I don't know how you guys put-up with it, but I got really annoyed trying to paint PC case panels by laying them flat on the ground. Since I was dumping some money into the paints, sandpaper, and tac clothes for my current mod, I wanted to get the best quality out of a spray-can paint job as reasonably possible. Laying down plastic or newspaper and painting on the ground just wasn't cutting it.

I really wanted to be able to hang my parts by wires to both save my back and get an overall better coat of paint on all the panels. Hanging them on trees outside would be simple, but is a nightmare for pollen and insects getting on the paint. A paint booth is ideal, but larger pre-fab ones are thousands of dollars, and smaller DIY ones only allow painting one panel at a time.

Doing one panel at a time not only slows the process down, it also creates an undesireable effect where the finish on each panel may vary more than if they were painted all at the same time.

So... it was time I made my own walk-in-sized painting booth, large enough to paint multiple panels at the same. And since this was for PC modding, I thought I'd share my design and the process of creating it with us pcApexers.


This design is a rectangular paint booth with only one open side, all for under $100.

Items checklist:

• (9) 10' sections of 1 ¼" PVC pipe
• (13) 1 ¼" PVC 'T' connectors
• (6) 1 ¼" PVC 90 degree elbows
• (1) 10' x 25' package of clear Plastic sheeting (we need clear to allow some light to pass inside)
• (1) 4' x 15' drop cloth (preferably with a non-tracking side to stop from tracking paint dust around)
• (1) tool to cut PVC pipe (hacksaw, PVC saw, or clamp-style pipe cutter that will cut 1 ¼" PVC)
• (1 or more) packs of furnace filters, depending on how much painting you'll be doing. 20" x 20" is a good universal size for most box fans, but select the size needed for the fan you'll be using. You can use a better filter specifically made for paint booths, but it will cost exponentially more. A better filter will catch more overspray and let more air through, but furnance filters are around $1 each (in packs of 4). If you use furnance filters, they're not perfect, and you will have to clean off some overspray from your box fan(s). See below for fan details.
• LOTS of duct tape (I went through the equivalent of one full roll of duct tape to seal the plastic, fan, and filter)
• (1 or more) cheap box fans to help draw overspray through furnace filters and out of booth. You can pick up a cheap one for $10. I got by with just one in my 8' wide booth, but it didn't draw out all overspray. 2 or 3 would be ideal for 8' wide booths, and 1 fan is fine for 4' wide booths. Match your fan size to your filter.
• A way to mount your fan high enough to exhaust overspray from the top-rear of the booth. If your booth is 6' tall, a 20" box fan should be about 4' off the ground. 4' Ladders work well if you have one or two free, but you may also find big cardboard boxes useful if your budget is important. If you want to get fancy, design your own PVC mount to support the weight of box fans.
• Metal hangers or similar wire to 'hang' your PC panels and parts while you paint
• Optional: Quick grip clamps (the ones that look like a bent 'X' and open with a squeeze)
• Workbench, vice, or other apparatus to hold PVC pipe while cutting
• Access to a 1 car garage or larger, or a patio with lots of fair weather

Here's my general design, ommiting the right side as it is identical to the left side for PVC pipe lengths...



There are three middle PVP pipes that I include in my paint booth at 8 feet long. This is the width of my booth, plus a couple of inches for the sides, but it can be made to any desired length. At 8 feet wide, I quickly discovered that I needed a 'T' connector and pipe running down to support the weight of hanging steel PC panels inside the booth. Therefore, I have the top-middle pipe cut in half minus a little to add the 'T' and down pipe. If you want to make a booth that is 6 feet wide or less, or you're only painting aluminum panels, you may not need the additional support at all.

When changing your width and including a middle support down pipe, calculate the two sides by halving the selected width, then subtracting 7/8" from each half to accomodate the width added by the middle 'T' connector.

Gather up your PVC and mark off the points at which you'll need to cut. If you're using a saw to make the cut, account for the additional 1/16 or 1/32 of an inch required for the cut. Most 10' sections of PVC pipe will actually be 10' and a couple of inches to give some leeway for making cuts.

List of sections needed:

• (3) 8'
• (1) 5', 11 3/4"
• (2) 4'
• (2) 3', 11 7/8"
• (6) 3'
• (2) 2', 7 3/4"
• (2) 26 3/8"
• (2) 20"
• (8) 2 1/2"

Here's a quick list of possible pipe cuts for the 8' wide paint booth, using nine 10' sections of PVC pipe...

Legend:

║ = a cut....░ = spare/scrap pieces

─
█..of PVC pipe on screen is roughly equal to 2"
─

Note: 2 1/2" cuts are split into 2 groups of 4 (even though the 2' left over from one 8' cut section is enough) because making a cut with only 2" of pipe to be held in a vice isn't advised.

Pipe#............................Pipe Cuts
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..1..│██████████████████████8'███████████████████████║░░░░░░░░░░░░│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..2..│██████████████████████8'███████████████████████║(4)2.5"░░░░░│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..3..│██████████████████████8'███████████████████████║(4)2.5"░░░░░│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..4..│██████3',11 7/8"███████║██████3',11 7/8"███████║░░░░░░░░░░░░│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..5..│███████████4'███████████║████████3'███████║████████3'███████│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..6..│███████████4'███████████║████████3'███████║████████3'███████│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..7..│████26 3/8"██║███20"████║████████3'███████║████████3'███████│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..8..│████26 3/8"██║███20"████║████2',7 3/4"███║████2',7 3/4"███║░│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
.....┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
..9..│██████████████████5',11 3/4"████████║░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░│
.....└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Secure each pipe before cutting (I used a small workbench to 'vice'-in the pipes)...



Cutting with a clamp-style pipe cutter should give you clean ends, but may be slower than cutting with a saw blade, which leaves one smooth side and one rough side...



Clean up any uneven ends and PVC shag with a blade or X-acto knife, then sand if desired...



Don't forget to cut the eight 2 ½" connecting pipes to join connectors. Lay out all of the cut pipe by size to aid in quickly assembling the booth...


(continued in my next post)...

Holy ******************************************

man are you try to get the water into your house !! man what you think to do are you want the computer smock form those pipes !! dammmmm they coooooooooooooool

man they very dam coooooooooooool l

just keep going and update

good luck man

Sorry for the delay: I can only attach 10 pics in each post and this specific forum needs approval first, so I couldn't reply to my first post until now. This painting booth is complete by the way (this isn't a project), and I've been using it for a week now. Whew, sometimes it's more work to document, take pics, and post about this stuff than actually do it.

Here's the remaining guide and pics (in 2 posts). Thanks!


Assembly is a breeze with PVC if you're assembling something temporary because the pipes simply push into the connectors and hold with their own friction. If you want something more permanent, you can use PVC weld (a glue that melts PVC on the surface and bonds the melted parts together) or other glues.

Since I won't need this in my garage all the time, I can push the PVC parts together without glue so that I can disassemble it later for storage.

Here's some pics of the assembled joints using the 2 1/2" pipe sections...

Middle pipes meet and attach to the rear corner pipes with 'T' connectors:



Top corners meet with 'T' connectors, then continue with a 90 degree elbow to complete the top pipes:



The top middle pipe is what we'll use to hang PC panels, and connects with both a 'T' and 90 degree elbow:



The final assembly looks clean and is roomy. I tried this first without the middle down pipe (used to support additional weight for hanging PC panels), but later added the middle down pipe in pics you'll catch in my next post.

I only have one spare box fan I don't mind getting paint dust all over, and I didn't get around to using multiple fans, so just one will have to do. After using it multiple times to paint, one just barely works. I get a little paint dust inside the booth, but not a single spec of paint dust is bounced out the front of the booth at all.

In the future, I'd prefer to use 2 box fans because it would keep the painting booth even cleaner inside. If your painting booth gets pretty dusty, it's helpful to spray down the rear plastic walls with a light mist of water to help prevent the paint dust from bouncing off and going elsewhere inside the booth. I didn't do this until my second use, and it helped quite a bit but is not absolutely necessary.

Next steps:

• Lay plastic over enclosure so that the 25' length is covering the longest dimension (in mine, it's the 8' width + 6' side walls). I had a lot of plastic leftover. I will cut some this to use as a strip below the fan.
• If desired, use quick grip clamps to keep it in place.
• Duct tape it to the enclosure
• Install the fan(s) using cardboard boxes or ladders. They should be out slightly from the rear wall of the paint booth to create a pseudo-funnel effect.
• From the outside, facing the back of the booth, cut plastic to fit around fan(s) and duct tape it in place
• From the inside, mount your lightweight filters with duck tape either directly on the fan, or duct taped to the plastic
• Make sure there is enough lighting, and add low-heat lighting (fluorescent) above if desired.
• Lay down the drop cloth and duct tape it to the plastic
• If you're in a windy area, you might want to add some heavy quick grip clamps to the pipe legs, clamping the plastic along with it
• Make sure there is adequate ventilation entering the front of the booth. If not, add a fan or two at least 6 feet from the front, angled slightly upward, and set on the lowest setting. Don't push too much air into the booth or you'll overpower the exhaust fan and end up sending paint dust all over the place
• Put on a respirator and safety eye-wear (ie: goggles), and start painting!

Since I won't be making this a permanent painting booth, I can use a 4' ladder to hold the box fan.



When you lay down your drop cloth, be sure to duct tape it to the plastic to complete the 5-wall booth enclosure.



Ugly, bright, visible duct taping around the fan filter...



Pic of the center down pipe support...



Final without the middle down pipe:



Final with the middle down pipe for additional hanging support. It's helpful to drap a little extra plastic around the edge of the booth's open side to help catch paint dust... just in case.



In use:



Now that I'm hanging my panels to paint, I can just hang them anywhere while painting other panels. This means I can paint parts, take them out of the the booth to hang elsewhere, and paint even more parts without stopping. I love painting now! My 2 story ladder seems like a good place for it to hang around a bit:



Once you've painted a bit, the furnance filter will soon be full of overspray and paint dust. Each time you change the filter, you'll either want to pull up the duct tape or cut it out with a blade (don't cut the plastic!). I find it helpful to add the new filter with a different color duct tape each time so I know which tape to pull off without pulling off the wrong strips.

You can spend time to make this painting booth look really neat and professional, but for me it's just a tool, so I don't care too much if the duct tape makes it look ugly. It does a job, and thanks to the PVC frame, it does the job very well. Besides, I'll be adding the plastic all over again whenever I pull this out of storage to do another case mod.

Can you say sticky? This post is superb with all the detail you put into it. Some + rep is coming your way. Thank you for taking the time to create something that many people here can use.

Also, CK, can you try not to curse in your posts? Also, there really is no need to put a lot of the same letter in one word. Example, there is no need for that many "o" in the word cool. Don't take offense, I'm just trying to help you out on your posts.

I second the sticky! This should prove very useful to me soon. Have some reppage.

Sweeeet job on the Paint Booth +Rep to you

Great looking solution to a vexing problem.

If you are going to use this booth a lot, maybe build a frame to hold the filters in order to make them easier to change.

All in all, a fantastic utilitarian project.

Thanks for the comments and rep. I was certainly getting frustrated with traditional spray-can painting techniques, and seeing a Duplicolor rep in a 2 Guy Garage video inspired me to find a way to paint panels while hanging them.

I love working with my paint booth, as painting other angles or sides of a panel involves little more than flipping it around on a hanger as if I'm doing laundry or something, lol! Being able to do this without making a mess in my garage is the real key.

To answer joecoin, I might get around to making a permanent, collapsing plastic wall for the sides, and like you mentioned, add a permanent filter mount. I'll have to see how much work this will take.

But, what would be more wonderful is if another modder made a similar booth from this idea and incorporated all his/her ideas. They could share it here so I wouldn't have to do all the work *hint hint*

So I ended my frustration with a little DIY mentality. I hope other modders here find the idea useful. Painting was my biggest worry, but now it's one of my favorite parts of modding.

*Pod_Man searches around for tons of stuff to paint, only to have an excuse to make his own paint booth...

Excellent job and nice idea!

Way to through in your 2 cents...and well spent it is!

Thanks for sharing and spending the time to submit this.

i thought taping painters plastic to the rafters in my garage was elaborate but your pvc pipe structure takes painting inside a step forward. i guess you could take it outside or even in a non garage/workshop room.

Quote: Originally Posted by carbongraphite i guess you could take it outside or even in a non garage/workshop room.

That sounds possible, so long as you can stop insects from flying inside. If someone has a porch or large enough balcony, I'm sure they could place the booth right up against a sliding glass door and essentially paint without a garage.

I'm completely done using my paint booth for my current mod, so time to take it apart (in sections) and scrap the plastic and dropcloth. Things I've learned from using it through hours and hours of painting:

• The 4' drop cloth fits the booth, but in the future, I'll buy two drop cloths or a 6' wide one to catch a little extra paint dust from heavier metalic paints. This will also help to stop as much tracking of paint dust as possible.
• Use 2 or more fans for an 8' wide paintbooth. My single 20" box fan helped a lot, but there wasn't quite enough air flow to remove all of the paint dust before it goes elsewhere.
• Change filters more frequently next time. After a furnance filter gets around 3/4 clogged with paint dust, the air-moving effeciency of my box fan drops exponentially.
• Spray the plastic with water (fine mist) more frequently next time. I only sprayed once and it made a huge difference in stopping the paint dust from bouncing. I didn't bother again because I was too lazy.
• Buy more duct tape than I expect to use next time -- dang, I went through a lot!
• Painting inside a booth yields less bounce back from paint dust compared to painting on the ground, but a booth this size is not perfect. I taped off a panel along the edges and painted one side, then another, only to discover that some paint dust can still get on the other side if conditions in the paint booth aren't perfect. I repainted the one side with tacky paint dust, but in the future, I'll tape off everything I don't want painted, even if it's on the other side of the panel.

Some other interesting things I've discovered...

• Furnance filters are sold in a varying density of filter meshes. The ones I purchased are "Strata Density". I guess this particular brand would have other highly definitive density ratings such as 'Meso Density', 'Thermo Density', and may be 'Tropo Density', lol. You think they'd come up with a standard way to measure filter density based on something like air restriction, filtration quality, etc. Oh well. If I were to follow their density labeling theme, I'd conclude that the filters I got are not the most dense, but second to the most dense. To me, they actually look pretty non-dense and worked just fine. Go figure.
• Dropcloths that prevent tracking of wet paint do next to jack-nothing for preventing paint dust tracking. Next time I won't pay extra -- instead I'll just go with the cheapest drop cloths.
• The odd visual effect cameras fall prey to also affects humans, but on a different scale. Even with fluorescent lights above, I was unable to see details when painting my panels. This was because I had my garage door open, and I was staring right into natural light as it gets scattered by the clear plastic walls of the paint booth. Greater light directly ahead yields objects in between very dark -- my eyes couldn't adjust. So I had to use a hand fluorescent lamp if I wanted to see details. I didn't want to miss painting some obscure area of my panels.

Right now I've got to compile all the pics I took and update my mod. I hope posting about my own follies and oversights will help other modders if they go the paintbooth route. Thanks again for the comments and rep everyone.

Filters can clog faster than you realize. Fortunately, they're easy to replace. Just cut out the old one while leaving your box fan on high, then add the new one (fan suction will hold it in place) and duct tape around it to make it semi-airtight.

Maybe this could be added to the Guides section of the site, its certainly a comprehensive and very well written giude.

Just an afterthought.

This booth could easily be used as a photography booth, just use white wide format roll paper or foamboard for the walls and hang some lights.

Good idea, joecoin. If someone wants to make this with foam walls instead of 4mil plastic, the weight will be less and they'd be able to use smaller PVC pipe like 1" or less. Overall cost would be less.

Well, the painting is done, so it's time to migrate my paintbooth from garage to garage attic. Sad to see it go -- so many fond memories of paint dust flying everywhere. Hmmmm... may be those aren't such fond memories after all, but at least I have the photos to remember it:



...and now it has gone into storage for a future mod.

I'm late to viewing this thread, but it's awesome! Now that I'll be planning to buy a house, I'll put together a booth like this...your detail is amazing. This deserves a rare rep from me, I usually don't bother with reputation unless significantly motivated. U da man!

Awesome to make the paint booth! Thank so much.