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Spray booth to avoid hair/carpet fibres?


LooseSeal

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Hey! Can anyone with a spray booth (the small portable variety, the only type I can afford!) tell me whether it would help with removing carpet fibres/dust in the airbrushing process. I've had an awful time painting the current model due to uncontrollable hairs floating about in the upstairs of the garage. Can't get rid of the carpet and nowhere else to go...

 

Would I be right in thinking the spray booth would suck them in before they got to the wet model surface??

 

Thanks!

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The model will be positioned right in the airflow's path. The fibers  floating in air will be drawn in the booth by the fan and will stick to the model. Or if you're lucky you're going to watch a "clump" of fibers slowly moving from your shirt towards the model you're airbrushing and somehow make it's way to the fan (I forgot to clean myself after playing with the Samoyed dog, never making that mistake again). But in all seriousness get a booth, it vents out the smells, there's no more paint residue on the furniture...

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Before bringing the model into the spray area here area few tips;

Get the compressor fired up and turn on the booth fan. Blow out the entire room , everything, all the corners all of the furniture and everything that's in there.

Keep going until you see no dust in the air.

Vacuum the entire room as a double check.

Set up for the model and pretend that the model is in place and run the airbrush as if you were actually painting, see if there is any debris airborne still.

Blow off  your self and your clothes , take time to note if you are wearing dusty or unclean clothes.

Have a spray bottle of water and a drop of dish soap ready and wet down the spray area with a fine mist, run the fan as you do this. Wet down the floor and wherever you will be moving to keep the dust and fibres down.

Now bring in the model and just before spraying , wet yourself down with the fine mist as well , I usually do my forearms at least. You will not be soaking wet , obviously , but just enough for loose particles to stay attached.

That should help.

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I've had this issue countless times it drove me almost to the point of giving up, even with a spray booth, I found it was materials and static casing the issue.  If your chair is fabric it's probably man made,  a roller type office chair and has plastic wheels, carpet is a hard wearing man made mix, your clothes probably the same, all this adds up to static charge and and a lot of floating hair like particles.

 

Unless you've got a complete clean room you're not going to eliminate them, but you can drastically reduce them and almost eliminate them from the spraying area.  Now a lot (I stress this point) depends on your particular mix of fabrics, room size etc so what works for one may not work for another, but if you apply the advice and experiment you should get a good result.  Firstly dust isn't your issue so the light coating you get on any surface over time isn't worth worrying about, providing you don't disturb it just prior or during spraying.  If you regularly hover and don't have too much clutter around your spraying area forget it.  

 

If you've got a man made mixed material carpet a very high percentage are these days, don't hover just before spraying. all you will do is crate a lot of static and throw hundreds of static charged hair like particles into the air. 

 

Do the following if you can afford to: -

1. Change your chair to a leather type with anti static wheels you may have to get these separately.  

2. Get a anti static mat these come in all manner of sizes and it's cheaper than changing the carpet,  a cheaper method is a sheet of marine ply with a covering non static material    e.g. laminate flooring.  It must be big enough to cover the whole area your chair will move over while you work.

3. Get an air purifier and switch it and your spray booth on half hour before you want to spray.  

 

These cost nothing or very little and will all help: -

1. Wear clothing that isn't going to give off particles I find the current mix fibre sweat shits are terrible, go for all cotton.  Give yourself a good brush off before you enter the              room.  

2. Don't wear footwear that will crate static as you walk to and into the room.

3. Blow the model and the spraying area before you mix your paint.

4. Get a container big enough to cover what you're working on and use it to cover the model before and directly after spraying. 

5. Get a pump pray bottle the type that give you a very fine mist. A few squirts into the air around your work area just before you start.

 

It's all a bit trial an error but you'll get there. 

 

 

                

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On 8/19/2018 at 11:20 AM, Kev The Modeller said:

If you regularly hover and don't have too much clutter around your spraying area forget it.  

The last time I tried flying a Harrier inside the modelling room the odd floating hair was the least of my problems.

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