Adam’s “Finishing Booth” Workshop

Right off the bat I’m sure you’ll notice this isn’t a “shop” per say, but rather a garage that transforms into a year round finishing booth. The reason I’m sharing it is to maybe inspire those in a similar situation as myself. I am of course a woodworker first, finisher second. It dawned on me shortly after I began completing pieces of furniture for around the house, that I really need a good “system” to finish.

Not having the space (or the means) for a dedicated spray booth, I have what you see today. After some trial and error, I have to say, it works excellent! The exhaust fan and filter portion is really a plywood box on wheels with a Dayton 16in. tubeaxial fan atop of it. Attached to the fan is a 90 degree elbow that sticks out of my garage window about a foot and a half. The filter portion of the box is 48″wide X 84″ tall. Above the work area is a combustion research “Serengeti” infrared 80,000 btu gas heater for the cold winters here in upstate NY. The last thing I put up was the curtain wall; this made all the difference in the world! For make up air I simply open the window next to the booth and by sectioning the garage off with the curtain, it really creates a nice draft to carry the overspray away. I get my compressed air from a compressor in the basement that I piped in with “rapidair” piping. All of the spray guns I use are manufactured in Colorado from a company called C.A.Technologies; really nice stuff. I don’t worry about explosion because everything I use is waterborne. When I’m all done I pack it all up and sick it in the corner. The foot print is less then 6ft. wide by 4ft. deep when its all collapsed. I could certainly condense that more if I really wanted to. I did do most of this on a budget, buying the fan off of craigslist and making the lighting fixtures from inexpensive photography lighting tripods. The real money was in the heating and then the curtain wall. But even that I’m sure you could find a budget solution for. I hope this helps somebody!