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DIY Airbrush Booth


Timbo343

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I'm wanting to make myself a small 40cm (w) x 30cm (h) x 30cm (d) airbrush spray booth out of cardboard. I've got a little so called booth at the moment but wanting to expand it. I only plan to build up to 1:20 models and not go any bigger.

 

I'm planning to install either 2x 92mm 12V DC fans or 1x 127mm 12v DC fan at the back of the box. 10mm in front of the fan(s) will be a filter 35mm thick. The fans will have come from either PC Power Supplies / CPU fans (with 4 wires) or PC Chassis. They will be powered by either a 19v PSU (2x 92mm fans) or by a 12v power adapter (1x 120mm fan).

 

Attached to the back of the box will be some ducting that will be put out via the window to get rid of the fumes.

 

On the roof of the booth will be a single strip of White 12v LEDs to give some light when spraying.

 

I mainly spray with Revell Aqua paints, humbrol acrylic paints, Tamiya X and XF paints and occasionally i decant the Tamiya TS paints into glass bottles, leave then to de-gas and then spray the paint. I do not spray enamel paints.

 

I've been reading that fumes, sparks from fans and other things could cause explosions. Should i air on the side of caution with this?

 

Has anyone done this thing in the past?

 

Thanks

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Hi Tim, strongly suggest you rethink what you use for the carcass, as cardboard has little inherent strength so the back of your box won't last long. Look to use either MDF, blockboard, chipboard or plywood for the carcass as any of these will at least be able to hold the weight of the fans etc.

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24 minutes ago, Timbo343 said:

Has anyone done this thing in the past?

Many, many, many modellers on Britmodeller have done what your suggesting, topic comes up every couple of months - in fact, Mike may be along soon to mention he built one with a cooker hood as many others have done.  If you do a search of the site, you should find about a dozen topics on the issue - heres a couple to be going on with:-

 

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, PhoenixII said:

Hi Tim, strongly suggest you rethink what you use for the carcass, as cardboard has little inherent strength so the back of your box won't last long. Look to use either MDF, blockboard, chipboard or plywood for the carcass as any of these will at least be able to hold the weight of the fans etc.

 

Thanks for the concerns. The prototype i am making first is made out of a 12mm thick cardboard box which seems sturdy enough at the moment, once I put the fans in i will assess it's strength. Version 2 will be made out of Ply or hardboard. The fan's weigh hardly anything to be honest, they are only computer CPU fans.

 

8 hours ago, rayprit said:

Many, many, many modellers on Britmodeller have done what your suggesting, topic comes up every couple of months - in fact, Mike may be along soon to mention he built one with a cooker hood as many others have done.  If you do a search of the site, you should find about a dozen topics on the issue - heres a couple to be going on with:-

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the links to other DIY builds.

 

I have wired up 2 fans and a small strip of 12v LEDs (18 leds in total) to a 19v PSU and everything seems to be fine. Testing the pull of the fans seems good so just need to wait for the filter to arrive. Bought this >>  in the end https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01E2QE878/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. May need to re-shape it and will need to make a holder for it but that shouldn't be an issue.

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I've had Delta and Nidec PC fans... Even if you're using those you'd still have almost no airflow after installing a 35mm thick air filter in front of them. I've got an industrial fan in my homemade booth and when I put the filter in front of it it reduces the airflow drastically.

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I know they are not cheap, but I've said it in one of those linked threads, a Benchvent BV300S-D Spray Booth is worth every penny. Mine is very effective and when you weigh up the cost against how much we spend on kits and materials then it's hard to argue against having one. That's my two penneth.

Edited by Filler
Wrong type of weigh
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31 minutes ago, Filler said:

I know they are not cheap, but I've said it in one of those linked threads, a Benchvent BV300S-D Spray Booth is worth every penny. Mine is very effective and when you way up the cost against how much we spend on kits and materials then it's hard to argue against having one. That's my two penneth.

100% agree, best purchase I've ever made to be honest.

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5 hours ago, bmwh548 said:

I've had Delta and Nidec PC fans... Even if you're using those you'd still have almost no airflow after installing a 35mm thick air filter in front of them. I've got an industrial fan in my homemade booth and when I put the filter in front of it it reduces the airflow drastically.

 

This did cross my mind when i took into consideration the 35mm thickness of the filter - will have to experiment with bit's and pieces.

 

5 hours ago, Filler said:

I know they are not cheap, but I've said it in one of those linked threads, a Benchvent BV300S-D Spray Booth is worth every penny. Mine is very effective and when you way up the cost against how much we spend on kits and materials then it's hard to argue against having one. That's my two penneth.

 

This would have been ideal if it was a little bit smaller, unfortunately i don't have the space for it's size though i wonder if cutting the white sheilds down a little could be an option?

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37 minutes ago, Timbo343 said:

This would have been ideal if it was a little bit smaller, unfortunately i don't have the space for it's size though i wonder if cutting the white sheilds down a little could be an option?

I have rarely used the shield thing as to be honest, with 1:48 stuff it just gets in my way most of the time. And I'm not sure it brings a lot to the party anyway when using an airbrush. A rattle can is different, but rattle can use means you'll need a new filter every other time you use it. Before stopping using the guard thing, I had cut a rectangle in the top and covered that with a clear sheet to aid lighting. That shield/guard does not aid spraying in good light in my experience.

 

All that aside, they are not small things, so yes, a bit of room is handy.

Edited by Filler
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5 minutes ago, Filler said:

 Before stopping using the guard thing, I had cut a rectangle in the top and covered that with a clear sheet to aid lighting. That shield/guard does not aid spraying in good light in my experience.

I just bought an led strip light and fitted it under the shield, it really improves the lighting whilst spraying..

 

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I have the Benchvent(Graphic air) extractor and yes it's very good, but a cheap cooker hood will do the same thing if you fit it into something

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just don't get ripped off by buying their own filters, you can get a roll of filter material online to make your own at about £1.65 each

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19 hours ago, Timbo343 said:

I've been reading that fumes, sparks from fans and other things could cause explosions. Should i air on the side of caution with this?

 

Has anyone done this thing in the past?

@hendie said he used a bilge extractor fan, for boats, which are designed to deal with potentially explosive gases. 

 I did search them up, and they can be bought cheaply, IIRC around £20 wasn't the cheapest,  but looked a reasonable one, and high air volume clearance rate.

Hopefully Hendie might chip in with more info.

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5 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Hopefully Hendie might chip in with more info.

 

thanks Troy.

This is the best photo I have of my set up - sorry it's not very good.  I built the booth from thin plywood and braced it with batons.  I got a 4 inch dia. high flow bilge pump from Amazon which sucks fumes etc through a 16"x 25" cheapo furnace filter (seen at back of booth)  then blows it out the flexible ducting seen on the right.  I think it's capable of something like 240 cfm.  Bilge pumps are designed for removing nasties like engine fumes and fuel fumes from inside boats so are rated for explosive fumes - and they are a lot cheaper than buying "special" paint booth fans

The bilge pump is 12v (as it's intended for boats) so I just bought a computer power supply and a rotary switch to control the fan rpm. All in the entire setup was less than $60 including the plywood

It works pretty well and has been doing me service for over 5 years now 

 

 

S5003279.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

I use one of these sort of things because space is a problem for me; https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003UMZQ4U/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_TdXOEbHP992P5

and it lets light in. It collapses flat quickly and is lightweight. I had already an industrial type workshop air filter/fan which extracts via a hole I've made at the back. Filters from ebay which I cut into circles using the front grill as a template. If I had the space for somewhere to permanently install it I'd probably try something like this which ideally would extract to the outside..

 

 

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