5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

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comeoutswingin
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5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

I searched high and low for an economical booth that would meet my size requirements. I hate shooting powder coat because it makes such a damn mess and it goes EVERYWHERE. So because of that my powder coat equipment has been sitting in the corner and when I get asked to do it I just say I don't have time.

I did a bunch of research and landed on the fact that a tube axial fan is most desirable. I looked around and couldn't find one that was in the range of what I was willing to pay. So I'm going to build my own and I will cover it in here when I get it all going, but I will drop a little information on it about how I am going to go about it.

I settled on a booth size of 5x5x8. Smaller than what I would call ideal, but all the space I was currently willing to devote to this. I did design this so I can easily "add a panel" and make it wider/longer when I get my new shop built.

I am building each wall panel of 1" .095 wall square tubing. I will be sheeting it with 22ga galvanized steel. I tried to design everything so that I don't have to weld on any of the galvanized, cutting it on the plasma was bad enough. I used self tapping screws in some places to attach the sheet metal to the frame, other spots are sandwiched between to walls and bolted together with 1/4" bolts.

Anyway here goes.

Here is my vision done in solidworks:
Booth Assembly.JPG
Booth Assembly2.JPG
Booth Assembly3.JPG
The large hole in the rear wall with the sheet metal box is where I intend to use 3 12x36 Nordson filters. I'm not sure if it will be enough, or way more than necessary. I still need to source a mounting flange that the filters slip onto. I'm not sure exactly what those are called or where to find them, I haven't been able to so far.

The 3 duct tubes running up the back are just standard hvac duct you can buy at Home Depot. They're cheap and simple, along with the elbows and flanges to mount them. They're the 8" variety.

I may end up changing the collector box at the top when I get to it. Im not sure yet on how well that's going to work out.

Here is the framing for the rear wall before i sheeted it. I attempted to use my plasma table to burn out all the holes so I didn't have to drill them.. it didn't work out as well as I had hope due to a small bow in the tube. I was able to correct it and make it work, I just ended up stacking all the tubes and drilling them on the mill.
20151020_183541 (450x800).jpg
So here is one side wall and the rear wall stood up and "sorta" bolted together. I ran out of tube to finish the other wall and the top. I will pick more up in the morning.
2015102195202252.jpg
2015102195202304.jpg
Alright. The Tube Axial Fan. I was shooting for a 16" diameter fan. I had a local shop roll me a 16" inside diameter tube, 16" long out of 1/8th", because I don't have a slip roll and they charged me $35 materials and labor. Cheap.

Vision:
16TubeAxialAssembly.JPG
Next I went to surplus center and ordered a 2HP 3450 RPM motor, two pulleys and a few flange bearings. I'm going to start with a 1:1 ratio on the pulleys and I will make adjustments there if needed.

Motor: https://www.surpluscenter.com/Electric- ... 0-2619.axd

Pulleys: https://www.surpluscenter.com/Power-Tra ... BK24-B.axd
Bearings: https://www.surpluscenter.com/Brands/A- ... 2-10-2.axd

Then over to summit racing and bought a flex a lite fan in a 15.25" diameter
fan: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/flx-2615/overview/

I still have to buy some 5/8 rod, and a belt but I'm in this fan so far $263.14. Will it work or not? I have no idea, we will see.

I am going to mount the flange bearings on a piece of 2x5" rectangle tubing to allow the motor housing to stay outside the tube. The belt and pulleys will run inside this tube. I will probably have to make some access doors on the tube, but this should totally isolate the fan motor from any powder particles.

I'm waiting on the motor to show up so I can pull some real measurements off of it before I build the mount plate and the belt tension set up. I don't know that this is even going to work so don't run out and buy all this junk until I find out if it works or not.

For lighting, I think im just going to use the water/dust proof florescent enclosures from home depot. They're about $70 each. I have a slight concern as they seem to have a yellow hue to the them but it may just be the old worn out bulbs in them.

I will post more as I do more.

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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by tnbndr »

Nice build. For your filter rack search for filter racks, filter banks, etc or find an HVAC supplier near you. But your best bet will be to just build an angle iron frame you can screw to the back wall and slide the filter down into it. It is not that difficult and purchasing one will not be cheap.
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comeoutswingin
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

I got the roof put on and everything bolted together the last couple days. Not a great picture.
20151023_232609 (450x800).jpg
Most my fan parts showed up Friday and I finally got a chance to get started on it.

The 16" x 16" rolled tube
20151023_232547 (450x800).jpg
I cut the 2x5 Rectangle tube on my plasma table, using the plate marker I marked out the holes for the access covers to be drilled and tapped.
20151024_193242 (450x800).jpg
20151024_193250 (450x800).jpg
I assembled the pillow blocks and bolted the fan blade on. I will have to machine a flat spot on the 5/8" bolt for the belt pulley set screw.
20151024_204126 (450x800).jpg
Here I'm marking the end of the rectangle tube to be trimmed to the radius of the roll. I will then cut a rectangle in one side of the roll to allow the tube to pass through. At that point I will finish the motor mounting plate.
20151024_204453 (800x450).jpg
With what little I could spin the fan by hand I think that this is going to generate plenty of "pull" for my filters.

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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by Capstone »

Very ambitious and thought out. I'm going to follow your progress with interest. Thanks for sharing!
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by poppopsworkshop »

Nice build. What voltage are making the motor? Rather than experiment with different sheaves / pull sizes, you could install a vfd drive and lower the speed to your needs. I'm happy to help if you need it.
comeoutswingin
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

I'm going to run the motor on 115. Mostly because I don't want to run a 220 outlet to that side of my shop and a 220 outlet addition means a 3rd panel in the shop and I dont feel like running it. The motor is also a capacitor start motor. I can buy ALOT of pulleys for the cost of a VFD. If this motor doesnt work, oh well. I'll go a different route.

If I can't nail the speed with the pulleys, I have a dampner idea that I will put into play.
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

Got lights put in today. My phone takes bad pictures so it looks darker than it is.. I think I am actually going to get away with just two lights in there. In person I can hardly stand and look at it its so bright.

I would have had a filter put in by now if they hadn't sent me the wrong one. I figured out how I am going to mount them and make them easily removable.

I haven't yet finished the fan as I need to cut a motor mount for it and I had the table tied up all day cutting things that make money to pay for projects like these. Anyway I'll update more as I go, not a whole lot of interest in this it seems.

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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by tnbndr »

Ambitious build, including the fan itself!! I hope it works out.

there are craiglist and ebay finds, just need to be patient.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMERICAN-COOLAI ... Sw~bFWL-Kd
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comeoutswingin
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

That fan wont work for me as I don't have 3 phase power.. Today I got the collector box finished. I ended up making it out of 16ga because I ran out of 22 ga, and because I was concerned the weight of the fan might be too much for it to support..
20151029_171458 (800x450).jpg
20151029_171452 (800x450).jpg

Here's a picture of the flanges I cut out to use to hold the filters. I just welded a 3/8 nut on to them which a 38" piece of all thread will run up through the filter and screw into the flange.
20151029_231757 (800x450).jpg

Then I ran some ducting. This took a while because I taped everything with aluminum duct tape.
20151030_002127 (800x450).jpg
I am still waiting on Powderbuythepound to rectify the sending of the wrong filter. They offered to send UPS to pick up the wrong filter and gave me the option of waiting 2 weeks for them to drop ship the filter that I actually purchased from them. I'm half tempted to tell them to forget it and try my luck with a single 24" filter. I am mostly concerned that it would have enough surface area to catch loose powder with only one filter..

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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by acourtjester »

always a bummer when you have to take it on the chin because they screwed up.
Some let you order another and ship it out then give you a refund when they get the other one back.
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comeoutswingin
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

So I decided I didn't have time to wait on powderbuythepound and their lame business practices so I went ahead and installed the 1 24" filter I had. I hook this thing up and shot some powdercoat. A 36" filter would catch a lot more material because of the surface area, BUT I'm very happy with the result of everything.

There was enough suction to carry 95% of the loose powder right into the filter without causing me too much suction and issues with the part. I shot a bunch of powdercoating and got up and checked the fan, nothings getting through the filters that I can see. I even shot some chevy orange to see if it showed up on anything else in the shop and zero.

When I add the other two filters I think I'm going to see what adding another fan blade to the fan does as far as CFM.
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by Bigrhamr »

Looking good.
Have you thought about using a blanket type pre filter over the opening in the back of the booth? It would catch a large % of the powder before it gets to your main filters, real fast and easy to clean or replace. You can get it commercially or some people are using felt sheet from a fabric store and reporting good results.
Also what's the plan for cleaning the main filters? Can you blow them out from the inside with them in place or need to remove them?
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

I never really considered using any other filters. Most the things I read were that they allowed alot past them, I might consider it, but I think i'd throw two more filters in first.

As far as cleaning them, I figured once they were full they'd be past their service life and I'd just buy new ones. They're easily removable from this assembly.
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by No Class »

Impressive.
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by No Class »

I am interested in knowing if your spray booth is working as you hoped and what you would estimate the CFM of your fan to be?

Cheers

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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by comeoutswingin »

The booth works a hell of a lot better than spraying without one. The fan.. works. I think it could be better. I may have made a slight oversight with the orientation of my motor though.. I bought a CCW rotation motor, and a CCW rotation fan blade, but I think the way I mounted the motor made it opposite the way it should be. I am going to confirm this when I get a chance, if I did, I think the simple fix is a different fan.

It does suck a fair amount of powder into the filter. More than I imagined, but I think it may be creating a suction off a venturi effect vs a straight up pull if that makes sense.

As far as a CFM estimate I have no idea how to figure that. If it were going to do it again, I would build a bigger fan for sure and try to spin it slower I think.
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Re: 5x5x8 Powdercoat Booth Build

Post by tnbndr »

That fan wont work for me as I don't have 3 phase power..
Simple motor swap!!!
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LDR 4x8, Scribe, DTHCIV
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