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Paint Booth (in progress)

Discussion in 'Functional Aircraft Accessories' started by gasmasher, Oct 19, 2009.

  1. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    A few of the guys helped me out selecting paints yesterday in the chat. While I was out picking them up I also got an inexpensive air brush and oil less compressor. Of course that led to me wanting a small paint booth. I started designing one today and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions I haven't included.

    The design includes exhaust fans and a filter/charcoal box for soaking up some of the fumes. I am putting together a simple rectifier power supply to run the fans and some white LEDs or low voltage lights. It is 3' wide and 2' tall.











    [ustream]http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2589106[/ustream] Attached files [​IMG] PaintBooth.skp (621.5 KB)Â PaintBooth1.cnc (21.1 KB)Â PaintBooth2.cnc (23.8 KB)Â PaintBooth3.cnc (3 KB)Â PaintBooth4.cnc (3 KB)Â PaintBooth5.cnc (3.9 KB)Â PaintBooth_LIVE_Version.skp (740.8 KB)Â
     
  2. Jnida63

    Jnida63 Member

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    If you use the apple barrel paints from Wal-mart, they have no fumes )
     
  3. rjarois

    rjarois Moderator Staff Member

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    tim, you might get a laugh from my ghetto monkey airbrush easel...ita a piece of plywood, with a piece of 2in foam gorilla glued on, clamped to a wall. its real crude, but it gets some color on fast, as i can spend more time flyin. yours looks great thou...peace, randy.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  4. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    Thanks Jeff, I'll pick some up next time I'm at wal-mart. I bet my wife already has some in her craft supplies.

    That is perfect Randy. It's exactly what I would have if it was up to me. Unfortunately I was about 2.3 seconds into a test spray and my wife came down asking about the fumes.
     
  5. rjarois

    rjarois Moderator Staff Member

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    Tim, i just use the cheap paint at michaels craft store, and ther is no odor..heck i think the paint is water with food color added, lols. randy
     
  6. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Tim this is going to be great, I have been wanting to get into the painting as well. I always crash them before I paint them.
    If I had a setup like this I would have to make a new self rule that I no longer can fly if the aircraft is not painted! :D
    Thanks Tim looking forward to this one as I am sure many of the guys are :)
    Mark
     
  7. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    I go to Lowes and have them mix up those little test cans for under $3. Latex paint samples. No fumes, no messy cleanup, no eating foam. Full range of color choices. Cheaper than Michaels. I find the apple barrel paints too dull looking.

    You will have to thin the paint and use a higher pressure setting. I set mine to about 50psi. You want the consistency of the paint to be about that of milk.

    The house paint has larger pigments, so it does not air brush as well as the more expensive craft brands but if you use the larger nozzle .5mm I think it is, and increase the pressure on your compressor, you can get good results.

    I just lay two sheets of FFF, one on the table and one standing up to do my painting. Sort of like Randy the Gheto Monkey that way.
     
  8. tvcasualty

    tvcasualty New Member

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    Tim I only use that apple barrel stuff, or very similar (I actually like Delta paints the best) but they are all the S1.29 special.

    Cheap, easy to mix, easy to clean up...

    But I do tend to develop a 'fog' in my basement when I paint...
     
  9. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    Thanks for all the paint tips, I am going to try a few different brands. I know that a lot of them say no odor or fumes but any smell in the house sticks in my wife's nose for some reason. I'm still going to build the booth since it will also keep the over spray to a minimum and I already have everything needed to build the filter. Happy wife, happy something or another ;)
     
  10. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    My wife's nose is the same way. Epoxy is the worst. When I airbrush or glue stuff I put an exhaust fan in the window and do my work right next to it. It seems to work pretty good. I've thought about doing a spray booth a few times and like your idea. Looking forward to your results.
     
  11. Evil-Tunes

    Evil-Tunes Moderator Staff Member

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    I use craft paint mixed 50/50 with windex and the fog is Scary :twisted: What scares
    me the most is I'm next to my Hot water heater and house heater "open flame". :eek: It should not blow up "I hope" only water and paint but still scary. The fumes I can't smell and the wife hasen't said anything ....Yet. I think I should put a fan in but, threres no windows or any thing. I was thinking the fire place pit is there but, that would take it up to the main floor of the house. :roll: I think I will stick to the Krylon H2O paints. They dry fast and don't have a smell that I know of.


    Cheers
    E-T
     
  12. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    hah, what made you choose windex as a solvent? Sounds scary to me too. I tried the Apple Barrel paints and you guys are right, it has very little odor.

    I updated the SketchUp file for the booth. I shortened it by 2" to 22" to save on one sheet of foam. I am going to cut it tomorrow to see how it all fits but it consumes 5 sheets of foam. I may have to use Mark's cardboard method for prototyping on this one. Attached is the final SU file with cut tools applied. I'm not posting the gcode until I know it is OK. Attached files PaintBooth.skp (621.5 KB)Â
     
  13. Flashsolutions

    Flashsolutions Active Member

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    Windex is a solvent that a lot of guys use for water based paint. The drawback is that it does have a blueish tint that ruins yellow and a few other colors. I have used it and it does work, but again, it changes the color which is not desirable.

    An alternative is to use water to thin your paint or alcohol. I have read that denatured alcohol and water mixed together provides a good thinner for water based paints.

    50% water & 50% Pure Denatured Alcohol. Mix that with your paint at about a 3 to 2 paint to thinner ratio. The water keeps the paint form drying too fast and the alcohol allows it to spray evenly rather than in droplets. But I have not tried this method.

    I usually just add water to thin or 91% isopropl alcohol.
     
  14. 3DMON

    3DMON Moderator Staff Member

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    The paint booth looks good Tim. Is the lip on the top front a place to set your paint bottles?
     
  15. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    Flash, that is pretty much what I used (without all that measuring). A dab of water and a dribble of rubbing alcohol. The spray pattern from the airbrush was even and dried quick enough.

    The lip is for paint bottles. I may need to make it a little bigger since it is 1 3/4". I intended for it to be 2" but must have messed up on the rear support for the shelf. 1 3/4 is big enough to hold the mixing bottles, 2 oz Apple Barrel, and small Tamiya bottles but isn't enough for the 8oz Apple Barrel bottles.
     
  16. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Tim that is looking fantastic! It always amazes me how quickly people pick up Sketchup.
    Nice Job!!
    The angle part that you have on the sides, what its that going to be used for?
    Mark
     
  17. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    I was planning to have a sheet of perforated foam resting on the angled areas as the backrest. I changed that to just be a row of 1/4" holes so that a few dowel rods can be slid in place. There are a pair of rectangle parts that match the rectangles on the side. These will be glued in place to reinforce the dowel and make sure a slightly short 3' dowel could still span the width.

    The dowel rods will be more flexible than a backrest since parts can be hung from string or a piece of scrap foam or cardboard can be leaned against them for more support.
     
  18. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    ahhh I see, sounds cool Tim!
    When do you think you will be cutting this one out?
    Mark
     
  19. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    I might get some time to cut it while the kids are napping today. Unfortunately I have a lot of things to do around the house so it might have to wait until tomorrow.
     
  20. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    We know that feeling Tim, our yard looks like a bomb went off! :)
    Can't wait to see how it works out Tim this is a cool practical project for the Phlatprinter
    Mark
     
  21. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    I finally got around to cutting the parts late last night. It missed a step or two but I decided to go ahead and use the parts anyway. It was easy to patch up the slightly mismatched areas with some extra glue. There is a gallery with higher resolution versions of the pictures here http://www.simmonsclan.net/gallery2/v/T ... aintbooth/

    Building the booth was pretty straightforward. I started by putting the two top cross sections together. This is the filter box and little shelf in the front. The uprights in the filter box are tabbed so they only fit one way. [​IMG]

    Next lay out one of the sides and install the cross sections. They stand up pretty good on their own. [​IMG]

    I don't have pics for the next steps but it is very simple. Set the remaining side piece on the table and insert loose ends of the cross sections. It should be stiff enough to handle without falling apart. Next install the back. This is the large part with 3 horizontal and 2 vertical slots in the middle. Finally the bottom can be installed. I found it easier to install the bottom and then the thin lip/support in the front. [​IMG]

    I used a cut to fit furnace filter in the air box. It takes two pieces cut to 9" x 5".
    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    The first is inserted over the air holes, then carbon pellets and covered by the second piece. It is a good idea to rinse the carbon to get rid of some of the dust before pouring it in. [​IMG]

    I'll post some more pics when I start installing the fans and power supply.
     
  22. theothers

    theothers Administrator Staff Member

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    Tim - have you made any more progress with the paint booth? It looks great, so far.
     
  23. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    I did install the fans and sprayed a little paint. It doesn't draw as much air as I expected but the air box isn't sealed very good right now. A line of tape across the top rear corner should fix that up.

    I'll put some more pictures up this weekend. Be aware that the fan holes in the skp file are slightly too large. For some reason I goofed and used the distance between mounting holes as the radius for the cutout instead of the blade size. I'll post an updated skp file and gcode after I take the pictures.
     
  24. kram242

    kram242 Administrator Staff Member

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    Sounds great Tim
    I am really looking forward to seeing how well this works, because I would like to add one to the Phlatshop! :)
    Mark
     
  25. gasmasher

    gasmasher New Member

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    I have a few more pics but I don't have action shots yet:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     

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