preventing dust specs while painting?

[darron]

hey all. i've done a search in the forum and people seem to simply suggest covering the enclosure using cardboard, a shoe box, etc. i just want to prevent dust settling into my spraying, otherwise i have to spray a coat, wait for it to dry, and then sand every time. THEN i have to spray again and again until I get a coat with no dust... i don't even want to talk about clearing it... hehe. it seems that right after i spray something has already landed.

so, are there any pro tips? provided there's no wind, is it better to spray in a factory or outdoors? i've tried two factories with the same results. i was thinking of making an air filter, with a fan on it that constantly blows filtered air onto the pedal while spraying and for a little while afterwards. would this work? would it deflect a lot of paint spray? if i could come up with a pretty good method i'd love to stop wasting time and give my pedals a good few clear coats!

and input would be appreciated

[96ecss]

Hi,

I work in the automotive industry so I know alot of people who paint cars for a living. They would all disagree with your idea of having a fan blow on something you're painting. They all use exhaust systems that draw air away from what they're painting. One thing they all say as far as not getting dust in their paint jobs is that they area you paint in must be clean and free of dust. If you can make some kind of exhaust system with a fan in an enclosed area and clean it very well before you paint, you'll probably get better results. I've gotten good results painting outside when it's warm and not windy. Somebody posted here not too long ago about making an exhaust system for getting rid of solder fumes. Here it is http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=54264.0. If you made something like that and put a box around it, it would probably be good for painting too.

Dave

[darron]

i thought about sucking, but i think it may just increase the chances of sucking some filth onto the enclosure. i'll give outdoors another shot then, it's summer hear, but in melbourne it can go from too boiling to be outdoors to hail in 5 mins! it happens... as far as a dedicated room goes, that seems out of the question for my little hobby. where i have been spraying has been pretty much large garages. a booth would be ideal, but a bit out of the question.

[Seljer]

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=36749.0

[darron]

thanks Seljer. it looks like a fanned box may be the way to go. maybe i could get a broken fridge with a working light and magnetic seals, and trays and just put a vent blowing filtered air in one side and one unfiltered sucking it outdoors on the other. sounds perfect to me.... it should be air tight or close to it before venting and the trays could support quite a few pedals in one spray.

if i decide to go with that and finish it up i'll be sure to post a tutorial if it works out.

[petemoore]

  Lazy Way...mist everything in the room with water mist, this keeps dust from flying around. It is hard to clean perfectly a room, reducing the static charge and adding weight to the dust will keep it out of the air.
  Also. discharging the particles can drop them to the floor, when the suns rays charges, suspends and circulates the dust in a room, turning on an ionizer or adding moisture to discharge it makes a huge difference, they drop to the floor, I regularly use this method while vaccuming...an ionizer can take a room that looks like a 'shake 'em up christmas snow scene' [dust flying around like crazy] and clear it down in minutes.

[96ecss]

i thought about sucking, but i think it may just increase the chances of sucking some filth onto the enclosure. i'll give outdoors another shot then, it's summer hear, but in melbourne it can go from too boiling to be outdoors to hail in 5 mins! it happens... as far as a dedicated room goes, that seems out of the question for my little hobby. where i have been spraying has been pretty much large garages. a booth would be ideal, but a bit out of the question.

I didn't mean a full size paint booth like what is used for painting cars. I was thinking about making a small box like in the post Seljer pointed you to. I wasn't even aware of that post but I had the same idea.

[m-theory]

First, it's very difficult to eliminate all dust.  It can come from anywhere...your clothing, the air, walls, even masking materials.  I used to sell auto refinish products, and I can't think of a single job I ever saw come out of a booth, regardless of how small the repair was or how costly the booth was, that didn't have at least a tiny amount of dust.  Most shops that I worked with tended to buff just about everything that they painted, to remove minor surface garbage. 

You might try picking up some of those disposable cake pans with clear plastic lids.  That's what I've been using when I clear (I use a 2-part epoxy clear that takes about 16 hours to be out of dust), and it's worked very well.  I used to get dust specks in everything I did.  Now, it's rare, so it seems to work for me. 

[SteveB]

I'm the one who built the one in the post that Seljer linked, & it works very well, & is portable.

I usually wet the inside of the box, too,(like Pete said) so that incoming dust will stick to the walls.

But, what you wear & how much you move around can produce specks that will fly into the paint, too.

Remember you can always wet sand & shoot more paint, or wet sand, & polish back up to a nice shine. The box on the left was shot with clear lacquer & was finshed off this way. The box on the right was shot with a 2 part urethane. There were a few blemishes, but not worth sanding & polishing.



Steve

[MartyMart]

Gorgeous boxes Steve :D

MM.

[darron]

i love your swirl effect steve. trying to mimic your style is a project for another day. i like the idea of the ioniser too!

so ANYWAY... i picked up a small fridge today and took it down to the factory where I am spraying. it closes up nicely and even has a latch on it to keep it shut. it' got a few layers of shelving so that will be perfect for pedals etc. i've drilled a large circular hole in it at the top-back. i installed some air filter material replacing the insulation between the inside and outside. with some putty i've mounted a sealed fan on the outside of it that blows air in through the filter. i'm going to try cleaning it up really well and wetting the sides, then spray with the door open. if this makes much of an improvement i'll put a 2nd fan, or maybe just a hole at the bottom to let air out so that i can close the door. then i can run a tube going outdoors also....

polished most of them come out okay, but it's the clears that i'm thinking about.

thanks for the ideas of the water and the iodiser. that's a project, DIY iodiser. shouldn't be too hard? (:

if all goes well i'll post pics in a thread with a little tutorial

thanks once more (: