The born craftsman

Wambo · Mar 31, 2015

Hey Guys... i know its more than off topic. But i want to hear your opinion!

I have a crazy idea. In my freetime iam working on cars and i want to lacquer small parts on my own! I try to figure out how i can build a lacquer cabin at the lowest charges! Because in my garage it is too dusty and so on…
Here my idea:
Buy a pavilion
Fix it to the ground
Get some thick advertising banner
attach it around the pavilion an onto the ground
DONE!!
Or maybe for a whole car??? :troll:

source:http://www.r-zs.com/en/tents-halls/event-tents/roeder-p-tents/party-tent/

Could this work? What do you guys think?

PatrThom · Mar 31, 2015

1) Get a good mask. Dying of asphyxiation is no fun.
2) Make sure your tent will not dissolve when exposed to large quantities of paint/lacquer.
3) Check with your local community to make sure something like this is legal.
4) Be EXTREMELY careful to avoid explosion. Vapor build-up can create a volatile mixture.

I'm sure others will have hints.

--Patrick

drawn_inward · Mar 31, 2015

Those all sound like good tips to me. Depending on how big you need it, I'd say a simple 1x2 frame with heavy plastic sheeting should work for a mini-booth. Get on youtube and see how luthiers finish their guitars. It's usually a simple setup. Perhaps you can setup a positive pressure system to deal with the dust in your garage?

Ravenpoe · Mar 31, 2015

PatrThom said:
Dying of asphyxiation is no fun.

Well, no, if you do that you've gone too far. It's the -almost- dying of asphyxiation that's all the rage.

... or so I've heard.

Celt Z · Mar 31, 2015

Ravenpoe said:
Well, no, if you do that you've gone too far. It's the -almost- dying of asphyxiation that's all the rage.

... or so I've heard.

(Sorry, I have nothing of value to contribute here. Carry on!)

fade · Mar 31, 2015

drawn_inward said:
Those all sound like good tips to me. Depending on how big you need it, I'd say a simple 1x2 frame with heavy plastic sheeting should work for a mini-booth. Get on youtube and see how luthiers finish their guitars. It's usually a simple setup. Perhaps you can setup a positive pressure system to deal with the dust in your garage?

I painted a 1972 Ford Bronco half-cab this way. I ventilated the plastic sheeting with one of those two-fan window units from Wal-mart. You need the fan even if you have an air supply, or overspray will settle back onto the car and spoil the clearcoat stage. That said, it's usually illegal. Though no one is going to enforce it if you're outside of city limits. Keep in mind it's illegal for a reason. That stuff is toxic and it's flammable. And you're making aerosol out of it, which makes it even more flammable.

strawman · Mar 31, 2015

Negative pressure will work better with this type of structure. Place cheap 20x20 furnace filters in front of 20" box fans blowing out of the structure. The filters should catch most of the aerosol, and will need to be replaced frequently, but you can get them cheap. That large, you'll probably need two or more because it's going to be leaky. Get lots of 3" wide gaffer's tape (gorilla tape or similar) as duct tape won't last and leaves more adhesive behind when it does free itself. The better it's sealed, the better the fumes will be efficiently and quickly removed. Use two more filters on the other side or end of the structure away from the fans to get a cross breeze. Don't put fans here, just filters so no additional dust gets into the structure.

Other than that, it'll work just fine. While the filters probably won't be sufficient to meet EPA regulations, you may be able to get enough work to buy a proper ventilation system.

Use a FANTASTIC full facemask air filter. It's not worth using anything less.

fade · Mar 31, 2015

stienman said:
Negative pressure will work better with this type of structure. Place cheap 20x20 furnace filters in front of 20" box fans blowing out of the structure. The filters should catch most of the aerosol, and will need to be replaced frequently, but you can get them cheap. That large, you'll probably need two or more because it's going to be leaky. Get lots of 3" wide gaffer's tape (gorilla tape or similar) as duct tape won't last and leaves more adhesive behind when it does free itself. The better it's sealed, the better the fumes will be efficiently and quickly removed. Use two more filters on the other side or end of the structure away from the fans to get a cross breeze. Don't put fans here, just filters so no additional dust gets into the structure.

Other than that, it'll work just fine. While the filters probably won't be sufficient to meet EPA regulations, you may be able to get enough work to buy a proper ventilation system.

Use a FANTASTIC full facemask air filter. It's not work using anything less.

Right, I meant to say the fans were facing out. And I did put A/C filters on my setup as well. I preferred the window fan to the box fan, because the box fan was too powerful for my setup. It pulled the plastic in, and stirred up dust. It was also reversible, which came in handy later.

strawman · Mar 31, 2015

fade said:
Right, I meant to say the fans were facing out. And I did put A/C filters on my setup as well. I preferred the window fan to the box fan, because the box fan was too powerful for my setup. It pulled the plastic in, and stirred up dust. It was also reversible, which came in handy later.

You do need equal sized inlet vents elsewhere, otherwise you will get a lot of inlet dust and plastic pulling in. But getting the aerosol in the air out of there as quickly as possible without disturbing the spray itself is fairly important for quality, so a powerful fan can be useful with proper matched inlet venting.