Does anyone use the $120-175 (depending on options) Portable spray booth from Ebay? Or similar?

[Citadelgrad]

I have fallen hard for lacquer paints.  The only downside I can see so far is the wicked stink.  I paint in the garage, but think a dedicated spray booth is probably a good idea.  I have seen some US based booths that are $700 or so, and then I see these mostly plastic ones on ebay for much less.

Does anyone have one, do you like it, or do you recommend an alternative that isn't $500+?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[LSP_Kevin]

You guys in the US are quite lucky, really, as here in Australia, those cheap eBay units are pretty much all we have access to. This is similar to the one I have:

 

 

But with mine, I removed the plastic hood and base (the sides were broken anyway), took a large clear plastic container, and mounted the motor/fan unit in its base:

 

 

I then added a strip of LED lights around the front:

 

 

My set up has changed a little since these photos were taken, and I no longer have access to the overhead light, so lighting is now a bit of an issue.

 

That said, I find the unit effective enough, as long as you can vent it outside. For a long time, I was venting into a semi-sealed bucket stuffed with foam, and this was in no way adequate for containing the smells. Venting outside made all the difference - though I still use a respirator for everything but the smallest airbrushing jobs.

 

Partly to address the lighting issue, and partly to get even better extraction performance, I'm looking to upgrade to one of these:

 

 

It has a dual fan and built-in LED lighting, and looks to be far more robust than my current model. The booth itself is smaller than the plastic tub I'm currently using, so I'm not sure how much of an issue that would be, but I'm prepared to trade the space for better lighting and performance. And as I mentioned at the top, we don't really have any better options here in Australia. And sadly, even these are out of stock everywhere at the moment, as shipments aren't making it out of China due to COVID lockdowns.

 

Kev

[denders]

I have one similar but I found the below link and used it for a model and built a booth myself. Painting the 1/32 Thud would have been a lot harder in the plastic booth.

 

DIY Hobby Spray Booth - Vent Works (vent-works.com)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by denders

[Woody V]

Regardless of what spray booth you use, you have to vent the fumes outside. I have one of those AB 500s which I gutted and modified to vent outside. I do my model building in my laundry room.

 

After removing the fan and switch and sealing all the holes I cut an oblong hole in the bottom.

 

Then I made a plenum box on the bottom, cut a hole in my desk and connected a dryer duct.

 

On the other side of the wall is my garage. I used a 1,000 cfm attic ventilation fan to suck the fumes out into the garage. 

 

Needless to say, it works. The only downside is that it'll suck the shirt off your back if you get too close. 

[quang]

My 80€ Amazon rig. Ventilation duct on the back goes outside the opened window. Neighbours get the fumes 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

By the time it makes it out the window, it's already dust, Quang, so fumes shouldn't bother your neighbours. They might complain about dust stains, however!

 

Kev

[denders]

16 hours ago, denders said:

I have one similar but I found the below link and used it for a model and built a booth myself. Painting the 1/32 Thud would have been a lot harder in the plastic booth.

 

DIY Hobby Spray Booth - Vent Works (vent-works.com)

 

 

 

 

 

What isn't visible here is a piece of wood with an outlet from the fan that I put in that window to the left of the paint booth when I'm painting. The wood closes off the window and the screen on the window keeps critters out. Before we moved, I had a much bigger paint booth with a much bigger fan which vented outside through the wall of the shop. When we moved into a new house it was made very clear that I wouldn't be allowed to make a hole in the wall to vent outside. The larger fan (similar to the one in the photo) needs at least two 4" ducts to vent outside. The fan actually draws air through the fan motor to help cool the motor. The outlet of the fan in the photo is just under a 4" square, so a 4" round duct is acceptable.

[quang]

5 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

By the time it makes it out the window, it's already dust, Quang, so fumes shouldn't bother your neighbours. They might complain about dust stains, however!

 

Kev

It’s just the trickster in me, Kev 

[Citadelgrad]

So do we like these contraptions?  Mine will be vented outside.

[denders]

They seem to work ok if it's large enough for what you're painting. There's a double wide version with two fans. Make sure you get the lighted one. I tend to have the piece I'm painting at the outer edge of the lighting, therefore those extra lights in my photos. my eyes seem to want more light on the painted surface.

[daveculp]

I use that "Expo" type of paint booth.  It works great, but it's a bit small for 1/32 scale models.  The filters are expensive, but you can get cheaper household type filters and cut them to size.

[denders]

1 hour ago, daveculp said:

I use that "Expo" type of paint booth.  It works great, but it's a bit small for 1/32 scale models.  The filters are expensive, but you can get cheaper household type filters and cut them to size.

Yeah, I had gotten some green colored stuff at HD or Lowes and cut it to size.

[ScottsGT]

I built my own.  Booth is 3’ wide, building area is 5’. 
 

[Citadelgrad]

1 hour ago, ScottsGT said:

I built my own.  Booth is 3’ wide, building area is 5’. 
 

Thats a nice setup. Is that melamine or something similar?  It looks really smooth.  Can you share details, what kind of extraction setup, etc?

[ScottsGT]

Certainly!  The table itself is 3/4 ply.  Table legs came from Amazon.  Booth was built using 3/4” MDF.  I discovered the trick to finishing MDF is sanding sealer.  If not, it sucks up paint like cardboard.  Cut edges got 3-4 coats with sanding in between.  Flats got two coats sanded between.  Warning:  MDF is heavy! It took 2 4X8 sheets for the booth and my paint rack with a little left over.  
This is the link I found a while back for the booth:

https://vent-works.com/blogs/the-ventilation-blog/15945741-diy-hobby-spray-booth

 

I modified it accordingly to fit my bench.  Used the same fan in this article.  From the fan I’ve got a 4” flex dryer duct down to a fixed 4” elbow and into a 6’ run of aluminum dryer duct to the left side of the bench.  From there another section of flex goes to a plywood sheet with a dryer vent mounted to it that I can raise the window and put in place when I’m painting.  It works better than I imagined.  
that switch panel on the right of the bench operates my overhead pool table light, paint booth light and paint booth fan.  Of course a power outlet  there as well.  Outlet on the left also has USB charge ports if I need to charge my phone or iPad.  
The four individual parts bins at Harbor Freight bins that I bought mainly to keep myself from piling up crap under the riser and had no idea what I was going to put in them.  Once I started unpacking from the move I realized they are well worth the price of admission since all these items were cluttering up my tool chest and it took forever to find the small widgets.  Funny thing is, I always hated the idea of using these small parts bins.  I cannot stress enough how much they have simplified and sped up my modeling building.