Powder Coating Booth

I'm guessing this happens to everyone that tries powdercoating- the freakin' powder gets all over everything. Not just when you're putting the powder on, but when you're putting powder into the cup as well. I wear a respirator, but the powder still gets everywhere, and I'm sure it gets back into the air after I take the respirator off. So, I decided to make myself a powder coating booth. It doesn't need to be big booth- my oven isn't all that big anyway.

I made some rough drawings, but I didn't plan too far ahead- just enough to do some planning for the trip to Home Depot on what to buy. Four pieces of 2' x 4' hardboard, five 8' 2x4s, and a couple 20"x20" air filters.

I set myself up on the back of my truck and got to work.

I first trimmed a few inches off of the three pieces that would form the sides and the back of the booth.

I made the bottom- supporting it with an X ox 2x4s. I put one 2x4 in each of the back corners all the way to the top of the booth, and screwed the sides and back to the top. One 2x4 across the front top made it a box.

A 2x4 fits across the top of both the left and right sides- to support the top. I notched the 2x4 to make a seal across the top.

At this point, I needed to figure out how to hold the filter under the top. I put a couple 2x4s for the filter to slide on.

And that does it for day one. It was getting dark and I was tired of swatting mosquitoes. Don't get me going on what pieces of crap the Mosquito Magnet and the Mosquito Deleto are. That's a story for another day.

On to day two- I cut the pegboard to fit- it was just a bit tight so I ripped about a quarter inch off one side.

I used the jigsaw to cut a hole the size of the fan I plan to use. I did take off the grills so I could get the sharpie on the end of the fan to trace it on just the outside of the fan blades.

It may not be a perfect circle- but it is close enough- particularly since it will be covered and no one will see! I figure it won't affect how it works.

... or how it doesn't work. With the filter in- the fan won't draw through the filter. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. And that's end of day 2.

I went by the habitat for humanity ReStore and bought a stove hood for $10. It was a bit wide, so I got out the Hypertherm Powermax800 plasma cutter.

A plasma cutter is such a cool tool! I don't believe that there can be anyone that has ever cut metal and seen a plasma cutter that doesn't want one. The ease and speed of cutting is just amazing.

I also wanted to make sure that the fan wouldn't be impeded by the grille- so I cut it out.

Again, it was so easy! I think I will put a new grille over it- but it will be a lot more open.

Here it is the booth with the fan on top- after looking at it, the open side was pretty ugly- so I cut off the end from the piece I cut off.

A few smacks of the hammer to flatten it out- and it has an end.

I still have to seal it up- I've got the caulk, but I can't find it in my garage. I wonder why. I guess I need another trip to Home Depot. So, that's the end of day 3.

Well, I went to Oklahoma over the weekend for camping at Lake Texoma with the In-laws. Wow. Talk about hot. Heck. The whole of last week was way too hot- despite that, I went to Home Depot and picked up a 2x4, a couple 2x2s and some more hard-board. Also went to Big Lots and picked up a cord and a caulking gun for some caulk I happened to have around the ol' garage.

Put some rails on the outside to support the inside rails to support the oven grilles. Also put some 2x2s on the inside to support the back end of the grille supports. Some 18 inch flourescent tubes that were on clearance at Lowe's got screwed into the top. Then I caulked up the box with the caulk I found in a corner of the garage.

A couple days later, I came back, and found that the caulk was crap. Sitting around too long- it looks like whatever cures the silicone separated out of the caulk, and the caulk never cured right, cracked, and is basically useless. The end of the week. I'm hoping that the next day's effort is more fruitful.

And it is finished. I scraped out as much of the old caulk as I could and re-caulked it with some fresh(er) caulk. I also cut out a new top. I wired it up, using cord-grips so the wiring doesn't get cut by the sharp edges, and test it all out- all the elements of it work- the lights, the fan, and, well, It sucks!.

With some banging and cursing, I pushed the side of the vent hood down over the the cut edge of the vent hood, and then pop-riveted it all together.

Trying to actually connect it to the top was interesting- I ended up using some drywall corner bead- really cheap- I think it was less than $2.00 at Home Depot for 8 feet. I drilled some holes and pop-riveted it to the hood. A couple more drywall screws hold the bead down to the top of the booth.

There were a bunch of potential air leaks, so I used the ol' favorite- duct-tape and sealed it up, along with covering a bunch of sharp edges of metal.

And that's it. I've got three places for the trays to slide, the fan and light switches work. Two 15W flourescent tubes should give me plenty of relatively shadow free light. Still need to find a better surface to put it on (than the floor).

Please don't ask for plans- there aren't any- this was basically designed on the fly- about the only measurements were to make sure the oven racks and air filter would fit. And yes, I understand the potential danger that the powder and fan combination could cause- I'm living life dangerously. Realistically, the fan is after the filter, and even then, there will be relatively small amounts of the powder near those potential spark sources, and never within an enclosed space where the powder density could build up.

If you do decide to build something like this- the risk is yours. There are potential dangers that you need to be aware of, and that you have to determine and protect yourself from.

This page was last modified 122 weeks ago, on Fri Jul 28 2006.