[bdk1976]

I just finished my first paint job last week and figured I'd share/reiterate some advice for others who are considering shooting their cars in a homemade 'booth'.

1. Airflow - I used two box fans and furnace filters in a negative pressure setup. Definitely not enough airflow - lost of dry dust from basecoat overspray and a thick cloud of clear overspray. The filters clogged up quickly and greatly restricted the exhaust flow.

2. Lighting - this was very marginal to begin with in my 'booth' and got worse as more overspray hung in the air (esp. clear). I don't think it would be possible to have too much - I think I need 3-4 times what I had for it to be ideal.

3. Temperature - this was a concern of mine, but I picked a good day for this time of year (60+ degrees), preheated the garage with my 'big maxx' propane heater, and used a oil filled electric heater to keep the temperature up during painting when cooler air is being brought into the garage.


Besides lighting/airflow, the biggest issue I ran into was with my spray gun. I used an astro evo 4014, but realized after I began spraying that even though I thought I had it adjusted okay, that it really wasn't, and that the color I was spraying (iris mist metallic) wasn't forgiving *at all*.

I discovered a problem with a deformed hole in my air cap that seemed to be the cause of the uneven pattern, so I ended up using my old HF 43430 purple gun for the basecoat. This worked well, but did create more overspray and caused the compressor to run a lot more. I did end up using my EVO for the clearcoat - I can't even imagine how much overspray the HF gun would have created.

As far as protective equipment, I have a SAS fresh air setup with a full mask. Bought it unused on e-bay about a year ago for ~$350 and it was money well spent. I can't imagine shooting in this environment using a cartridge mask!

Overall I am pleased with my first paint job. I did end up with some major runs/curtains in the clear on the last couple of panels I did, mainly due to the lack of visability at that point. I have been carefully sanding these down and hope to get them out without hitting the base so I can reclear.

I must also mention that this has been a *tremendous* amount of work - and I still have plenty of sanding/reclear/sanding/buffing yet to do. I can certainly understand why shops charge so much. You'd have to pay me many thousands to do this job for someone else!

For those who are wondering about costs, I will have roughly $1200 into this paint job when I am done. This includes extra primer and clear that I ended up buying due to screw ups. I also have about $1000 in the equipment that I used (although this stuff has been - and will be - used for other projects as well).

[Greg Reid]

I know small flaws won't show up in a photo but I have to tell you that from what I can see...It looks very good.

[YVEYANT]

That looks amazing. Great job!!

[brianberes]

Looks great to me. You should be proud of yourself! I hope my paint job turns out as good as yours. I'm sure wet sanding will take care of the small flaws you have. In regards to the airflow, the two box fans weren't enough? I have a large industrial fan installed on the side of my garage and I plan on using that to hopefully kick out the paint fumes. I also found a used SATA 2000 fresh air system on ebay that I plan on using. Did your SATA system connect to your compressor for its air supply? If so, what filteration system did you connect between the SATA system, air hose and the compressor?

[bdk1976]

Two box fans were not even close to adequate - they would do 'okay' at first, but the filter on the intake side would quickly load up with overspray and drastically reduce the air that could be sucked out. I don't plan on painting my next car until I build my shop - I plan on incorporating a furnace fan or industrial-type fan for ventilation then.

As far as supplied air, I used a SAS system like the one in the attached picture. You place the pump where there is clean air (I put mine about 20-30 feet away on the intake end of my garage. It draws in fresh air and pumps it to the mask through a 50 foot hose. There isn't any filtration needed, although ther is some felt-like filters on the intake to keep junk out.

I'm going to spend some time tonight sanding down some more of the runs - what a PITA!

[RASK]

All of us Non-pros without a paint booth share your concerns. I read somewhere to use squirrel cage motors (lack of electrical sparks or something). I agree that, not enough air flow and all your time setting up shop is wasted. If I had to do it again, I would probably mount 2 blowers, make a box frame and mount one on each window, blowing outward to create negative pressure as you say. The environmentally concious may add a furnace filter on the outlet to trap paint dust from going outside but I can see where they might quickly become clogged so design something where they can be changed easily on the fly. For the inlet air, I'd probably create another box frame with furnace air filters that will fit in the 9ft? garage opening (2ft by 9ft) and let the garage door rest on top of the frame. May need a little duct tape to seal around the edges.

Something I can not stress enough is the place has to be CLEAN. If you can't wash down the walls and ceiling then put thick mil plastic up on these areas. One of the best ways to prevent or capture dust is wetting down the floor prior to paint. I have to mention that wetting the area down also causes major humidity so it's essential to have a good filtration system on the compressor to capture water. Devilbiss makes a good 2 stage system that works well.

[Tempest]

That looks great. That Iris Mist is a really neat color. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I was really tempted to paint my own, but because the garage is attached to the house, and I listenened to nay sayers, I took it to a pro. Part of me wished I tried it myself. Looks Fantastic, be proud of it.

[quicksilver97ta]

I feel your pain, but after color sanding and buffing I think you will be happy.

[eric65]

Woudl you be able to post more pix of say fans and the homemade booth???
I ruffly have to do the same thing
Also will be using a Astro EVO and have noticed spraying a few small items that the nozzle can plug those small small holes easily I use a small wire to poke them out

The pix from there that looks great!! Great job for 1st congrads

[bdk1976]

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the 'booth' - it was about as simple as you can get (and I have torn most of it down now). Two rolls of 10' x 25' plastic stapled to the ceiling/walls, with duct tape over the edges to seal it up. I sealed the bottom with duct tape as well. I also used duct tape to attach the filters to the box fans that were placed under the garage door and used a large piece of cardboard to fill the rest of the space.

Eventually I will need to 'rebuild' the booth when it is time to reclear.

I have sanded down about 90% of the runs/curtains at this point and (knock on wood) haven't went through to the base yet. I hope to reclear within the next couple of weeks, but we'll see how that goes as I have 1000 other things going on right now. I am thinking about shooting the clear in two sessions - it will mean more prep work, but I think I can control the environment better and be able to concentrate on what I am doing.

Be very careful using wire to clean out those holes on the EVO! I think that may have been how mine got messed up.

[CDJr]

Looks like ya did a good job AND learned along the way, bdk

Never use wire to clean out clogged tips on your gun! There are much better ways that wont damage the tip.

The reason furnace blowers are so good for exhaust is because theyre able to overcome the restrictions as the filter becomes clogged up. If youve never noticed, theyll normally speed up as you reduce their air intake, and will actually move more CFM with a restricted air intake. But you definitely need to use filters on it for several reasons, such as to reduce overspray being exhausted out into your yard or whereever, and to protect the fan and motor, as it will build up on the blades and in the motor very quickly. Eric, I can shoot ya some pics of mine if youll email me.