Hi
I'm building my own sparay boothe from a cardboard box, i plan to use two cumputer chasis fans (the ones from the power supply unit) and wanted to know if they will be suffuciant, the box size is about 60x40x40 cm. and i placed the fans side by side on the back.
Thanks
Eran

The easy way to answer this question is to figure out how much volume your spray booth has. I get 96000 cubic centimeters, or about 3.4 cubic feet. From there, you have to find what your fans are rated for. Case fans go anywhere from 25 to 120 cubic feet per minute. Even at the low end, you're probably getting about 14 air changes per minute. I think that as long as you are getting a good number of complete air changes per minute, you should be ok. If you put a furnace filter in front of your fans, you'll reduce the air flow a little, but extend the life of your fans.

Thanks man!

Here is a fairly comprehensive (sp?) article about building a spray booth. Don't know if it will help, but it can't hurt...

http://home.earthlink.net/~mmwilson3/Building_a_Spray_Booth.htm

If I did the math right, you have about 2.58 sqft opening on your booth. According to the article, you would need to move about 300 cfm in order to meed the OSHA guidelines. I assume your booth is 60cm wide by 40cm high by 40cm deep. So... 60x40=2400 cm2 converted to sqft =2.58... 2.58 x 100 linear ft = 258 cfm. This is your flow calculation. Without knowing how much air your fans push I can't say if it's enough. (++)

I've been thinking of doing something similar, but at least here in Sweden the fans have to be encapsulated so they don't ignite the fumes flowing through them... that thought has stopped me for the timebeing...

Yeah, Mike, I haven't read that kind of math since I was at Purdue. Like anything else on the internet take the information with a grain of salt. We have an enviromental engineer at the foundry where I work. Maybe he can help. All he does is sit as his desk all read OSHA and EPA manuals. I'll ask tomorrow and see what he can come up with. I need to put one in my basement, too.

Check back guys...

For my own spray booth, I'm going to invest in a furnace blower. If it can force enough air in a house, it should work for my booth. Besides, the motor is brushless and outside the airstream.

I might install a rheostat so that it doesn't suck me inside the booth while I'm painting. :-) :-)

And with this post, I become Captain!

Congrats Mike. I think I have read at least 75 of 150 posts and they were all friendly and informative.

Hi.

You might want to consider getting a fan that is rated for moisture. With all the atomized paint flowing through the fan, this could have a major impact on the booth's longevity. Not sure how computer fans hold up to moisture.

Cheers,
Ghengis