Booth on a Budget
Booth on a Budget!!
A spray booth is a luxury most woodworkers want – whether their shop is home-based or located in an out-building. It provides the best environment for applying a “killer” finish but most people find them too expensive to buy. If you are using a spray gun indoors without a spray booth, you are exposing yourself to harmful chemicals, even if you’re spraying only waterborne finishes.
A spray booth is a necessity!
The spray booth described here may only be used when spraying waterborne or water-based finishes. It will enhance spraying success in a home-based shop for the following reasons:
- It is designed to help contain any overspray and then exhaust it away from the interior of the booth to the outside, through an opening in the back wall of the booth.
- Two inexpensive furnace filters sit in the back wall opening to help capture most of the overspray. A barn-style, 20” (recommended size) fan mounted behind the back wall opening generates a slightly negative pressure area inside the booth and helps direct overspray and odor out of the booth, via a shop-made plastic “tunnel”, to the exterior.
- A light mounted at the top of the back wall aiming downward towards the spray area. This lighting arrangement provides the necessary light to enable the operator to see how effectively things are coming along.
- Standard light and fan control switches are conveniently located on the outside of the back wall. These allow the operator to independently control the fan and lights.
- The booth can be readily folded away when not in use, which helps keep it free of woodworking dust.
Build List:
This spray booth can be made from readily-available materials:
- Four sheets of ⅝” chipboard
- One sheet of ¼” chipboard (for the stowaway floor)
- Twelve 2×3’s 8’ long
- Approximately 8 pieces of 1×3 8’ long spruce strapping
- Wood screws of various sizes
- Wood glue to reinforce joints
- Note that the 5’ wide back wall is formed of one full sheet of 4’x8’, ⅝” chipboard, and two pieces of 6” wide ⅝” chipboard (rip them from a separate sheet) that are glued to each side of that main sheet
- White latex paint (optional, but recommended)
- A 20” barn-style, four or five bladed fan with a wire safety screen, back louvers and a metal casing
- Two standard light switches
- One 120 volt plug and electrical wire to connect to the fan, lighting bar and the wall plug
- 12mil clear plastic sheeting, approximately 8’x16’ and a roll of red construction tape to form the plastic exhaust tube that goes between the fan box and the window box
- Six standard door hinges, three each for hanging the back wall to the wall
- One heavy-duty 3” wheel swivel caster
- An LED lighting bar (or two inexpensive halogen work lights) mounted to a 4’ long 6” wide piece of ⅝”chipboard
- Drill a hole in the two top corners of the mounting chipboard, which enables you to hang the lighting bar on screws you’ll leave sticking out about 1” near the top of the back wall once you’ve opened up the booth
- Two furnace filters, each 16”x 25”. You can use inexpensive ones and swap them out when they’re full of finish
You can easily modify the design to make it your own or to fit your own spray finishing needs.
Modifications or not, this spray booth will provide a place for you to spray indoors without exposing yourself to harmful chemicals.
If you would like the full “How To” with diagrams please subscribe to our newsletter (If you are not a subscriber already) and send us an email with the code #FSBOOTH16 in the subject line to support@fujispray.com
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Marty Schlosser of Kingston, Ontario for sharing his Spray Booth design and instructions with Fuji Spray.
Happy Spraying!!
Disclaimer: Due to fire hazards, this booth is designed to be used exclusively for spraying waterborne or water-based finishes only.
Tool of the Year
Click Here To Vote for Fuji Spray Mini-Mite 5 PLATINUM™ as TOOL OF THE YEAR!! & To be enter to Win one of 24 prizes.