Spray booth in a storage/shipping container?

[Albert Lee]

hi all. I have been wanting to spray paint for a while but never touched a spray gun.

I have been told to achieve quality spray finish you need a quality spray gun, therefore I have been looking at fancy spraying guns but realised I need a proper booth to go with the proper gun and a proper compressor setup.

My current compressor is Chicago Pneumatics CPRS10500, does 43CFM, its a 10hp with a 500 litre tank. The refrigerator and filter are Ceccato, they were spec'ed to match the compressor. I guess my compressed air ends are sorted.

I am planning to build my own spray booth using a small container type storage like the one below, it comes in various sizes, I am considering using a 90"x90"x90" variant (its 2280mm x 2280mm x 2280mm). I have no room in my workshop. this will be sitting on my driveway next to the workshop, the storage can be fitted with air grills and windows, I plan to have multiple grills for air intake with filters added and have the fan mounted to the window which will be at the back wall.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=379506&d=1463348851&thumb=1 (http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=379506&d=1463348851)


I plan to use the filter below, it measures 48" x 20" x 10" deep. I may use 2-3 or these with a portable fan, or built a wall myself with the filters recommended and a fixed fan.

http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=379507&d=1463348852&thumb=1 (http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=379507&d=1463348852)



http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=379508&d=1463348853&thumb=1 (http://www.woodworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=379508&d=1463348853)



am I on the right track? has anyone else done similar thing? what fan spec should I be looking at?

I will be spraying mostly water based poly urethane... until I am familiar with other material.

Thanks.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

We use shipping containers for entire shops. They would be ideal for a spray booth. I would install an exhaust fan in one end and a filtered opening on the other end. Make sure you also put a filter on the exhaust fan or else you will be overspraying your neighbors!

[Joe Jensen]

Make sure you use and explosion proof fan if spraying anything other than water based finish. I personally would just in case someone makes a mistake on finish choice. From my reading, there are two things a booth is sorting for you. First move the excess overspray finish away from the piece you are spraying, for this you need a good volume of air flow. I've taken larger jobs to commercial finishers and all use a booth with one end open and tons of filters at the fan end to catch that overspray. Those would solve the first goal. The second goal would be to have a relatively dust free environment. For this you need to filter the air on the intake side too. Car booths are typically like this. I would love a booth, it's on the dream shop list :) which is sadly very far away

[Andy Giddings]

Albert, I don't know what your setup is in terms of scale. Depending on the size of jobs you are doing (for example hobbyist vs a business), I would recommend using a simple knock down spray booth to try spraying out before committing significant funds. Jeff Jewitt's book on Spray Finishing contains a design for one made out of solid insulation. There are plenty of other designs available online - made from cardboard and so on. As you already have the compressor, a spray gun, knock down booth, respirator and fan (as its waterborne finishes you don't need explosion proof at this point) would be a cheap way to try before you buy so to speak. Jewitt's book also comes with a lot of basic info about how to set up your gun, materials etc which would be a good primer as you've never sprayed before. Spraying does give you a great finish, but, like a lot of skills, takes practice to get a reliable result

[Albert Lee]

yes that is exactly what I planned to do.

[Albert Lee]

Make sure you use and explosion proof fan if spraying anything other than water based finish. I personally would just in case someone makes a mistake on finish choice. From my reading, there are two things a booth is sorting for you. First move the excess overspray finish away from the piece you are spraying, for this you need a good volume of air flow. I've taken larger jobs to commercial finishers and all use a booth with one end open and tons of filters at the fan end to catch that overspray. Those would solve the first goal. The second goal would be to have a relatively dust free environment. For this you need to filter the air on the intake side too. Car booths are typically like this. I would love a booth, it's on the dream shop list :) which is sadly very far away

Thanks Joe for the comment, I am about to order my container, now I need to find out the minimum size for the fan.. hope no fan is too big!

[Albert Lee]

Thanks Andy, I will give it a look. :)

[Brian W Smith]

Get on fleabay and search tube axial fan.There's a cpl spraybooth suppliers on there with specs.