Steve Cook
Flying Squad
This is one of those slightly flippant purchases that I hope will turn out to be a good idea!
I already own a spray booth, but having integrated that into some kitchen units in the garage / workshop to make it permanently ready for use, at this time of year with the temps dropping I find it difficult to justify heating up the entire garage just to do a small spot of painting.
To that end, a spot of surfing on eBay turned up one of the Chinese 'rebrand' as whatever you like spray booths for £54 delivered. Ordered on Wednesday evening, it arrived today so I've spent the afternoon putting it to good use.
Size wise, its nice and compact when folded up, the overall package measuring @ 420 x 155 x 200mm.
The clear plastic cover on the front lifts up (when a small flap that hooks on the underside of the cabinet is released)
The bottom of the booth is then pulled out from in front of the filter
and the sides are lifted up and clipped into place in what was the front cover, that now becoming the top of the booth.
A small door in the side of the cabinet holds the power supply, a 12v adaptor.
It comes with a 190mm lazy susan turntable that will fit just in front of the filter element when its all packed up. Size wise, the opening is 410 wide and 350 tall. The filter element itself is @180mm tall.
A full set of extract nozzles and hose is supplied, the hose looks like the classic 2m long jobby and the outlet is at least shaped to be fairly thin for aiming out of the window.
Its does of course come with an instruction manual from which the important words are often missing
Noise wise, its stated to be about 47dB but it seems to be to be the equal to my ears of my other spray booth which is 58dB. Airflow is reckoned to be 4m3/min (240m3/hr) so quite a lot smaller than the other booth at 355m3/hr. My other booth is a GraphicAir BV300SD which was recommended by a few other people including the Guv. At £280 though, its five times the cost of the cheapy currently sat on the desk. Its is far more capable though, the biggest difference between the two is that the GraphicAir one is OK for use with just about everything apart from oil based vapours, whereas the cheapy should be limited to non-flammable / explosive vapours as indicated in the instructions.
That does effectively limit the use of the cheapy to acrylic paints, but that suits what I spray indoors anyway. It is however a point to bear in mind if one bought this intending it for use in all situations.
In operation, it certainly has enough airflow to capture overspray from an airbrush running up to 40psi (I rarely spray with that high pressure but its a good test) particularly when painting small items. There is a fair bit of overspray dust on the area in front of the filter but the sides are clean and free from dust so its done its job nicely. I've been running with a piece of paper out the back of the fan to see if any particles make it through the filter - looks OK so far.
Gauge 1 stuff looks like it will be fine and dandy too
The Gauge 3 I'm less sure about. Single plank wagons will be fine, full height wagons are going to create a large dead spot in front of the booth and I doubt that there will be enough airflow around the edges to contain all the overspray.
Overall, I'd have to say its pretty good, especially for the money. Ebay has just sent me an email delightfully informing me that you can now buy one these spray booths for less than £50 delivered - thats dropping a pound a day! How much lower it will go I have no idea, but if you are in the market for a cheap spray booth to use indoors, and you spray acrylics / non-flammable materials only then I'd struggle to come up with a reason not to get one.
I plan on exercising it a lot over the winter months, I'll keep the thread updated of any issues or problems during its use.
Steve
I already own a spray booth, but having integrated that into some kitchen units in the garage / workshop to make it permanently ready for use, at this time of year with the temps dropping I find it difficult to justify heating up the entire garage just to do a small spot of painting.
To that end, a spot of surfing on eBay turned up one of the Chinese 'rebrand' as whatever you like spray booths for £54 delivered. Ordered on Wednesday evening, it arrived today so I've spent the afternoon putting it to good use.
Size wise, its nice and compact when folded up, the overall package measuring @ 420 x 155 x 200mm.
The clear plastic cover on the front lifts up (when a small flap that hooks on the underside of the cabinet is released)
The bottom of the booth is then pulled out from in front of the filter
and the sides are lifted up and clipped into place in what was the front cover, that now becoming the top of the booth.
A small door in the side of the cabinet holds the power supply, a 12v adaptor.
It comes with a 190mm lazy susan turntable that will fit just in front of the filter element when its all packed up. Size wise, the opening is 410 wide and 350 tall. The filter element itself is @180mm tall.
A full set of extract nozzles and hose is supplied, the hose looks like the classic 2m long jobby and the outlet is at least shaped to be fairly thin for aiming out of the window.
Its does of course come with an instruction manual from which the important words are often missing
Noise wise, its stated to be about 47dB but it seems to be to be the equal to my ears of my other spray booth which is 58dB. Airflow is reckoned to be 4m3/min (240m3/hr) so quite a lot smaller than the other booth at 355m3/hr. My other booth is a GraphicAir BV300SD which was recommended by a few other people including the Guv. At £280 though, its five times the cost of the cheapy currently sat on the desk. Its is far more capable though, the biggest difference between the two is that the GraphicAir one is OK for use with just about everything apart from oil based vapours, whereas the cheapy should be limited to non-flammable / explosive vapours as indicated in the instructions.
That does effectively limit the use of the cheapy to acrylic paints, but that suits what I spray indoors anyway. It is however a point to bear in mind if one bought this intending it for use in all situations.
In operation, it certainly has enough airflow to capture overspray from an airbrush running up to 40psi (I rarely spray with that high pressure but its a good test) particularly when painting small items. There is a fair bit of overspray dust on the area in front of the filter but the sides are clean and free from dust so its done its job nicely. I've been running with a piece of paper out the back of the fan to see if any particles make it through the filter - looks OK so far.
Gauge 1 stuff looks like it will be fine and dandy too
The Gauge 3 I'm less sure about. Single plank wagons will be fine, full height wagons are going to create a large dead spot in front of the booth and I doubt that there will be enough airflow around the edges to contain all the overspray.
Overall, I'd have to say its pretty good, especially for the money. Ebay has just sent me an email delightfully informing me that you can now buy one these spray booths for less than £50 delivered - thats dropping a pound a day! How much lower it will go I have no idea, but if you are in the market for a cheap spray booth to use indoors, and you spray acrylics / non-flammable materials only then I'd struggle to come up with a reason not to get one.
I plan on exercising it a lot over the winter months, I'll keep the thread updated of any issues or problems during its use.
Steve