DIY Compact Spraybooth

Hey plamo nerds! It's a bright and sunny Monday here at my coordinates, and I thought it would be nice to kick off the week with a show and tell to get those creative juices flowing. I recently updated my spraybooth design, borrowing a few elements from popular spraybooth models to make it more user-friendly and practical by adapting some recycled stuff for materials. There's a video at the bottom if you can spare the kilobytes.

Click on the Read More link for the rest of this post...




I decided to assemble a compact spraybooth when I moved my stuff to the new workbench. For those new to the blog, I've been using this DIY portable spraybooth for some time:

While this old setup offered portability and was great for storage, I wanted to maximize desk space and set-up time in my new work area by keeping my airbrushing equipment at the ready. What I needed was something I could deploy in seconds, didn't restrict movement on the desk, but would take up minimal space inside the cabinet when not in use. I did some research on what was available in the spraybooth market, but the prices were just, well, take a look...

I decided I could just build one myself for much less while still getting the features I wanted. I really liked the fold-out concept of the Master airbrush spraybooth, and the simple design of the GSI Creos Superbooth, so I came up with a combination of the two.



Here's the list of materials I used to assemble this simple booth:

1. A good sized squirrel cage type exhaust fan
2. Flexible ducting that matches the fan's exhaust port
3. An A4 sized plastic document binder
4. Illustration board scraps
5. Duct tape
6. Bulldog clips
7. Corrugated cardboard scraps

A hole was cut out of the plastic binder to accommodate the exhaust vent. The binder was attached to the face of the fan with superglue and twisty ties for support.

I initially used plastic folder for the sides, but those proved too flimsy and would buckle from the weight. I replaced them with illustration board instead, which is stiffer and works much better. The flaps are designed to flip out to form a canopy. I used duct tape for all the joints. They are held in place with bulldog clips on the top two corners of the booth.

The filter material was made with strips of corrugated cardboard glued together, mimicking the Creos Superbooth. It is attached with loops of duct tape, so it's easy to pull off when it needs replacing. The tiny holes allow good airflow, while the cardboard should help trap paint particulate fairly well, at least in theory.

With everything folded back in, the whole thing is very compact and takes up minimal space in the cabinet - which in my case can be for months at a time - freeing up valuable desk space while I'm still in the snap building, modifications or paint prep phase of a build.

The total cost for this project came up to less than Php1500 ($30) - much cheaper than any commercially available spraybooth.  I'll probably upgrade the flaps  to something more rigid like pvc sheets and use proper hinges for the joints, but I wanted to prototype the design with cheap material first and see if I can make improvements before I shell out another Php200-300 for the final implementation.

Here's a quick video showing how it works:


If you paint your kits, even if you're tight on space and have a modest budget you should definitely DIY up a nice little spraybooth. Your lungs will thank you for it!

Until next time, keep building plamo!