This whole article from Funakatown! Please visit him! Used with permission.
This is what makes is all possible… I live in an apartment, so no garage or basement workshop for me. The design incorporates all kinds of ideas I found online. I saw Fichtenfoo’s design and realized you COULD airbrush indoors. One fateful day at work it was really slow and by some miracle the internet filter had been turned off on my workstation (sadly that didn’t last…). I spent most of the day Googling ideas for an airbrush spray booth. I wanted something a little more enclosed…
The core of the booth is a 30” range hood (around $70 at Home Depot, there was a cheaper one but I spent a little more hoping it would be quieter) and a 30”x 24”x 15” wall cabinet (about $50). The front of the booth is actually the back of the cabinet… I jigsawed out a square on top to match the vent fan of the hood. I screwed the cabinet door right on; it makes the back of the booth. Be sure to pre-drill these holes, the particle board of the cabinet is too weak to self-tap the screws, see the picture…
After wiring it up, inserting the carbon filter and attaching the vent and hose adapter I stuck the hood on with double-sided mounting tape. I sealed off the gaps and holes in the hood with white electrical tape. Unfortunately the hood comes with nothing so you’ll have to buy the carbon filter, hose adapters (four pieces in all, three on the hood and one at the exit), hose, electrical wire/plug, and a light bulb (60 watt daylight-type halogen bulb PLENTY of light).
After carefully punching out the pre-cut shape in the hood, the 3.75’ x 10” vent was attached with sheet metal screws (I think I used the ones meant for mounting the hood to the cabinet). Then I placed the rectangle-to-4” round hose adapter. I went all around it with duct tape to attach/seal it. Time has shown that duct tape doesn’t like to stick to cool metal, so I then went around it again with clear packing tape. Now it’s secure. Another adapter (I think it’s called a starter, it looks like a crown of sorts, but with the prongs bent inwards) helps connect the 4” aluminum hose.
At the end of the hose, I used another starter adapter to connect the hose to a white plastic vent exit. It is mounted onto a wood base (to give it some weight against the springiness of the hose) so I can set it in the windowsill when in use and move it out of the way when I’m done and close the window and blinds. Hey look, no holes in the wall or even the window screen!
To close up the booth even more, I put a thin piece of clear Plexiglas over the top half of the front. It was already around 28” long. I had Home Depot cut it into a 4” strip and an 8” strip so I could hinge it. I stuck the 4” strip on permanently with double-sided mounting tape and stuck hinges onto it and the 8” piece with more double-sided mounting tape. I used double-sided mounting tape with only one sticky side exposed on the 8” piece. The tape acts as a spacer so the 8” door sits flush with the 4” piece. It also helps seal the gap. To keep the door stuck flush, I used packing tape stuck to itself (sticky side to sticky side) to make two transparent flaps and put Velcro on them and the outsides of the booth so I could keep it shut tight but still open it later.
I cut another piece of the Plexiglas to cover the bottom front of the range hood since it sticks out beyond the cabinet. I was going to seal this gap with spray foam filler but that turned out to just be a mess… I stuck the Plexiglas on with double-sided mounting tape. I went around the edges of this piece of Plexiglas and the 4” piece with the white electrical tape to help make it more airtight.
I put a 3M air conditioning filter in the back of the booth to catch overspray (held in place with packing tape, a good idea I found online). I painted the edges of the cabinet white (remember I used it backwards, the manufacturer didn’t put the nice white surface on the back). I screwed a Paasche AB clip on the outside to store my AB. It only cost $2.50, as opposed to a fancy airbrush stand that costs $25.00 or more. To keep it from scratching my Eclipse, I cut out the soft side of some stick-on Velcro to match the shape of the clip and stuck it on so my AB has a nice soft resting place.
My booth is pretty big. That’s good on the one hand (lots of room to work) and bad on the other hand because it does kind of dominate the room it’s in. I like the width, but I wouldn’t mind if it were shorter. However, it’s all white and the parts match up so it looks pretty nice.
The whole thing ended up costing about $250.00 with taxes. There were so many little things to buy (five trips to Home Depot…) and I started with nothing, not even duct tape. I could have bought cheaper components but I wanted it to look and work as well as possible, and still be relatively easy to build (hence the cabinet and hood vs. a cheaper but harder custom built box and fan housing). I still saved a lot over buying a factory-made booth and the cheaper pre-made booths are so small (and still more expensive than my booth). To get a booth as big as the one I made might have cost double…
The booth works really well. With the fan on low, it’s very quiet. On low power, the air hissing out of the regulator is the loudest thing, then the fan, then the actual sound of the SmartJet compressor pump. By the way, letting the air out with the regulator negates the auto shut-off of the SmartJet. In hindsight, maybe I should have saved my money with the SprintJet.
Low power on the fan is sufficient for detail spraying. For full-bore spraying, I do put the fan on high power and it is a bit noisy, but not enough to bother the neighbors. I’m sensitive to noise anyway. I walk into the livingroom and the first thing I want to do is turn the TV down (especially if it’s a commercial). The noise probably wouldn’t bother most people.
A great benefit of the booth is that I also use it while gluing, puttying and sanding. On low power the fan eliminates nearly all the fumes from liquid cement, putty and CA glue. Plus I get great light to work under.
Some Photos:
Here the acrylic (or Plexiglas?) strip and door have been added with double-sided mounting tape. I’ve also gone around the edges and gaps with white electrical tape.
I used Velcro to help hold the door flush with the front of the booth.
It’s done! The thing in back of the booth is the air conditioning filter. It catches overspray.
The 60 watt daylight-simulating bulb is nice and bright!
Here’s where the air comes out. I set this in the windowsill and out go the fumes…
The backside of the exit vent.
My Iwata Smart Jet and Eclipse HP-CS Airbrush. The clip is on the right side of my booth. It is a $2.50 Paasche clip with the soft side of Velcro on it for cushioning.
Here are other links about spraybooths you can visit