How necessary or useful are spray booths when airbrushing?

Yes.  Bought mine 30 some-odd years ago, it has an exhaust fan that connects to dryer vent tubing.  The vent is on a plywood plug I made that fits a basement window.

I didn't use a respirator in my younger years, but do now, or at least standard painting masks.

Rusty

Yes, I went DIY, plywood. Painted the inside to seal the wood fuzz. Has a light inside and a really nice exhaust fan that I salvaged from some equipment they were throwing out at work. I made a little bracket to accept a 24 inch square furnace filter over the fan inlet. I also salvaged the turntable out of the family microwave oven that died, and put that in to manually spin my parts around when I paint. Finally, I made a little metal bracket to hang my air brush on, and a shelf below for the compressor.

I like it a lot. I'm using it more and more often. I do use a mask when I paint.

I have airbrushed countless items over the years. I almost always paint outside when weather conditions permit and never use a booth or respirator. If painting inside your house I would say the booth is a must. In a well ventilated out building it's still a good idea but overspray and fumes wouldn't be much of an issue. I never paint in my house. Sometimes in my shed beside the door, so ventilation and overspray are not an issue.

Some type of very good PPE.   This organic cartridge respirator.  The difference, is how you feel, end of day.  The two cartridge filters need to be replaced, periodically.  Protection is related to the air you breath-in. exhaust breath is via the black valve bottom center of mask.  IMO Current media of different types of PPE, show a lot, with improper fit, or not being used properly.  

Built one into a shelf at the club with some plywood and a squirrel cage fan. Works well. Bought a large Pasche spray booth for home use. They're helpful in keeping "floating" paint under control for indoor painting.

My spray booth is a 24x24 garage with turbine vents on the roof.  I have PPE like MikeCT shows but rarely use it.  These days I use mainly acrylic paint, Badger Model-Flex to be exact if I can find the color I want.

Whatever you use have good lighting so you're sure to have complete coverage, and clean your airbrush EVERY time you use it.

In our old shop we had a separate room with a double door entrance and a large exhaust fan mounted in the outside wall for direct air removal. We could roll in a large site model and spray the entire surface. We could mount miniature buildings on paint sticks and hold them to the exhaust fan to paint just the roof surface, with the fan removing the paint droplets that were not intended for the roof. 

Now our shop is in the basement of my home and the paint booth is actually three pull-down blinds that enclose an area 30" deep by 48" wide. Roll the blinds up and we're back to having a 12' saw table for one of the Delta's. The air is removed by a ducted fan that is connect to ductwork and a rectangular opening in the "hood". I used clear material for the hood so ambient light would pass through. It is a lot smaller, but still functional.

We paint enough so that the resulting dust is actually an issue. We use a 48" wide roll of craft paper that is mounted under the table, pulling out a new "tablecloth" when the one in use gets too dirty. A trusty ShopVac is also nearby when needed.

If you want to paint indoors, I feel like they are both useful and necessary. My thinking is that, unless you actually evacuate the fumes, PPE is only going to help you so much: eventually, you will take it off, and whatever chemicals you put into the room will still be there waiting for you to breathe them in.

I finally got sick of trying to paint outdoors, with the dust, pollen, and the perverse and ever-changing wind. I sprang for a Pace paint booth https://www.pacepaintbooth.com/  I got their smallest size, and I have been very pleased with it. I have always had a sensitive nose, and I can't smell the solvent at all when using the airbrush under the paint booth. Given that, I don't see the need to use PPE. (If I can smell it, it means I've inhaled it. If I can't smell it ... ) I also use spray cans under the hood. Those put out greater volume of paint (and solvent) than the airbrush, but since most items painted under the hood are pretty small, the fan generally keeps up just fine. Cracking a window somewhere else in the house helps pull more air though - also, making sure the filter isn't painted closed!

@Mike D posted:

I have airbrushed countless items over the years. I almost always paint outside when weather conditions permit and never use a booth or respirator. If painting inside your house I would say the booth is a must. In a well ventilated out building it's still a good idea but overspray and fumes wouldn't be much of an issue. I never paint in my house. Sometimes in my shed beside the door, so ventilation and overspray are not an issue.

Ditto - though I gave up airbrushing years ago. I just don't care for them. My weathering is done with dry pigments, and my painting with spray cans (ah, the ease of being a steam era guy).

But - painting outside solves any fume/respirator issues for you, of course. Typically no mess issues outside, either. I've never had a dust issue - probably because I paint it outside, but I let it dry inside.

Equally "of course" is the fact that on days that are wet, very cold (even here on the Gulf Coast that can happen) or noticeably windy, your painting has to be postponed. I don't mind.

With acrylics (water based) there are not the solvent fumes, but you still have particles in the air.    I built by own booth and it keeps th eoverspray down from other stuff.     I use a respirator with solvent based paints but generally not with water based which I am using more of.

@ogaugeguy posted:

Do you use a spray booth when you airbrush? If so, is it a diy creation or store bought? How pleased are you with it?

Btw, do you also use a respirator when airbrushing?

I did a lot of painting in my parents basement as well as my own basement with no proper ventilation... Big mistake and one that will probably effect me later in life.

Knowing what we know now, I have made and use a spray booth for any and all painting (and anything else I might need ventilation for) and I do ware a respirator. 

My booth was made from plans, vented to the outside. The plan I used were basically for HO sized users, so I had to scale mine up a bit, but the cost was worth it not only for the safety issues, but also for the quality of the finished surface a booth affords.

Charlie

I do all my painting outside with rattle cans.   If the weather is bad,  in Texas,  I just wait a few hours and I can usually go paint, if not I wait until the next day.  Simple, easy,  and the only cost is the paint.   

When my brother in law passed away, I bought the paint booth he built from his estate.....and generously did so to help my sister.  Needless to say, he built a terrific unit.  The box is 24"x24"x24", painted, with two 100watt bulbs, an exhaust fan with ducting to a window plug and a slot to put a filter in.  All of this is mounted to a wheeled cart.  Below the box is a shelf for the air compressor etc.  Finally it is wired with easily accessible outlets, each with a switch.  I use both airbrush and canned aerosol type paints.  Finally I use a disposable paint mask.

When I use this set up, I try to do better with my painting, hoping that I can live up to the Legacy of a family member who was working his way to Master Modeller certification.  And truthfully, I can say, because of this, I am doing better work.

How much are you going to be painting ?  If you paint once a month or more I would build a spray booth.  After a divorce back in the eighties I lived with my parents for 10 months. While there I wanted to touch up the silver on several 2343 F3s so I mounted a 6" fan and a fluorescent light in a large cardboard box and set it in a window when I wanted to paint.  It worked perfect.      If you want to paint indoors venting the fumes and atomized paint is absolutely necessary.  Many paint solvents are known carcinogens and the atomized particles of paint won't do your lungs much good either.       j

There have been several threads on the forum about model paints.   Information about common model paints,  From MSDS , (Material Safety Data Sheets), that should be provided with the materials. 

Mike,

Thanks for posting this (again!). A powered spray booth that vents to the outside is a must, IMHO. Reading the labels is also a must! There is a reason why this info is printed on the bottles, and it's not to make them look pretty. As one who frequently deals with SDSs at my job, I recognized the warning verbiage right away. Just because something is marketed for hobby or home use does not mean that it is inherently safe. Chemicals are chemicals, and their characteristics and hazards remain, no matter where they are used. Take the recommended precautions!

Chris

LVHR

Bought one of these spray "tents" and used it recently indoors and outside.  

Worked well in both settings.  Indoors I sprayed using my airbrush and it did fine capturing the overspray.

Outdoors it did the same while providing a well-protected space for painting.

@Pingman posted:

Bought one of these spray "tents" and used it recently indoors and outside.  

Worked well in both settings.  Indoors I sprayed using my airbrush and it did fine capturing the overspray.

Outdoors it did the same while providing a well-protected space for painting.

I do not see a fan or a way to vent the VOCs out the window with this tent.  It will stop much of the overspray paint but do nothing for VOCs.  When you are spraying whether spray can, spray gun, airbrush or finger paint if you can smell it you are breathing it.  Here is a good test for an effective spray booth that removes the VOCs from your house.   Saturate a paper towel with denatured alcohol (less toxic than most other solvents or perhaps try some cheap perfume) in your booth with the vent fan running. Have your wife stand back about three feet.  If she can smell it you need a more powerful vent fan OR if possible close down the front side so the air entering it is moving faster.  When your wife can no longer smell the solvent you have an effective paint booth.    I understand what you are trying to do with your tent is to keep dust and other foreign particles out of your paint job but better to have a little dust in your paint than a little paint dust in your lungs not to mention the most dangerous part, the solvents, which if breathed make it into your blood.  Don't we all want to live forever so we can "finish" our model railroad.     A model railroad is truly finished when your kids sell your trains.                   j                      

Using a paint booth is a must. Add to that, venting the fumes outside via fan and dryer vent hose. In addition, using a respirator mask is a given!!! Don’t ever spray without one, even if you’re outside. I can see the filters on mine get full of paint spray and change the filters regularly. My paint booth is from Pace Paint booths, and I love it. Having the right equipment is not only safe, it makes painting fun at any time.

 Once paint gets in your lungs, it’s there forever. It does not get flushed out. Think about that before you paint. 

Good catch, @JohnActon.  In my rush to post about the tent, I neglected to mention the small, hobby spray booth.

Because of its small size, I don't place the 15" aluminum pax cars that I'm currently painting inside the booth.  I hold it at the front, just outside the edges of the opening, and spray.  The exhaust fan does a nice job capturing a lot of the overspray.  And, I wear a disposable mask.

I put heavy craft paper behind the tent to capture the paint mist that passes through the booth's filter medium to protect the exterior of my home.

As you work through a lot of good information here.  Keep in mind that these organic compounds, paints and thinners, in general, have low flash points.  A heat source, or spark is a concern.  Commercial spray booth exhausts, are designed, so that the power source, motor, is not in the air flow.    Addition to the Safety meeting of the day.   

In sixty years of spray painting models, I have never used one! Don't want to either!! I spray outdoors and I hold on to the big pieces so that I can spray every nook and cranny inside and out.

ogaugeguy,

If you have graduated to an airbrush then you can appreciate the improvement they make to your models.  For the price of a loco, a commercial or DIY exhaust booth will provide a comfortable and controlled environment for painting, gluing, soldering...etc.  The personal health and household environment benefits are obvious. 

I built my small exhaust booth following the information on this webpage:

http://www.modelersite.com/Abr...booth-design_Eng.htm

Add it to your list of Internet Favorites for reference.

Thank you,

Old Goat

I would suspect if someone gets an airbrush, that they are going to be using it more than occasionally, and thus a paint spray booth might be a really good thing. Painting outside of course removes the fume aspect of painting indoors, but also introduces problems, the environment outside is not controlled, everything from wind gusts, to pollen and other particles, temperature and humidity can play havoc with painting (that doesn't mean you can't do good painting outside, obviously, and so of these can be mitigated). When you paint in a paint booth, there isn't likely to be issues with particles, you are in a more controlled environment temp wise and humidity wise, and overall it is just easier.  Painting inside without a booth isn't just about the painter, it is also the fumes getting into the rest of the house as well. 

And I agree about a respirator (and yeah, I have to take my own advice, was painting railings in a windstorm outside the other week, not smart!), even with a vented paint booth with a good fan it still is a wise precaution (same thing with a lot of things, spraying lawn chemicals outside, etc). I kind of wonder how I still have lungs, after all those years working with lacquers and the like, painting cars, lacquer thinner used for cleaning, etc. 

@Ahitpy posted:

When my brother in law passed away, I bought the paint booth he built from his estate.....and generously did so to help my sister.  Needless to say, he built a terrific unit.  The box is 24"x24"x24", painted, with two 100watt bulbs, an exhaust fan with ducting to a window plug and a slot to put a filter in.  All of this is mounted to a wheeled cart.  Below the box is a shelf for the air compressor etc.  Finally it is wired with easily accessible outlets, each with a switch.  I use both airbrush and canned aerosol type paints.  Finally I use a disposable paint mask.

When I use this set up, I try to do better with my painting, hoping that I can live up to the Legacy of a family member who was working his way to Master Modeller certification.  And truthfully, I can say, because of this, I am doing better work.

Wow, nice spray booth!

I use a large cardboard box. I set it on end in a tall chair that swivels. Within the box I placed a cheap lazy susan and a short piece of 2x4 to hold the model. I mostly airbrush acrylic. When it’s necessary to spray laquer from a rattle can, I always pull my shirt over my face. Close flaps on box and turn off HVAC while drying to prevent dust from collecting on model while wet. Bright white lights are a MUST! Airbrush cleaning pot is extremely handy.