LION uses so little paint it hardly seeps necessary. Only acrylik paints are used. Besides Outside wall is over 12" thick masonry and making hose in it here is not an option. I could have a go at the window fillers, but they would not like that either. I can't even get them to vent Br. G's spray booth, and he does more sprayin than I do , and with more volitile stuff as well.
Only the Pottery shop has a well vented spray booth because it was installed when the space was developed for pottery.
The Maiant Dept here does not believe in such niceties as "safety".
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
karle:
karleBe smart and vent your booth outside, your health is worth a whole lot more than a model!
What would I do without the heady buzz that comes from inhaling solvents?
Obviously you are right. Good advice!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Be smart and vent your booth outside, your health is worth a whole lot more than a model!
jmnienabI've just taken the booth outside to spray on the porch, but with winter coming, that won't be a viable option.
Maybe not. I was concerned that the compressed air would cool the paint to the point of freezing.
That did not happen with air temps in the 20's. I did not keep the paint outside any length of time before spraying. Of course you may live somewhere colder.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
This totally off topic, but venting your clothes dryer indoors is a sure fired recipe for mould in the house. Terrible invention.
That looks familiar, Lion--except I took the top out od mine, too, to let more light on the model!
Deano
Steve Hunter These things are essentially a bucket of water that the exhaust bubbles through, cleaning lint or other particles from the exhaust air:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Indoor-Dryer-Vent-Kit-TDIDVKHD6/203626526
These things are essentially a bucket of water that the exhaust bubbles through, cleaning lint or other particles from the exhaust air:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Indoor-Dryer-Vent-Kit-TDIDVKHD6/203626526
That device does not appear to actually bubble the dryer exhaust through the water. It employs a small reservoir of water located below the vent holes. The heavier than air lint is thrown into the water, trapping it there, while the air itself goes through the holes above the water.
No doubt there is some splashing and mixing. Despite having a video on its installation and operation, there is no video of it actually in operation. I suspect there is a reason for that.
I don't think it would trap nearly as high a percentage of paint particulates as it does the lint, but the only way to know for sure would be a trial run. Any volunteers?
SPRAY BOOTH:
Questions?
As long as you are ONLY using water-based paints, an indoor dryer vent should capture the particulate from the exhaust. As usual, use a furnace filter in the booth to reduce the amount going through the blower. These things are essentially a bucket of water that the exhaust bubbles through, cleaning lint or other particles from the exhaust air:http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Indoor-Dryer-Vent-Kit-TDIDVKHD6/203626526But whatever you do, don't exhaust solvent paint fumes indoors.Steve Hunter
I use acrylics in my airbrush as well as rattle can automotive primers and Testors Clearcote and Dullcote. I spray in my garage without an outside exhaust vent. I have a home built spray booth that uses a small 16" square box fan and cheap fiber furnace filters.
The furnace filters are suprisingly effective at trapping the overspray. Here is the booth with the filter in place and after a few spraying sessions:
Here is the fan after all the spraying I have done. The picture was taken a couple of years ago but the fan doesn't look much different today:
You can see that there is very little paint on the fan. In other words, the vast majority of the overspray is being caught by the filter. Not much is being put back into the air. Of course, if I were to vent the booth outside then there would be almost no overspray staying in the air, but I'm not about to punch a hole through a brick wall to deal with what little overspray is left after the filter.
There is the issue of fumes from the lacquer thinner that I use to clean the airbrush, but all I do is pop the front and back garage doors open and the fumes dissapate very quickly.
Note that I change the filters regularly. The paint buildup seriously restricts the air flow, even when the filter still looks like it's not too badly clogged. Running the fan with a clogged filter will overheat the fan motor as well as reduce the air flow. When I pulled the filter pictured above out of the booth while the fan was running there was a significant increase in the motor rpms.
Regards,
I moved into a studio apartment from a one-bedroom, 344 square foot aparment where i had noplace to vent a spray booth--or to even store it when not in use. However, we have two rooms full of 3x3x8' storage closets--and there's an exhaust vent above my kitchen range. I engineered a spray booth out of a large carboard box, with a truncated pyramid above--a furnace filter in between--and a telescoping chimney that fits snugly around the vent coping. That blower is six-speed and I've never had any paint escape. Of course, I would never have done this with my old favorite Floquil lacquer, but I can detect no odor from water-based acrylics.
In your situation, I'd rig a box into which to plug the outer end of the hose, maybe putting a muffin fan at that end, too, and let exhaust air go through a furnace filter--until you decide to have a dryer vent opening replacing one of your glass blocks. (I cringe every time I remember all the years I airbrushed Floquil lacquer, using only a carboard box with one side removed to catch the overspray!)
jmnienab My plan is to use mainly water-based paints, not solvent-based, so how critical is venting the fumes to the outside?
It depends on what you use to thin the paint. many people use windshield washer fluid, which is alchol based. This essentialy changes the water based paint into a solvent paint as far as fumes go, so it is important to vent to the outdoors if you do this.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Thanks for the information -- I didn't think about the particles coming out of the exhaust and into the room.
Unfortunately, all the windows are glass block. I'm considering getting a price quote on removing a block and installing a dryer vent, but won't happen for awhile. There is a filter in the back of the booth (it's the portable booth that MicroMark sells). I like the idea of adding an additional filter to the end of the hose.
I wonder... could I simply place the hose into a garbage can to catch the spray there?
Ok, looks like I need to get my painting fix in this fall while I can still do it on the porch, and then plan to install a exhaust portal to the outside.
Don't try solvent based paints, as it just won't work, but for water-based stuff it can work. The key is filtration, as it really must take the dust out or you'll be dusting the room every time you use it. Keep in mind what escapes the filter will be the finest, most difficuly to clean dust. So you want to do better than slapdash or it will cause issues with your health and your roommates, just take longer than before.
Keep in mind that even many water-based paints have label warnings about concentrations of their fumes.
But are you really stuck with totally indoor painting? Maybe not as it's easy to bring air in and expel it from a booth through using an open window and enough tubing to get what you do out.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
we built a spray booth when we painted the glider and a suit worn inside the booth. Some sort of paper filter is used to capture the paint particles. A charcoal filter would be needed for the fumes.
Could you vent fumes to a window? Build a board the width of the window that the window can seal against and with a hole the vent can mount to after a paper filter.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Well, I still do my spray painting outdoors on the railing of my deck. Even up here in NH, I can find winter days warm enough to paint often enough to keep projects moving ahead.
The real purpose of a spray booth is to catch the overspray and prevent it from floating around the house and settling down on everything, upholstery, rugs, table tops, beds, whatever and making them sticky and off color. The vapors released from spraying HO models aren't going to kill you. It's not like a paint shop in an automobile assembly plant. You just want to keep the messy overspray contained.
You mentioned your spray booth has a hose, presumable an exhaust hose? Can you just crack a window open and run the hose outdoors? Does the spray booth have an airfilter at the inlet end of the hose? If not can you rig one up from a furnace filter which is only a few bucks down at my local hardware store? A filter will catch most of the airborne overspray paint and keep it from going around the house. In which case, you can just run the fan with the hose exhausting indoors and you are OK. Water based paints are mostly odorless. Solvent based laquer usually has a fairly strong petroleum odor which your significant other and your pets will find obnoxious. Rattlecans are usually solvent based.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I'm getting to point where I can start painting structures, rolling stock, etc. and I have already invested in an airbrush (Iwata Eclipse). I picked bought a small spray booth that has a hose attached to vent outdoors, but currently I'm not in a position to set that up. To date, I've just taken the booth outside to spray on the porch, but with winter coming, that won't be a viable option. My plan is to use mainly water-based paints, not solvent-based, so how critical is venting the fumes to the outside? I plan to use a respirator and the spray booth has a fan and filter built in. I certainly want to avoid breathing in paint particles, but am I in any danger not venting outside?
Thanks as always.
Jeff