
If you are not doing major pieces, this should work. If you need more ventillation, make another tarp wall between the two garage sections leaving the backs open and the other door open and air should flow around everything.

Just a thought.

[Paul Cozzolino]

Thanks. I wasnt sure about overspray. This helps alot. Of course being in Chicago I will have to minimize my spray time because I have to exhaust into the garage area. Its going to be 11 degrees tomorrow. I have a 30 foot garage so I think as long as I am quick with the spray gun I wont dilute the garage too much as long as I wear a ventilator.

[Phil Phelps]

[QUOTE=Tony Bilello;1297504]Since you dont have a complete profile, I have no idea where you live so we will have to deal with ambient weather conditions as a separate issue.
Fist off, I just bought an HVLP gun and already sprayed about 40 major pieces of furniture with it and probably about 60 or 70 drawers so I have i have some idea of the damage or lack of damage to expect. I sprayed black lacquer as well as other colors. Did not turn my shoes black, did not get any on my cheap watch and when I forgot to wear goggles, I didnt get any overspray on my eyeglasses. I was knee deep in lacquer dust, but virtually no overspray.

Isn't knee deep in dust, overspray? That's the great thing about lacquer, the overspray mostly dries to dust. If you spray for a living, you won't be wearing your Johnston-Murphy's with any confidence. ;) You certainly won't be spraying any alkyd products with that claim. :eek:

[Tony Bilello]

......... Isn't knee deep in dust, overspray? That's the great thing about lacquer, the overspray mostly dries to dust. If you spray for a living, you won't be wearing your Johnston-Murphy's with any confidence. ;) You certainly won't be spraying any alkyd products with that claim. :eek:

Phil, in the industry, overspray is generally referred to as something that permanently remains behind such as a painted surface that was not intended to be painted - like the floor or walls. When on the piece being painted, overspray is often the dry spray that is permanently stuck to the piece which creates a foggy look and a rough feel. That is why when you spray, you gotta move fast and keep everything wet.

[Tony Bilello]

.......... That's the great thing about lacquer, the overspray mostly dries to dust. ..........:eek:

Phil, I dont know if you have ever sprayed lacquer before, but generally, it turns to dust before it hits the floor. I just dont know why more people are not using it if possible. Providing you can spray, it makes more sense to put up with the lacquer odor for a few hours than a urethane or varnish odor for a few weeks. I have known many people that spray lacquer outdoors and then run it back inside. Not everyone here lives in cold climates.
Here is a typical lacquer finishing schedule for Pre-Catalyzed lacquer.
Time Zero: get gun and lacquer, prep gun with thinner, pour vinyl sealer into gun.
Elapsed time: 15 Minutes. Spray vinyl sealer and wait 1o minutes for it to dry.

Elapsed time : 30 Minutes. Spray 1st coat of Pre-Cat and wait 15 minutes for it to dry.
Elapsed Time: 45 Minutes: Spray 2nd/final coat of Pre-Cat and begin cleaning gun, pack up 'stuff' and wash up self.
Elapsed time: 1 Hour - DONE!!!!!

[Phil Phelps]

[QUOTE=Tony Bilello;1297890]Phil, I dont know if you have ever sprayed lacquer before, but generally, it turns to dust before it hits the floor.

Tony, what I was pointing out was for folks who haven't had much experience with spray finishing and might think that there isn't much overspray with a HVLP and use a product other than lacquer.
I have been spray painting over 43 years and have sprayed some of the most obnoxious material you can imagine.

[Tony Bilello]

[QUOTE........
Tony, what I was pointing out was for folks who haven't had much experience with spray finishing and might think that there isn't much overspray with a HVLP and use a product other than lacquer.
I have been spray painting over 43 years and have sprayed some of the most obnoxious material you can imagine.

EURIKA !!!!!!!
Not sure if this is a Eurika Moment or a Senior Moment for me. :)
Anyway, I seem to have gotten caught up in the moment and got tunnel vision. Glad you brought that up.
I too have sprayed just about everything including Thermal Sprayed Aluminum - arc sprayed. When I am sub-contracting off-shore on the rigs, the cre is usually spraying epoxy, 2 part urethanes and epoxy mastics.