Hey all,

A little background here. I have been working on my 1973 Datsun 240z for a few years now from a rental garage. In October I was fortunate enough to purchase my first house which came with a nice 3 car garage. I have spent the entirety of the past few months converting it into a paint booth which will allow me to paint my Datsun with a true quality paint job. After that I plan to paint and restore other cars. This is the part where I inform you that i have zero HVLP painting experience, and the body experience I have is only from this car and some advice from an older friend that has worked his life in this business.

Here is the gear that I have acquired:
Iwata lph400
ATD 5 Stage air drier - http://www.nationaltoolwarehouse.com/La ... gQodxhEABg
Mac Tools 6" DA Palm sander
Autobody hammer set from Harbor Freight (Steal at $25)
Various other gadgets

My air compressor is a 18scfm 2 stage pump @125psi, on an 80 gallon tank. I pieced this setup together and it should work very nicely. Tank's max working pressure is 200psi, so I have a new safety valve @200psi and new check valve. I plan to run the max pressure at 175 and the cut-in pressure at about 100.

The paint booth is constructed with a pvc skeleton, which will be wrapped in plastic. I have a 24" tubeaxial fan that can move in the order of 6000cfm. Total space of the booth is around 1900 cubic feet. The lights are 4' T8 fluorescent with 90CRI. I should note here that these are not explosion proof and so they reside on the outside of the plastic booth, away from all vapor.

Here is a picture of the booth as-is. I haven't installed the fan yet, it should be here next week.




New 80gal tank


Old tank, but still using the motor and pump


I need advice on a few things, and feel free to provide any insight to anything not listed here:
- What kind of respirator should I buy that will last and work well? I have a cheap one from home depot and I don't trust it with paint fumes.
- Do you prefer a 5" or 6" da sander pad? I bought a used 6" sander that came with a 5" pad and all of my paper is 6". So i'm not sure whether to cut the paper down or get a 6" pad. I don't see much of a difference here.
- Is it okay to mount the air drier system to the front of the compressor? I'm not sure if the vibrations from the motor will cause any problems with the system.
- Where is a good place to buy exhaust filters that will catch overspray from being vented outside toward my neighboring houses/cars?

Nice project you've got there. Keep us apprised.

1. I like the 3M masks; just get the version that uses the 6001 organic vapor cartridge. This is a disposable system (or a reusable mask with disposable cartridges). Make sure you research the full gamut of protection you need (eyes, skin, lungs). This stuff can hurt you.

2. A 6" disc will have almost 50% more surface area than a 5" disc so there's an efficiency difference. In a non-production shop probably not a huge deal.

3. No don't do that. Your moisture removal devices need to be downstream from the compressor at least 20'. Search this site on piping for supplied air we've discussed this a lot in the past. Too close to compressor and you will overwhelm the dryer and it will be ineffective.

4. If not using booth filters (check with your local auto body supply jobber), then furnace filters from Home Depot or similar...many of us use them. Keep in mind nothing is going to filter the smell so you may want to tell you neighbors what you are doing. All it takes is one nervous mom hearing her kid say he smelled something funny and now he doesn't feel good, to ruin everyone's fun.

Thanks Chris, it's a work in progress. The garage was completely unfinished so I spent a month insulating the walls and putting in an insulated ceiling. Also had to run gas and electric to it from my basement.

Thanks for the heads up on the 20ft distance. I am going to rent a pipe cutter and threader tonight and i'll work that into the plans.

I'm not too worried about the smell leaving the garage. I am surrounded by rental properties. I am very worried about the overspray though, so i'll look into booth filters.

I think what Chris is warning you about is that one complaint from a neighbor brings the Town/County/State authorities faster than you can imagine.

Generally the smell dissipates quickly once it reaches the outside air. Maybe time your painting for when people are inside.

MaxThroughput wrote: I'm not too worried about the smell leaving the garage. I am surrounded by rental properties.

Nice lol....screw the renters.

It's not the smell you need to worry about - it's the isocyanates that are in that exhaust. Someone who is iso sensitive could just walk through that and get enough of a dose to give them serious problems. Consider taking your exhaust flue up 12'-15' so that it dissipates enough to not present any health hazard.

Looks like you've put a bit of work into that setup. Now the hard work begins...

NFT5 wrote:It's not the smell you need to worry about - it's the isocyanates that are in that exhaust. Someone who is iso sensitive could just walk through that and get enough of a dose to give them serious problems. Consider taking your exhaust flue up 12'-15' so that it dissipates enough to not present any health hazard.

Looks like you've put a bit of work into that setup. Now the hard work begins...

That's not really an option unless I go through the ceiling and the roof. I was planning on venting it out the back wall, about 6.5' high.

Before I was getting ready to move from my last hobby shop I was using a fan about your size. If I would have stayed there I would have put an activated charcoal pad system on the "outside" of the fan outlet for each shooting session. I know of guys that use these in several industrial situations because of their proximity to both residential and industrial neighbors. Activated charcoal traps VOCs and holds them and that is where almost all of our "smells" are at. The only downside to activated charcoal is the same factor that you run into with masks. It does reach a maximum saturation point on what it can hold. Best test is your nose.... when the smells come back....change the filter. Here is what you are looking for....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Paint-Booth-Car ... 1261635598
Oh, and I almost forgot.... it will trap isocyanates.....

DarrelK wrote:Before I was getting ready to move from my last hobby shop I was using a fan about your size. If I would have stayed there I would have put an activated charcoal pad system on the "outside" of the fan outlet for each shooting session. I know of guys that use these in several industrial situations because of their proximity to both residential and industrial neighbors. Activated charcoal traps VOCs and holds them and that is where almost all of our "smells" are at. The only downside to activated charcoal is the same factor that you run into with masks. It does reach a maximum saturation point on what it can hold. Best test is your nose.... when the smells come back....change the filter. Here is what you are looking for....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Paint-Booth-Car ... 1261635598
Oh, and I almost forgot.... it will trap isocyanates.....

Good call on these, but wooo boy, they are expensive. I am going to spend 99% of my time doing body work and probably 1% painting. That being said, since this is a closed door operation, I can probably just be mindful of when I am painting and be stealthy enough about it. If efforts ramp up, i'll look into these.

nova wrote:

MaxThroughput wrote: I'm not too worried about the smell leaving the garage. I am surrounded by rental properties.

Nice lol....screw the renters.

Renter are the worst some one will get jealous and rat you out to authority's ASAP One call will bring Hazmat team to your home (Not good had this happen to me!)
Any way dealing with those folks is not pleasant to say the least also once your Home owner insurance finds out what your doing in garage they will drop you and if you are ever dropped by a Home owner insurance good luck ever getting it again word Black balled applies here to add to it if Garage is attached ISOCYANATES will penetrate home.

So consider yourself warned and welcome to the club I'm in the crowed that says to do what you want its your home but all of what I said is true and this is not the country I grew up in some how communist walls moved and took over what was the greatest country in the world.

By the way I love old Datsun's wish I still