Would a family tent work as a spray booth?

[Doug Hobkirk]

I do not have room for a spray booth. Spraying outside produces lots of pollen and bugs in the paint and overspray on the gravel. I have a 10x10 tent with lots of close-able screen windows that I don't use anymore. It would seem that it would at least limit pollen and overspray on the gravel. Any problems I'm not foreseeing? Should it be set up so the prevailing wind is hitting my back as I spray? Would a window fan improve things?

It's 70 in the Boston area today - time to think of upcoming Spring and Summer projects!

[Myk Rian]

That's a pretty good idea.
Yes, put the wind to your back.

[Phil Phelps]

Doug, you will always be fighting the elements and have some foreign matter landing on your work if you're not in a closed environment. However, if that is the best you can do, I'd be spraying something fast drying such as lacquer.

[Tony Bilello]

My only concern would be that in such a small relatively confined space I might possibly asphixiate myself, or at best, breathe in lots of nasty stuff.
Experimentation is the only way to know whether you will be in a cloud of vapors or not. It is however a good idea in concept.
One step further would be a picnic type tent with all screening and no fabric (except roof) to impede air flow. Also a really good exhaust fan would be a plus. Even the all screen type picnic tents slow down and even stop a lot of mild wind.
Whatever you decide, let us know. My curiousity is now killing me.

[John Carlo]

I just refinished a large dining room table top. When I do spray finishing I set up a temporary spray booth in the shop with 4 of those helping hand power poles and some paper backed drop cloths. I had enough room in the booth for the table proper which was big and heavy, but not for the removable leaves. I could have fit them in somehow but overspray might be detrimental from one distinct piece to another. It was nice here in Michigan last week with very little wind and pretty warm temps. I decided to set up a finishing stand outside and make a mad dash right after spraying from the outdoors to the shop. I use a HVLP sprayer with General Finishes Pre Cat WB urethane. Hey, it worked. This finish drys tack free in 3 minutes. Luckily, there were no insects flying around. This got me to thinking about using a screen house in the summer for future projects.

[Paul Atkins]

I assume you are finished camping? I'd figure the screen would get clogged up after awhile.

[Jim Becker]

It's certainly not going to serve the family tent very well...overspray, etc. Some kinds of finishes may also corrupt the tent material.

I personally wouldn't do this. One of the reasons I love water borne finishes is that I don't need a formal spray booth...I just clean up the shop well before spraying and run my air cleaner to help clear particulates from the air. (Yes, I wear a respirator while spraying) If I had an area that I could conveniently block off temporarily with a plastic wall, I would, but that doesn't work for my shop.

[Greg Labacz]

I have a small shop and am starting to build treasure boxes and was wondering if there is any small bench top spray booths out there ? Any ideas would be appreciated:D

Greg

[Tony Bilello]

Search the web on "spray booths" and tons of them will show up.
If you see just a few of them, you will be able to design your own 'fold-up' model.
Not much to it. Confine the fumes and exhaust them at the same time. That can equate to something simple like 1X4 frames hinged and covered with visquene and a really good exhaust fan. If you spray flamable or potentially explosive stuff like lacquer, a little common sense goes a long way. Explosion proof fans, motors and lights can get costly, but there are ways around that. Like I said, do some research.

[Jeff Jewitt]

Paasche makes an affordable bench top booth

http://www.paascheairbrush.com/

Click the booth link once you get in the store. For small items it's just the ticket.

Any other booth will be a LOT more money.

A tent is a clever idea but won't work very well. Part of the reason to have a booth (or enclosed space) is to keep the overspray confined so you can evacuate it. If you don't evacuate the overspray, it just settles right back on your project creating a rough finish. If you do use a tent, you'll have to rig a fan somewhere in an opening.