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Subject: Re: Air filter for finishing room

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Message Thread:

Air filter for finishing room

7/22/16       
Pete D Member

Has anyone used an air filter in their finishing room and run it 30mins to an hour before spraying to help control airborne particles? Can handle the nibs but these damn little hairs/fibers that keep nestling in my clear coat for gloss white finish are driving me batshit crazy. Have thoroughly cleaned the room, filtered the finish, changed intake & exhaust filters yet they seemingly come out of nowhere like a bird dropping a turd on my head during a family photo shoot (true story). Curious if anyone's had any success with an air filter? Another option would be to start marketing my product as "gloss white with fiber and/or hair accents".

7/22/16       #2: Air filter for finishing room ...
Leo G

What are you using for intake filters? Can they be shedding?

7/22/16       #3: Air filter for finishing room ...
Pete D Member

Forget the manufacturer, but they're filters from a paint supply distributor. I don't believe they are since they're green & white and the fibers in the finish are dark. Thought it was possibly loose fibers from my shirt since I wasn't wearing the tyvek coverall last few times, but I've had different colored shirts and the fibers collect in the finish over a 10-15 min period after I've left the room. I changed the filters, but I'll double check them tomorrow, perhaps they're not trapping everything.

7/22/16       #4: Air filter for finishing room ...
Leo G

I just use cheapy pleated air filters MERV 4 rating. I don't have the problem of fibers. Of course on occasion I get stuff in the finish. Falls outta no where. I've seen it just appear. Sucks.

Any chance you're using Mirlon Total or some other fiber based pad for scuffing?

7/22/16       #5: Air filter for finishing room ...
Pete D Member

I've been using foam backed pads from Norton as the pieces have a lot of contours. I think you're right though, it's got to be something filter related, possibly not trapping everything. I can spray a test panel and hang it in front of the filters and see if they're the weak link. Spraying walnut or other woods you'd never see the fibers but gloss white makes them highly visible. Thanks for your input, will run some tests tomorrow.

7/22/16       #6: Air filter for finishing room ...
Robert Member

Which side of the filter faces the outside of your booth. The White side has a tacky substance on them and that side should be facing the outside to prevent dust/ gremlins from entering the booth. It helps to spray down the floor with some water to keep any dust from kicking up as your spraying.

The only other way to get a truly dust free environment is to follow what the Chinese did many many Moons ago. They had a room within a room within a room and finally a room within a room.

Obviously they didn't have a spray booth per say. However to accomplish a dust free environment for their multi coated hand applied Lacquers, they utilized a room within a room within a room...etc.

7/23/16       #7: Air filter for finishing room ...
Pete D Member

I do have the white, tacky side facing out. Good point about the room within a room, I might have to try adding a second filter wall if these fibers continue dive bombing my clears. Thanks Robert.

7/23/16       #8: Air filter for finishing room ...
Chris

could it be coming from your clothes?

7/23/16       #9: Air filter for finishing room ...
Bart

Well clear gloss over white is the pinnacle of "it's gotta be perfect". Everything shows. That's why alot of the super high end stuff is rubbed out. I'm sure contamination even happens in factory finish settings. Don't know about your filtering I know I've misted my floor with water on occasion mostly on windy days. You'll be surprised how dirty a "clean" floor is.

cheers/good luck

7/24/16       #10: Air filter for finishing room ...
Pete D Member

Chris, clothes could be part of it. There's an area around the ac unit that could also be suspect and some spots that should get sealed better.
Bart, you're right clear on white magnifies everything and amplified the need to figure out a better solution. I agree, rubbing out the finish will probably be a requirement regardless. Roberts comments made me rethink the situation so I'm building a secondary filter wall to isolate the finishing area better. Perhaps there will still be some contanimination but it's a relatively simple addition that at least should help to some degree.

Thanks for the comments/input.

7/27/16       #11: Air filter for finishing room ...
mainzy Member

Are you wiping down your parts with a cloth . I sand 320. Wipe down with cotton cloth and blow off with air. What is you sanding process before coating?

7/27/16       #12: Air filter for finishing room ...
Pete D Member

Mainzy, I sand with 400 then wipe with a damp rag. Ordered some tack cloth too and a coverall with Elastic hood in case there's contaminants I might be bringing into the room from the main shop. So far the second filter wall appears to have eliminated almost all the airborne particles from the first spray trial and that's without the coverall which arrived today, so that's promising. The second wall might be overkill but it also isolates the sanding area from the drying rack so I can continue sanding while others are curing which is helpful.

7/30/16       #13: Air filter for finishing room ...
Charles Member

Question: While you are in the middle of a spray session, do you ever notice some "stuff" or "dust" on the floor and hit it with a burst of air to direct it towards the outgoing filters? Yup. Trying to keep the area perfectly clean. NOT!

I did this a few times thinking that some dust on the floor might cause a problem with the parts that I was spraying 30" above the floor. I learned to leave the dirty floor alone during a spray session, otherwise that dust will not be pushed by my burst of air directly into the filter wall. Instead it will rise up, turn away from the filter wall, travel behind me, then make a direct attack on my freshly sprayed parts on the drying rack.

8/6/16       #14: Air filter for finishing room ...
mike j

It would be best to spray your piece in front of the exhaust fan/filters then move your piece to a dead air space away from the air flow. This way there is no constant air flow across your recently finished piece and the draft from your exhaust fan is keeping contaminated air away from the drying piece.

8/6/16       #15: Air filter for finishing room ...
Pete D Member

Mike, that's a good suggestion. I'll try that, thanks.

8/10/16       #16: Air filter for finishing room ...
Ryan Groff

I had this problem and it does drive you crazy, I realized these tiny fibers were on the piece before i cleared it, I took a good tack rag and tacked it really good and it helped a lot, I feel for you it about drove me nuts!

8/29/16       #17: Air filter for finishing room ...
rob

Website: http://scspray.com

There is a tacky filter with a scrim that will help you. The scrim is a weaved hard plastic that faces the inside of your room as to not allow fibers to detach from the filter.
Also you should make sure the air velocity through each filter is calculated to no more than 500 cfm per 20"x20" filter.
Figure out the spraybooth cfm and then determine the amount of intake filters you need

 

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