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Any Recommendations on portable airbrush booths?


The Unseen

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I live in an apartment complex, so finding places to airbrush is usually "wait for good weather, get a box, and go to a friend/parents garage" and it's killing my drive to paint.

 

Anybody have good experiences using the portable folding booths?

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I bought a portable booth because I have no dedicated painting area in my flat (family!) when I started, but I don't usually use it when airbrushing acrylics any more. The solvent in acrylic paint is just water, so there's no fumes to worry about. It's just overspray 'splatter' and a small amount of dry acrylic dust in the air.

 

I do use a filter mask (draper twin combi filter) as you only get one pair of lungs and you are still inhaling some small amount of acrylic dust if you don't - you are right next to it, after all. For overspray, I just put down plenty of newspaper on my desk, about a sheet and a half worth's coverage, no problems with visible paint settling beyond that so far. I don't spray with others in the room, keep the window open and give any dust time to settle as an abundance of caution - it's not like there's that much. My compressor can only go for 45 minutes without a break which puts a limit on my session length, and the airbrush does focus its paint where you point very well (at least at my PSI of about 15!) - it's not like a spraycan which goes everywhere!

 

The booth does definitely work though, and only takes a minute to set up. I do use it if I need to paint with others about, or if I were to spray oils or anything with more aggressive solvents. If it's just paint dust you want to keep down, then you can run the fan without the hose and the suction will stop it coming back out the booth. If it's solvents you want to vent (alclad etc) you need the hose out a window too. It's simply that for that acrylics, I think the mask and newspaper is enough. 

 

edit to add: I do have a cleaning pot that I spray any left over paint and cleaner into. That has a built in filter, and is easy to rinse out when I'm done (I don't clean it obsessively)

Edited by Arkhanist
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Ditto everything Arkhanist said.

 

I have the same spray booth and really only use it when spraying lacquers from the airbrush; I vent it out the window.  There are still residual lacquer fumes thought, but not awful.

 

For most of my acrylics I just put down layers of paper and a cardboard backsplash and spray downward and there is very little in the way of mist escaping the immediate area.

 

I also have the same cleaning pot, just Sparmax branded.  It's an excellent investment.

 

I'm moving to a house shortly and will try to set my spray booth up more permanently, but I honestly prefer the flexibility of lighting when I don't have to work inside the box, so to speak.

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