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Here's a shot of my home made spray booth. I bought a sheet of foam insolation at Lowe's, cut out the pieces on my table saw, attached hinges, and closed up the gaps with duct tape. I cut out a 20"x20" hole to accomodate a furnace filter. I can use a simple box fan because I'm not using nitro (EM6000), so no explosion proof fan needed. The booth is setup at the window. The filter catches any over spray. The great thing is I can fold it up and store it out of the way. ...cheap and effective...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Yep when I went to Endro Var I put together a similar booth but I used some of our packaging cardboard. Of course the swivel is shop made. I put a piece of CB on top too. theres a very bright LED fixture above so the light in pretty good.

You should still wear a particle mask and eye protection but at least when spraying water based coatings you usually don't have to worry about blowing up the shop and killing a million brain cell per session.

Now that I have a HVLP spray system I needed to set up a little spray booth in the shop, but not dedicated space. So here's my no muss no fuss "cardboard WB coating spray booth." Its cross drafted with a simple 20" box fan and merv 10 filter. I took apart my "brush on coating" fixture and used the shop made trunnion. I modified it so it can be clamped to a bench -- in this case the booth is on my table saw out feed table. Pretty simple stuff thought I'd share.

Next up, a hanging "rotisserie" combo warm air infrared drying booth --- stay tuned.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Thanks for sharing Ken. I like the idea of an overhead light. I could use more of that. I do a mask when spraying. Can't wait to see the rotisserie. Sounds tasty...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Here is an image of my spray booth

Nothing like a spray booth big enough for a good mountain bike trail system.

For Lacquer touch ups off-gassing after they are brought back inside.I've had great luck w/ these.
Thanks to the colossal pot growing industry.
The little one has a $30 duct fan on it from Home Despot. Its quiet so I leave it on. I often walk over to this corner when cleaning something off w/ Naptha or working w/ contact adhesive.
keeps my precious humidity inside.
Should have done it years ago.
highly recommended.

Hey jfmckenna - That looks like my old stomping grounds around Asheville, NC. Where is that?

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

The box fan has an induction motor (with no brushes) so it won't ignite any solvent. The switch on the fan might make sparks, but not the motor. The furnace filter is important because the overspray goes somewhere and you have to get it into the trash before it gets thick enough to be a fire hazard. Since yours looks to be built with non-disposable boards, you might want to tape paper on them if you notice overspray building up on them. To open your eyes, spray some finish on a piece of paper, let it dry, take it outside and light it on fire. In my experience finishes themselves are amazingly flammable, not just the solvents.

I like the look of those filters - any idea how long the filters will last before they need to be replaced? I'm thinking of the same application - running a closed loop through my drying cabinet for lacquer outgassing and for working with solvents/adhesives.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

We have dis-assembled our solvent coating spray booth which had explosion proof fan, lighting and switches -- I would never spray nitro indoors without these safety features.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I've made several of these over the years graduating to bigger fans. I built a box with a serpentine path for the air ahead of the filter so it has to travel 6' before it hits the filter. With EM6000, the overspray is dry by the time it hits the filter so the filter can be vacuumed after a session and reused the next day. Through all these versions, and now with a 1600 cfm fan, I still can't catch all of the overspray.

I don't know how long they will last. I looked around for a long time and it essentially came down to dollars per pound of charcoal. The large filter has 80lbs in it.
Just to reiterate they are for off-gassing, NOT overspray, so the vast majority of solvents go outside.
I think they will last a long time. I've been using them for a year but I don't spray whole instruments.

The illuminating thing was how much better the air in my shop is even when no finish is curing. I figured I'd only run it while Lacquer is drying, but am amazed in the morning how much better the air is when it's left on.
Even when there is no finish curing in the shop.
My shop is very tight for energy and humidity control so I think it's cleaning the sum of all the MDF, solvent, finish, lotions, and potions, etc.

I originally had the same Idea, build an enclosed space to filter, but never got around to it. For how I currently use it, it's not necessary.
I've always felt the curing of solvent finishes is a bigger problem than spraying. Just bumping the spray booth fan on periodically has plenty of costs, health and energy wise.

Thanks David, I think if the filter would last at least a year or two then it would be cost effective for me and it they are easy to find on Amazon. My shop is tight too, about 15' x 22' so not too big so sounds like a reasonable way to improve air quality since I keep the shop closed up most of the time to maintain humidity control. On the rare days with just the right humidity and temp outside it's a treat to open the window and ventilate the place. No problem on the overspray vs. off-gassing, I have a small spray booth with multiple filters and a 12" explosion-proof fan for overspray. Unfortunately, like Bob's it does not catch all of the overspray but it does get most of it.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hello! I've been picking up some great tips here for a while, but this is my first post. Some great ideas here.

I just started experimenting with KTM-9 due to concerns of nitro off-gassing. I sprayed nitro outside and took appropriate PPE precautions when spraying with it. My concern is I don't want to be exposed to it while it's off-gassing and I haven't come up with a good solution yet. My shop is set up in a 2 car garage at my home. Has anyone had success building a "drying" box to filter out the off-gassing chemicals of nitro?

That's what I was going to say! Actually, I'm hoping to go mountain biking in Bent Creek this evening. That shot looks a lot like the Pisgah Mountains.

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Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com