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Inflatable paint booth


chistech

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Has anyone here used an inflatable paint booth? Just ordered one and I have an idea on making a heat box with charcoal filters, with a Reddy Heater blowing into it. The make up air blower would get it’s air from the back of the box. A thermostat inside the booth would control the running of the heater. I’m thinking a propane one would easily produce enough heat to get the job done. The heater box design will not let the air get too hot to be blown into the fabric booth but warm enough to do the job. The booth I ordered is 26 x13x10 and appears very nice. Watched a YouTube video and the guy was quite impressed with the booths results. No, he was not a representative of the booth company but a guy who does informational painting/body work videos.

Edited by chistech (see edit history)
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Christech, good timing !  I just used one of these booths for my 1st time just a few weeks ago. We loved it !  It was larger than your dimensions, because it belongs to a friend whose commercial garage burnt, and he got this to "tide him over" until the new building was completed. We had absolutely no issues with it.   One thing, we did do our prep and sanding outside before we took it to the booth for the final check, wipe-down, taping, masking, and spraying.  It turned out pretty nice, but since it was my wife's car and she was pleased, all is good !  ( except now she has ordered some vinyl flames, ha )

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The folks that own the booth had already cleaned the floor and inflated it for me before we got there. It is 110 volt, actually goes up in very few minutes with the squirrel cage type fans that power it the owner said.  In these pics, you can see one of the fans, some of the doors, and some of the vents in the overhead hoops.   Looks like this unit came from Montgomery Texas..   https://mobileenvironmentalsolutions.com/mobile-paint-booth/

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This is what I wanted to hear! I’ve read other threads on IBs and people were saying lots of negative things yet they had never used one which is so typical of internet keyboard junkies. If all sanding and prep work is done before the car is put inside the booth, dust and dirt should not be a problem. My booth was $1,400 including the two blowers, repair/patch kit, tie down ropes, tie down stakes, a storage bag, and free shipping. 

     I have a large concrete pad behind my garage that this booth will fit nicely on. For a 1932 car that’s disassembled, my 26x13x10 booth will have plenty of room. I realize the booth I bought is probably not the highest quality but I’ll only be doing 1-3 cars a year so it should hold up at least for a couple years. The way I look at it is that’s about $225 per car if I replace the booth after 6 cars. It’s basically cheaper than loading all the pieces up and going to a paint shop. With my own in-house paint and body man now, it will be great keeping everything right here on my property. 

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Great idea. As long as the fan is on it’s own dedicated circuit and the fan doesn’t give up the ghost overnight.  What a disaster it would be to have inflation problems during painting or drying processes.  Anyone who’s painted before knows that no matter how prepared you think you are, there’s often something unforeseen that comes up during spraying and you end up scrambling trying to keep the job from going sideways.

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On ‎10‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 5:23 PM, John Byrd said:

Theirs had a LOT of filtered air coming through vents on the upper hoop parts, exhausting out the big doors that were also filtered, and I wear a chemical respirator.... had isocyanate poisoning before from urethane- type paints.

You have to be very carful when using an isocyanine as it never really leaves  your system. The only real protection is a fresh air system and your body covered in a paint suit.  Do not trust a chemical respirator as they are not meant to paint a car because of the duration and heavy mist in the air. I see people walking into a booth to look at the finished job with no respirator on not thinking that the isocyanides is a vapor being released during the drying process. Isocyanides attracts mainly to the damp areas of your body like eyes, arm pits or palm of your hand. Another thing do people realise that when wet sanding an old pain job that has isocyanides it will reactivate so where rubber gloves .

Edited by Joe in Canada (see edit history)
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  • 4 weeks later...

Got my booth in yesterday. Set it up behind the garage to make sure all was correct with it. Took about 3-4 minutes to fully inflate because it needs a little help at first to get all four corners up and I was by myself. After taking some measurements I realized it will fit inside my garage and will just be up against the bottom of my trusses. This is a good thing as I won’t have to worry about the weather and my garage has heat for the cold times. I hadn’t put the filters in when I took the pictures.

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2 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

You might want to become very good friends with your local Codes Enforcement Officer asr. well as your insurance carrier.

 

Maybe the code officer after Thanksgiving. If my cousin heard I was making friends with the code guy I might end up as part of the leftovers.

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4 hours ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

What is the thing made out of? Forced fed with air, full of painting fumes. Could a static charge build up on the surface?   http://www.paints.com/ceramic-industrial-coatings-saftey-matters-static-electicity-spray-guns/

 

The outside is held up with air with one blower and a second blower forces air to the inside which exhausts through two big charcoal filters at the far end. The material is a special material that doesn’t build static electricity but as a precaution you can spray it down inside with an anti-static solution. They are using these all over the place these days.

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On 10/19/2018 at 1:34 PM, chistech said:

idea on making a heat box with charcoal filters, with a Reddy Heater blowing into it. The make up air blower would get it’s air from the back of the box. A thermostat inside the booth would control the running of the heater. I’m thinking a propane one would easily produce enough heat to get the job done. The heater box design will not let the air get too hot to be blown into the fabric booth but warm enough to do the job.

 

WAIT!

 

First, no sparks inside the booth, so that means no thermostat inside the booth.

 

You are planning to run the exhaust of the booth (solvent laden air) into the intake of the heater? Have you ever seen an afterburner work??

 

You say by having the booth inside the garage, you will have heat. Ha! When that exhaust fan starts up, it is sucking outside air into the booth, as you do not want to leave the garage doors closed and recirculate the air. See above comment on afterburners.

 

And if you did recirculate the air with the garage doors closed, just what air would you breathe??

 

Please think about air flow, air breathing for human painter, and  igniting a flammable mixture of solvents and oxygen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That said, I have heard these booths work well, just be mindful of the issues ALL spray booths have, noted above.

 

BTW, a typical booth has a 1,000,000 BTU heater to keep the required airflow heated to 90 or so °F.

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56 minutes ago, Frank DuVal said:

 

WAIT!

 

First, no sparks inside the booth, so that means no thermostat inside the booth.

 

You are planning to run the exhaust of the booth (solvent laden air) into the intake of the heater? Have you ever seen an afterburner work??

 

You say by having the booth inside the garage, you will have heat. Ha! When that exhaust fan starts up, it is sucking outside air into the booth, as you do not want to leave the garage doors closed and recirculate the air. See above comment on afterburners.

 

And if you did recirculate the air with the garage doors closed, just what air would you breathe??

 

Please think about air flow, air breathing for human painter, and  igniting a flammable mixture of solvents and oxygen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

That said, I have heard these booths work well, just be mindful of the issues ALL spray booths have, noted above.

 

BTW, a typical booth has a 1,000,000 BTU heater to keep the required airflow heated to 90 or so °F.

 

1.Would have used a totally enclosed mercury thermostat. Connection is made inside the glass but this was only if the booth was used outside and would run the propane fired heater box, again, outside.

 

2. My hot air furnace pulls outside air for combustion but continue reading. And yes, pretty familiar with turbine engines.

 

3. Yes, with the booth in the garage there will be heat. The garage will be warmed up and the make up blower will blow warm air into the inside to warm the booth. Heating system will be shut down,one garage door opened up about 1’, the other 1’, which makes a wind tunnel type exhaust along the floor through my 60’ long garage. Painting will be done with make air coming in from a pipe from chamber of warm air furnace. (Which is off during painting) Also, in booth warm air rises so cooler air will enter near floor and exit at rear of booth through charcoal filters. Don’t  paint with heat on anyway as it’s hard to keep a wet edge if your paint is drying. Ever see a painter keeping a wet edge? My painter never turns his heat on to bake a car until after 10 minutes after painting and NO ONE is in the booth.

 

4. Have a fresh air breathing system with Tyvek fresh air hoods and suits from my days servicing medical waste processing equipment. 

 

5. Booth is commercially made and is designed for air flow, see #4 above, also see 1,2,and 3. What makes you think I haven’t thought about the whole process? Also, oxygen and air are a lot different when it comes to combustion. 

 

6. I have actually built, installed, repaired gas fired hard walled paint booths in the past. I still continue to rebuild the blower units for them to this day.

 

7. Again, the heat is turned on AFTER painting is done and any paint mist has been exhausted. While fixed wall commercial booths are designed with optimal temperatures, allowing my make up blower to blow in piped heated air directly off the garage hot air furnace will help the paint cure better than no heat at all.

 

 

Edited by chistech (see edit history)
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Well, sounds like you have addressed  the safety concerns your first comment raised to me. I read it that you were taking the output of the booth ("from the back of the box") and feeding the Ready Heater, that would be an afterburner. Your new words make it clear that is NOT what you  are doing.

 

Yes, I know wet edges, etc. Owned a collision shop for 13 years. Had to paint despite the weather every day.  10°F or 100 °F outside. I also know when it is 10 °F outside a typical booth gets too cold to paint unless auxiliary heat is used. Heat in the intake of booths is not just for baking (curing), it is for getting the surface and paint at the right temperature for spraying/adhering. Below 60 °F  or so and catalyzed paint just does not catalyze.  Your location is Massachusetts and winter is here, therefore my comments on heat. You California and Hawaii people just pass this comment by....?

 

Do not understand comment of hot air rising in a booth. Crossdraft booths the air flow is horizontal, and down draft booths the flow is down, either to the walls (semi downdraft), or under the car.  If air actually rose in a booth, it would carry dirt above the car and drop it back onto the car, not the ideal method. Air flow in a booth is designed to not do this. 

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Sometime when you have nothing better to do research EPA, OSHA and your state's rules regarding painting at home. I will give you just a taste...It is illegal to paint ANY cars at home for profit. You can paint up to 5 cars/year as a hobbyist. It is illegal to paint ANYTHING automotive outside a paint booth. Don't believe me? Do your research or ask your local paint supplier when his next EPA/OSHA seminar will be held. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Interesting thread..  About 6 or 7 years ago, I bought one of those $200 portable vinyl garages with metal pipe framing sold at Sam's Club.  The first owner had discovered the were not good garages, so I got it for $50, used.  Cut 6" off the metal piping that held the structure up allowing us to use 2x4's and sand bags to seal the vinyl to the ground, added a big box fan at the end to exhaust the dirty air and filter where fresh air came it.  Wet the floor and had a great temporary paint booth.  Painted, hood, fenders, and small parts one day and the body another day.   Can't rent a booth for $50.

Disassembled it an saved it for the next project, then gave it to the next painter.

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  • 5 months later...

I see times have changed greatly since the last time I sprayed  a car (back in the 60's). Nitrocellulose lacquer in a garage with the doors and windows open using a cup type spray mask........life was a lot simpler back then.

 

Yes, overspray was everywhere.  mom was not thrilled (garage attached to house with door to kitchen. )..

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