The paint booth is fully operational now. The design has been posted in bits and pieces so here is how it all lays out …

• The standard booth is just over 6 feet wide by 18 feet long and 8 feet 6 inches high.
• There is a 24 inch explosion proof fan at one end with two filters, stacked, in front of it.
• The door is at the opposite end of the room and has been customized to accept two filters, over under style.
• All of the filters are the same size for convenience and economy.
• There are 4 four foot fluorescent lay bays in the ceiling.
• The long wall has a custom 12 foot wide double door which allows for large items to be moved into the booth but also allows the booth to be expanded for short periods of time to tackle large objects.
• There are a series of hooks in the ceiling for hanging items.
• There are two turntables for rotating furniture items while painting.
• There is a 100psi air line coming into the booth that has it’s own filter and water separator.
• The HVLP guns have a secondary regulator to operate between 15psi and 45psi.
• Currently there are 6 guns – two each for primer paints and latex; finish coats of enamel, epoxy, and lacquer; and touch-up work.and primer.

The plan was for the walls to eventually be painted white but odds are good they will actual get all of the colors from my projects. I find it easy to use the wall as a target when I am balancing, air pleasure, spray pattern, and pain volume to get a perfect finish.

The first items through the paint booth are the interior doors. They will get 3-4 coats with sanding between the first and second coats.

It took a bit of trial and error to get a good finish with the latex. It’s thinned about 30% with water and then filtered before going into the pot on the gun. The air pleasure is about 35psi and the spray pattern is relatively narrow with the pain volume just low enough to not have globules. The right balance means the paint is still wet enough when it hits the surface that it flows out just a little and fine enough to give a thin coat. Too much air and the paint is nearly dry when it hits and the finis his dull and rough. Too much volume and the paint is splotchy with tear drop runs.

In the photo collage, you can see the door with it’s clean blue filters. The test door is shown and you can just see the exhaust fan filter behind it. Those filters get changed often as they collect all of the over spray. The collage als oshows the primer gun ready for use and the ceiling hooks with swivels.