The ol' paint booth story, eh? Well dear fellows please do not judge me too harshly. It's a tale of woe, danger, and questionable decision-making.
You ever see the people of Walmart and their car photos? You know the ones with the hot tub in the trunk that are powered by a generator duct taped to the bumper? Well it's not quite so bad but I did put a lot of creative engineering skills to work. I am a desperate hobbyist. Desperate times and situations require quick and decisive thinking. Weigh the risk and overweigh the reward outcomes...and bam there you are air brushing in the master bathroom until midnight.
Now ideally the booth is designed to push venting air out a window. It comes with a coupler to attach to the back of the fan, 6' of hose, and a contraption to slide under a window. See the photo below. It's a Master's paint booth. You can get them on Amazon.
I planned to place the booth in the garage. I cleared a table. Mastered the garage door to the point I could stop it just inches off the ground. Measured the distance from the booth table to the garage door. I had it all calculated out. Fast forward to the weekend. The wife undertakes a major minimization purge operation. The garage is fill up with opened boxes and the folding tables are cluttered with odds and ends of her efforts. Being a man of action I sprung into execution and pushed caution to the side. Did Columbus wait for GPS to sail the ocean's blue? Hell, no. He hopped in a ship and headed out into the yonder!
I setup the booth on a folding table in the master bathroom. From previous experience, I knew the fan and filter system deals with a good 95% of paint fumes. The other 5% goes into the air, sure, but mostly it passes through the filters and the hose into the air outside the window. The bathroom exhaust fan and a floor fan provide additional air circulation. The key to the Operation Paint Booth Panic was a little contraption I rigged to catch the exhaust air, provide an extra filter, and additional counter-measure to prevent paint particles from getting free.
I attached the fan couple as normal. Acquired my trusty roll of painter's tape, a Walmart plastic bag, packing paper, and a box (thanks to the wife's efforts in the garage). I filled the plastic bag with shredded paper towel, loosely covered the bag with packing paper, and inserted it into a box. All secured with blue painter's tape. An ingenious contraption which surprised myself and other doubters in the house with it's effectiveness. Do I recommend this to you dear readers? Hell, no. It's a dumb idea that only a desperate fool would undertake. See exhibit A for the makeshift secondary filtration system. The box and packing paper have been removed as the booth is currently located on my hobby table in the walk-in closet. Life in a walk-in closet is a long tale for another day.
Honestly, it worked well as a temporary solution. However, I do wear a mask when air brushing and if I had been working with anything but acrylic paints I would not have done it. The whole operation is powered by my trusty little blue compressor. See him in all his glory below. I think a tale of compressors is in order for another day.
Topic: Bison's Tales of Hobby Crafting (Read 78278 times)