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Homemade paint booth/box?

A

AviatorJ

Well Known Member
Ive not even started my build as I'm currently waiting on my RV-10 Tailkit and some tools. I have decided though that I will do some type of priming of all my parts. The exterior of the plane however will get painted professionally.

I've seen online people making paint booths out of pic tubing, box fans and plastic sheeting. This typically takes up a lot of space which I don't current have. Someone mentioned in another post something about wire mesh and a box. I'm picturing in my head something like a 4x8 sheet of plywood with a 2x4 chicken wire mesh that you can lay the parts on and paint.

I did some searching around but had no luck finding pictures of anything like this. Can someone help me?
 
A pair of sawhorses bridged with a couple of sections of wire closet shelving works well for smaller parts. Skins? I could usually find a couple of cardboard boxes lying around to hold skins at the right height.

Personally, I just primed outside. Prep it, run it outside to spray, then bring it right back inside, even in cold weather. Works just fine.

If you put a piece of plywood under your "goods" you'll find that it deflects the airflow and makes priming more difficult. You want to put your parts on something that allows the air (and spray) to flow through the work surface, not deflect around it.
 
Made frame with chicken wire, added a box under and a perimeter of cardboard. I used a clothes dryer blower to pull out fumes, It did not work. It still smelled up the house. I still use it for the wire surface, but not in the basement.

Previously, I made a plastic booth for one stall of my garage, box fans, filters - good paper filters. I sprayed my truck in there. Once I went in, sprayed and exited. I watched the paint mist float right through those filters.

Yes, try outside, or do it in the garage, but don't recirculate back into the house, that will take a much better filter and/or blower. Use a Mil -Spec primer with zinc or strontium chromate in a large fraction of solids. Akzo Nobel stuff from ACS is good, and as a 2K primer won't lift under topcoats or with fluid contact. My friend got the 2 gal kit and is just about done with his 10 with 1 quart left. Not cheap, but very effective.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I don't have the small to do some of the paint booths I've seen people do. Also in Oklahoma it's windy a lot.... Makes outside painting a challenge and would be concerned with over spray on my driveway, house, fence ect...

I think I have an idea of doing a collapsible frame with some plastic backing and a wire mesh shelf. Based a bit on this...

dsc_9448.jpg


I'm guessing the skins are the biggest pieces to prime... So maybe do a 6x6 backing and a 3' deep shelf and maybe some 3' walls... Then have it all fold up so I could put it against the wall when not in use.... Just an idea.

Oh and not sure on the primer type yet... Have read a lot of things and am leaning towards that 2 part epoxy stuff.
 
Have you thought about a temporary booth

I built a temporary booth out of PVC. I put it together and cover it with fresh plastic whenever I need to prime a bunch of parts. It's been up and down ~4 or 5 times during the course of my empennage build. ~8 8 ft sections of 1 1/2", 4 elbows, 4 tees and 4 small 1 1/2" pieces between the tees and the elbows.

It's not pretty and but it works.
 
For priming, a frame with a screen outside is fine for me ... a few bits that get in there are no issue. For final paint (such as in the cockpit, where I am now) I've tried to build a paint booth with filters and fans, etc.

It's a lot of work, and, without the right facilities, my garage paint booth is marginally effective. What is effective (for me) is to paint, sand down the junk, and touch up. The final results are nice!

Though, I'm leaving the outside of the plane for pros in the future.
 
This is a professional paint table used in an engine shop. A homebuilder doesn't need anything nearly so elaborate, but it is easy to copy the principles.



Air flows into the open face of the hood, and up through the filters, which catch most of the overspray. The black tube fan on top is providing the air movement. The duct leads outside.

Most shops will still insist that the operator wear a mask, but there is very little paint or vapor near his head if the fan is working properly.

An updraft hood allows a sturdy table, as you might need to paint an engine case. A downdraft table is fine for priming sheetmetal.

The homebuilt variety can be a simple plywood box with chicken wire across the top. The backside is against the wall. A fan exhausts out through the wall. There are filters over the fan inlet. Flows down through the chicken wire, through the filter, through the fan, and outside.
 
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Wardrobe Box

For small batches of parts, particularly long parts, I have used a moving company wardrobe box with the hangar bar on the top and only one side cut down. Its smaller than an appliance box so I was able to tuck it in a corner of the garage when not in use (though the spiders really like it).
 
Whats the largest piece you paint on an RV-10 build? (Not included the finished exterior)

Is it the inside of the skins?
 
How do I post pictures of my set-up

I have some pictures to share if someone can tell me how to attach them. I tried copy and paste but no luck.
 
Paint booth

I spray in my storage barn or outside most of the time. Wind is low in the morning.

I use cheapo baby gates (Walmart) on a couple of saw horses.
When weather doesn't allow me to paint outside, I made a small booth out of hobby boards and a Rule 240 Bilge pump. It's only good for small parts. Photos in my blog "wings" page.

All this is not for priming. When the time comes to shoot exterior, I will have to build a booth to keep dust and fumes under control.
 
AviatorJ said:
Whats the largest piece you paint on an RV-10 build? (Not included the finished exterior)

Is it the inside of the skins?
Click to expand...

I'd say wing skins. Fuse side skins aren't far behind. I built a downdraft table, but stopped using it half way through my current build process - PIA to set up/take down; juice wasn't worth the squeeze. I now use a folding plastic table covered with some of the 100s of lbs of paper that Van's blessed me with :D

I set it up at the end of my garage/beginning of driveway. No issue with overspray - dries almost immediately. A speck of dirt every now and then, but looks great other than those few specks. I even painted some interior parts with urethane gloss with the same setup. I prep a bit more thoroughly - tack cloth, final wipe down - and again have a few specks, but looks good overall. If I have any lulls, later in finish kit stage, I may sand and reshoot those small areas with an airbrush some day, but probably won't.

Don't have it in me to tackle the exterior. I'll be writing the big check for that job.
 
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Here's a homemade paint boot I've been using for a couple of years now and I'm very happy with it.
The working parts (not shown) are two marine bilge blowers mounted on the back, exhausting out the window through those aluminum dryer very hoses. I searched far and wide for a cheap UL approved explosion proof blower and found them to be very expensive.

Then someone suggested blowers from a boat and they were just the thing. They cost about $22 each, run on 12 volts and are save blowing explosive fumes. I power them from my 12 volt car battery charger. Not particularly high tech, but cheap and effective.

It gets cold here in RI and my shop is heated. This rig lets me prime parts inside during the winter without poisoning myself. It's not big enough to do big skin pieces, but for most of the small stuff it's ideal.

Here's the blower: http://www.amazon.com/Attwood-Quiet...TQBNT7VN&dpSrc=sims&dpST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_



DSC02739_zpse10d8f98.jpg


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For small bits (lots of them will fall through chicken wire) I use an old aluminum window screen. Paint in the sun, wait 5 minutes, & flip over.

To reprime the primer wars....

I only primed 6061 stock & faying surfaces prior to assembly. The alclad stuff will definitely outlast me, and my grandchildren if they decide to learn to fly when they come of age.

:)

Charlie
 
Iluke said:
Here's a homemade paint boot I've been using for a couple of years now and I'm very happy with it.
The working parts (not shown) are two marine bilge blowers mounted on the back, exhausting out the window through those aluminum dryer very hoses.
Click to expand...

....Nice!!!!
 
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