SPRAY BOOTH

[SHIVERS]

ANY SUSJESTIONS ON BUILDING A P\C SPRAY BOOTH
THANKS FOR ANY HELP

[non-stick]

It's probably easier to tell you what you shouldn't use for a spray booth as opposed to tell you what can be used. Most anything fibrous or of a natural material (old plywood) isn't the best due to the fact that they tend to "shed" when you are coating. It's not that I havn't used them or we still don't make them out of that material.... it's just easier to avoid pitfalls of things in your coating if you stay away from them. If you do use plywood.... here are my suggestions. Get a nice thick latex house paint and slather the inside of your booth with it. This will seal it from any stray splinters knocked off over time, make it easier for cleanup ( pinhole free coating so nothing can stick to it) and more than likely you'll be painitng it white... so you'll be able to see what you are doing easier in there. One thing that is a MUST (and I've talked to some of you on the phone about this VERY thing!). You have to have some sort of sacrificial metal in the back of the booth to catch stray ionization. Take anything ( an aluminum plate, if you will) and put it past the part you are coating and GROUND it so it catches the stray ions from your charge. Your parts will not only thank you for it from a smoother coating... but you won't build up and voltage and possibly risk a healthy shock when you go to clean the booth. It's bad enough that when you use a shop-vac to get the powder out it builds up a charge from friction in the suction tube (this is a very loose way that tribo charging can happen... more on that in another post), but to have nowhere for the stray charge to go is gonna be surprising to you when it's YOU that it goes to! lol.

I've seen booths made out of sheetmetal (my preferred choice), lexan or plexiglass, Wood frames with plexi panels, all plywood.... even cardboard. There is no wrong way for the hobbyist to make a booth unless you spent a fortune on it or didn't adhere to the basic rules as stated above Hope that helps.... Russ

[drfjr1976]

I made mine out of 4'x8' house insulation sheets. They have a foil on one side and are black on the other. The foil is reflective witch works great for lighting and I have the whole thing grounded so the overspray sticks to the walls. When I'm through coating, I just wipe the walls down with a dry towel to remove the bulk of the over spray, than follow up with a very damp towel to remove any missed residue.

[SHIVERS]

Thanks guys alot of help, didn't know about metal backing with ground, thought i would use bathroom tile board white thanks again

[non-stick]

Tile board is another fine idea,bud. Easy to wipe down and clean. I like it. Just make sure you have some sort of metal in there that's grounded is all. I'd definately say you are on the right track to success! Keep up the good work..... Russ

[11111111]

So this piece of metal in the booth should be hooked to the grounding strap of the gun that goes to the part as welll? and if this is correct should I just add a piece of wire with a alligator clip to clamp that hooks to the part being powder coated.
Jeff

[non-stick]

any ground is sufficient ground. Bare piece of wire leading to an actual grounding-rod is a good example. I suppose the ground to your machine is also a good idea assuming you know for a FACT that it's grounded in the plug all the way to your electical box. It's all the same otherwise. Ground to the system, ground to earth, ground between part and sacrificial metal in the booth. As long as you get something to take stray electron flow away it's fine.

[11111111]

drfjr1976 You lost me on the material you use for a booth. are you talking about a role of insulation and you just pulled the insulating glass off it? do you have pict you could send me.
jeffhart@earthlink.net

[drfjr1976]

I can't think of what it is called, it's on the tip of my tongue. I think it was called something like Thermax insulation boards.

No, it's a 4'x8' sheet about a 1/2 inch thick, has a reflective layer on one side and a black layer on the other side. You should be able to find it at just about any Home depot or Lowes.

I just built a frame like you would for any wall and put these sheets on with reflective side facing in of the 8'x8' booth. The reflective foil layer does a great job of lighting up the booth and I have it all grounded together. Majority of all the overspray sticks to the walls and makes it pretty easy to clean up.

[11111111]

Thanks for the info, I think I'll build a booth out of this stuff as well.