It's that time of week again - another airbrushing question!
In my defence, I have attempted to google, but I find the sheer array of contradicting opinions bewildering to follow, and with no way to interject my own thoughts, I thought I may as well ask myself. So, here goes and apologies to anyone annoyed by yet another airbrush thread (We could really do with a comprehensive sticky thread). The gist is that I'm wanting to make my own spray booth. I've read around about the cheap fold away ones, and most people seem to like them, but a fair few other people insist that they aren't really adequate and better can be made for cheaper. So here's my current situation:
1. Occupants - My household doesn't have any vulnerable persons in it, however I do live with others and I'd rather not have them exposed to any undue particulates if I can help it.
2. Location - I don't have a dedicated hobby room, with my desk in my bedroom. This has always been fine for brush painting, however I gather airbrushing creates a fair amount of paint dust. Being as I have a number of expensive guitars I'd rather not risk them getting ruined (Although, they are all in a guitar rack, so I could cover them all with a dust sheet if that's a viable solution for negating paint dust). Seeing as I also sleep in the same room, residuals are going to be a prime issue for me - I can't exactly sleep with a respirator on (Though happily with a window open).
3. Venting - Venting is an option, and my main concern. I'm more than able to run some flexible extractor piping to a nearby window. However, for a roughly 40Dx60Wx40H opening, I'm unsure of what size fan I'd need. Bathroom extractor fans appear popular, but then again others denounce them as being insufficient with regards to Air Flow (CFM/LFM). I should also say that any fan would need to contend with a couple of coarse and fine/HEPA filters placed in front of it.
4. Paints - Quite a few people seem concerned about the risks of fire and explosion with certain compounds being vented through a motor. In my case, all I can foresee using is acrylic paints (Most likely Citadel or Vallejo). I think I'll likely stick to spray can primers, but those I do outdoors with maximum ventilation.
5. Personal protection - For my own safety, I'll be using a respirator, so that should take care of any health issues from particulates whilst spraying. As I said, my main issue will be in venting any residuals and paint dust from the room in a reasonable time frame (Circa 1hr after use).
6. Time frame - I'm a relatively stop-start kind of painter. Whilst I hope airbrushing will help me to speed up certain aspects of painting and try new techniques, I can still imagine that I'll only be using it for 2-3 hours and evening, with gaps in between.
So, with those points in mind, can anybody advise me as to the best course of action. I could sack the whole endeavour off, as I haven't invested anything into airbrushing yet, but I feel that would be a shame and limit my advancement. My main concern is simply finding a fan that is relatively inexpensive (I.e. Not several hundreds of pounds/dollars) but also vents away the worst of the particulates. Any help would be most appreciated