Having succeeded (in her first airbrushing attempt) to spray black paint onto my clean & tidy hobby bench, I realized that it was time to urgently have a new spray booth for her, considering that my old one broke down after almost 15+ years of use. My initial thought to buy a brand new one, quickly dismissed when I found that the cheapest China-made spraybooth was quite small for my big-sized scale models and the purchase price could start from €100 and rise up to €500 or more. Additionaly, due to limited space on my hobby bench and the fact that I usually build big (close to huge) scale models, the spraybooth should be large enough to fit models inside, portable to keep clear the working bench when not in use and should be easily (and fast too) disassembled and stored under the bench.
Well, as a good friend once said, “everything starts with a wish” and “inspiration can be found everywhere”. I found the following item named “Sortera” which supposed to be a recycling bin with lid or something, at my local IKEA store. Looking exactly like what I’ve been searching for and considering the low €15 price, I bought this 60 litres plastic box (IKEA product code is 702.558.99) and turned it into a paint chamber. Later, I also visited my local Leroy Merlin home depot (located right next to the aforementioned IKEA) store, trying to find the right parts for the project, such as bathroom ventilating fans, outflow plastic tubes and electric wiring. I found two 125 mm diameter bathroom ventilator fans rated at 32 W, 10 dB, 150 m3/h each for only €11 each.
The purchase cost for buying materials to build the DIY spraybooth was:
- 2 x ventilators rated at 32 W, 10 dB, 150 m3/h each: 2 x €11 = €22,
- 1 x paint chamber (“Sortera” recycling bin with lid from IKEA): €15,
- 2 x PVC 125 mm Ø plastic tube 90° fittings & bezel parts: €3,
- 1 x PVC 125 mm Ø plastic tube 50 cm long: €1,
- 1 x common kitchen extractor hood filter: €1,
- 1 x electric wiring 2 m long & switch: €2.
The total ammount with all the hardware was €44 (approx $48).
As soon as returned back home, I spent nearly one hour to assemble parts and make the scratchbuilt spraybooth fully functional. The first ventilator slided through the tubular wall opening (already existed for the previous broken spraybooth outflowing), secured in place and got wired to 220 V with a switch. The exterior wall opening is covered with louvers that automatically close when the ventilator fans are turned off, to prevent ingress of cold air in the room during the winter. Furthermore, when spraybooth is not in use, the inner wall opening is manually sealed with a proper cap.
Later, the second ventilator mounted on a 125 mm wide drilled hole on plastic paint chamber side and connected to 220 V with seperate wire & switch. Between the two in-line-mounted ventilators (one located at the beginning and the other at the end of suction flow), a portable S-shaped 125 mm diameter tubing of total length 75 cm is inserted. At last, a common kitchen extractor hood filter installed, to prevent paint particulates entering into the airflow circuit.
As I later found out when first tested the spraybooth, the ventilators proved more powerful than expected, producing a suction flow of total 300 m3/h, meaning that (if my calculations are correct) the air inside the 60 litres paint chamber is renewed every 0.72 seconds. During the first airbrushing test, I noticed that the spray beam got warped (!!!) close to 90 degrees angle, towards ventilation fan and therefore I placed additional filters to reduce the airflow power.
Long story short? My scratchbuilt spraybooth:
- Cost me €44 (approx $48) to buy the hardware, plus one hour work to assemble parts & install electric wiring,
- It has a 60 liters (measures 55x45x39 cm) paint chamber able to accommodate big-sized scale models,
- It is almost operating silently, not exceeding 20 dB when both ventilator fans are in use,
- It is fully portable (can be assembled or disassembled in less than 10 seconds) and
- It sucks air like an inverted hurricane, even when filters are installed!
Having now a new fully functional & custom-made spraybooth, lets return back to to the painting process: All the 60 parts of the model kit, placed onto toothpicks for better handling while airbrushed and sprayed over with an overall mixture of 80% Life Color LC02 Matt Black and 20% Life Color LC37 Matt Burnt Umber acrylic as a primer, to prepare for the later paint layers. The toothpicks pinned onto cork sheet and parts allowed to dry.
Behold the spraybooth filter, after 30 minutes of continuous black paint airbrushing into paint chamber. The use of this simple kitchen extractor hood filter kept the system clean. Double (or even triple) filter layer would be a good idea to reduce the airflow power in order not to warp the
airbrush spraying beam (as previously described) and could ensure that components will remain spotless clean for a long time. If there was no filter at all, dirt & paint particulates would easily enter into the airflow circuit and stick onto the ventilator fans and the plastic tube inner walls.
