# HVLP in a camping tent in the garage



## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

I've had this idea that I could buy a cheap (300$) 12 man tent from Amazon, set it up in the garage (which is attached to the house) and use it as a spray booth for and HVLP system -Which I also have no experience with.

I would just buy the two together and after two hours of youtube, boom.. expert finisher checked off the list.

Anyway, I'm starting to have doubts and I wonder if others have taken this path? I get that I would need a full cleanroom sort of painting outfit and respirator. But.. is the spray so fine that it's going to get out of the tent? Assume flaps are shut.

People use HVLP systems to paint inside all the time… surely this is ok?

Someone stop me if I'm making a huge mistake.. what am I missing?


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## Bill_Steele (Aug 29, 2013)

I'm tuned in for this one-interested in the responses.

I've had a similar thought on getting a small tent to spray in-but thought of the tent as a means to protect the piece being sprayed from contaminants getting on it. I would prefer to spray out in the back yard. I would think to spray in the garage might introduce fumes into the house. I think it may be important to incorporate some type of ventilation to pull fumes and possibly overspray away.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

If you got money to burn sounds like a plan. Otherwise see if one of the much cheaper Homeright booths will meet your need, or buy the plastic sheeting and duct tape at the home center, or even splurge and buy the zippers made for this.


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

A lot of it depends on what you plan to spray. I spray only shellac and waterbornes inside (lacquer outdoors in the summer). My booth (if you want to call it that) is shower curtains hanging from the ceiling> You can get 8' long ones from Amazon. I have a roughly 10'x 10' area under the OH door to the (detached) shop. I suspended 1/5" PVC pipe from the ceiling and hang the curtains on it. It does contain the overspray. It does contain the odor. Even with waterbornes there is a smell that permeates the shop. With anything solvent cased it would (says me) be noticeable in an attached house….maybe not so much with waterborne finishes. But I certainly wouldn't spend $300 on a tent to use for it Also, I doubt that 2 hours is enough to get the hang of spraying; but you are probably a much faster learner than me. So I guess I don't think the HVLP is a mistake…but the tent may be.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

If you are planning to finish some large tables or something, you may need something bigger but Rockler sells a Large HomeRight Spray Shelter that is basically what you are describing. It is actually on sale right now for $40. Here are the specs:
Assembled Depth: 72'' at bottom; 30'' at top
Assembled Width: 108'' at bottom; 92'' at top
Assembled Height: 66.5''
Collapsed Dimensions (in bag): 4-3/8'' x 4-3/8'' x 29-1/8'
LOL, Picture from Rockler listing:


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

I have not used a tent, but hung plastic sheet from the ceiling in the garage to form a spray booth of sorts. I used it to spray oil based enamel and did not have any overspray escape the enclosure, even though there was a couple of inches at the top open to the rest of the garage. I got a roll of that brown paper, sort of like what the old paper grocery bags were made out of, and taped that down on the floor first. Worked great, but you really should have a positive pressure respiration system. i used one of those 3M half face respirators with appropriate filters but still could not remain in the 'booth' for very long.

Given that, I don't see why a large enough tent would not work just as well or better.

Cheers,
Brad


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

+1 plastic sheeting
Have used (shower curtains) hanging from garage door tracks/rails to make a quick indoor spray booth. Tape curtain across the door and easy 3-sided booth is made. With a 1" pipe laying across the back of garage door tracks, can make 9×9 spray booth in single car garage. For a 2 car garage, need to support the center of cross post, and buy a lot of shower curtains. The couple of inches of open space at top is not a problem. Any over spray that gets out, will be dry when it lands (unless using old school 1 part enamel).

Using a tent? BTDTGTTS, tons of challenges to consider.

- Most newfangled tents use a rain fly on top, with 'bug' mesh screen covering the upper 2-3 feet of of tent for ventilation. Would need to find an old style solid wall canvas tent, or buy one of the expensive cold weather/high altitude tents to get one with solid nylon fabric to the top.

- Any tent used as spray booth will not be usable for camping afterwards. The walls will be covered in over spray. It makes the tent heavier, crack when folded, and carries odor forever.

- Spraying in any close space is dangerous. The air fills with paint fumes, and reduces the available oxygen. Need more than a respirator, you need a self contained breathing apparatus (SCUBA) to spray any paint in a closed space. Only way to avoid need for SCUBA gear is with ventilation, preferably negative pressure ventilation that draws fresh air into booth, and expels fumes while catching over spray.

- Floor of spray static booth (without ventilation) gets nasty sticky as you spray. Soles of you shoes will carry paint everywhere, so use shoe covers, or disposable shoes.

- Modifying a commercial tent to be a spray booth is lot of work. 
: The regular door is too small for any large items.
: Cutting holes for ventilation fan/filters requires either sewing fabric or tons of duct tape. If you use duct tape it is impossible to fold the tent back up into small space, as the residue will permanently stick fabric to itself.

The HomeRight spray shelters solve several problems above.
- open bottom to allow use of fresh floor covering to reduce paint build up.
- Large door opening, with narrow depth to prevent working inside a close space.
- it's not a tent that anyone wants to take camping.

Will offer an alternate solution: 
Easy-Up Canopy https://www.ezup.com









They offer side walls that attach to frame with Velcro:









it is very easy to modify a side wall to hold a box fan with furnace filters in front to gain ventilation out back of a 3 sided shelter. Tend to use mine outside, and only use 1-3 walls as needed to control breeze and keep dust off project. Would require a tall ceiling to use indoor, as the peak rises ~2 feet the height of adjustable side panels. They do sell domed recreational version with lower peak, but the legs are splayed and pre-made side covers are sold for them.

Have owned several for 20+years. The stronger commercial versions are not cheap, but worth the cost. The less expensive recreational units (and Walmart/Costco clones) use plastic hinges that break after couple years just like all the other plastic junk in your life.

Just noticed that easy-up has added ventilated work station enclosures this year. LOL








Curious why it took them more than a decade to realize how folks used them?

YMMV


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

> If you are planning to finish some large tables or something, you may need something bigger but Rockler sells a Large HomeRight Spray Shelter that is basically what you are describing. It is actually on sale right now for $40. Here are the specs:
> Assembled Depth: 72 at bottom; 30 at top
> Assembled Width: 108 at bottom; 92 at top
> Assembled Height: 66.5
> ...


I'll double down on what Nathann said here, plus raise you that unless you are making a lot of full sized furniture pieces that the small version of the same is even cheaper. OR if you got one of each, the small just to be used for table top projects, and the large to be used for bigger stuff, you would still be WAY under your 300 bux, and be able to take the whole fambly out to eat at the steak place, maybe 2 times even.


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## BattleRidge (Oct 22, 2017)

My finish area is in the basement of my home because it is climate controlled, convenient and away from general wood dust (my woodworking area is in a detached building). For a HVLP spray area, I created a collapsible room that is easily opened and can be closed when not needed (conversion is about a minute) with a painters drop cloth to protect the floor. The collapsed size is 8" x 12' and the open interior workspace is 7-1/2' x 11'.

The construction consists of three 2×4's with 6 mil plastic hanging from each (I used .31 mil plastic to cover the non-moving wall). One section slides (via screw eyes) on two steel cables to the open position. Two sections then open and create the end walls (connected via screw eyes / hooks) and there is a second eye on one end to allow one wall to act as a large door for easy access.

I primarily use General Finishes water based products via HVLP, and also plan on spraying Behr Porch & Patio Floor Paint (Acrylic Latex) via airless sprayer (when I obtain one) for outdoor products.

I considered using a tent or other options but wanted something quick, easy and simple to set-up. As an option, my finish area is located on an exterior wall should I ever need to add a window / exterior ventilation but I do not do an overly large amount of finish work so the space is primarily to protect the basement from overspray and limit dust intrusion.


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

Wow thanks EVERYONE. This was my first post so I wasn't sure if I had done it right when it never showed up… I suppose it was getting the quality assurance approval tests.

I understand what everyone is saying and I think I'm still moving forward as planned. this tent would be entirely for finishing…
I think I would add 
-thick paper floor covering inside the tent, plastic tarp under the whole tent
-some kind of changing station outside the door to remove shoes, etc
-some kind of air intake and outgoing fan with furnace filters to clear the air as much as possible. 
-I understand the saturation of stuff in the air but I think with enough airflow and a full facemask with filters I can operate for 30 minutes or more at a time.
-This is as much about keeping crap off the work piece as containing over spray from the garage -I expect some level of smell no mater what. 
-Yes I understand the plastic sheeting is cheaper but I think it's also disposable and this setup could be used time and time again, it will be more easy the setup/tear down, better sealed. 
-I have seen the rockler setup (and that silly picture)... I think it's waaay smaller than a 12 man tent.. too tight


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

Art, that's an amazing setup. I just don't have that much space to set aside on a long term basis. This would be a 'park the car on the street, setup the tent and do your thing' process.


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

CaptainKlutz, that e-z setup tent is amazing -for 1700$+++ It makes me feel like I'm on the middle of the road track which is where I want to be. I just think setting up plastic sheeting will be slow and messy and prone to error, gaps etc


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

I did basically the same thing as Art with cheap drop clothes hung for the track of my garage door and one on the floor.
Less that $15 and when done fold it up, store it in a box till the next time I need it. It takes about 15 minutes to put it up and take it down. The folding up is the biggest pain as I need a little help on the other end.


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## d38 (Sep 6, 2017)

I'm sure a tent would work, but agree, a DIY will work too, and less $$$$.
I built one out of PVC. Its 10' long, ~6' wide and 8' tall. A 10' span is too long, so I made vertices and a horizontal at 5', using 3-way T connectors. 
Leave one end open, and wrap the rest in plastic. I put a box fan at the closed end with a filter taped to it to create some airflow, and catch the overspray with the filter before I blew it out into the garage.


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## controlfreak (Jun 29, 2019)

I would think the trick is to create enough air flow to move the overspray to a filter in the rear of the booth but not so much that it pulls in dust or the booth walls. It is a delicate balance. I also see a problem in a spray booth without this balance. You will quickly find the interior unbearable and as all of the material covering the floor gets overspray you will resemble a bug on flypaper. When it starts sticking it will find the legs and sides of your work piece and colorful language will follow.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)




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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

> - AlaskaGuy


Ha! I don't have THAT much space but wow!


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

> ....create enough air flow to move the overspray to a filter in the rear of the booth but not so much that it pulls in dust or the booth walls. It is a delicate balance…..
> ..... the floor gets overspray you will resemble a bug on flypaper. ...
> - controlfreak


Yeah thinking a lot about air circulation… I think a fan at each end feeding fresh air in/out, through a furnace filter might do the trick.. also would love a long flexible 8-10 inch tube to direct air out door.

Flypaper… when I had my garage floor epoxied they walked around on shoes that looked like an upside down bed of nails to avoid sticking to the floor. I wonder if I could find similar and protect the tent from punctures. -Ether soft rubber spikes (cheap soccer shoes?) or a cheap carpet on the floor…. Hmmmmmmmmm

edit: this https://amzn.to/2SKCjwT
and these https://amzn.to/3bDbx27


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

To me the goal of spraying isn't to contain it, but rather to exhaust it. 
You can spray lacquer in your shop as long as you don't have any open flames, and have a way to exhaust the fumes. 
The tent wouldn't be helpful for me on all but the smallest projects.


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

> To me the goal of spraying isn't to contain it, but rather to exhaust it.
> ....
> - pintodeluxe


I understand. This is about two things for me: 
1. eliminating foreign contaminants like dirt, dust, dog hair from getting onto the work piece
2. Keeping overspray from getting on everything in the garage

Your point would be covered in stage two.. where I vent air into the tent and out through a filter to try to keep the air clear in the tent as possible


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

While HVLP's have very little over-spray compared to an airless, they still have it.

I'd think about the plastic set up, OR just buy painting tarps. You could attach closet dowels or even 2×2's to the top, supported at both ends and with crank handles, to allow you to roll them up out of the way.

Having done a lot of house painting over the years (interior and exterior), I'm a fan of them for floor coverings. They don't slip around like plastic and some have a coating to make it less likely for paint to bleed through on to the floor.

If I were going this route and was put the ten to significant use. I'd think real hard about adding a flexable dryer exhaust hose, exhausted outside, to a small, expendable fan. Even just a hundred cubic feet a minute of air movement could make a huge difference in air quality, when spraying large quantities of product. This is, of course, in addition to a good respirator (not just a disposable N95 or N99) with the right cartridge.

Even if spraying lacquer or highly thinned poly, the amount of build up in the air while finishing a table and chair set shouldn't be enough to qualify as explosive, in the fan and line, due to sparks.

If you are building enough air contamination for that to be a problem, you need to up the game and get and explosive proof fan, OR set up a small blower to push air into a Y to create a vacuum, like a siphon sandblast system.


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## OSU55 (Dec 14, 2012)

I've had a spray booth in the center of my garage/shop for ~15 yrs. you can see a few pics on my LJ workshop page. Encloses 10'x 10' from the ceiling to the floor. Uses 10'x 10' 6 mil plastic sheeting hung from the ceiling, and strung to roll up like a roman blind. Each wall rolls up separately. I use a 1000 cfm 120v blower, placed in a sheet metal cabinet, with 2 25×25" filters. The blower sits in the space and blows out the back. A box fan will not provide enough air flow.

Can spray wb without outside air exchange, but spraying solvent base I open the man door and garage door to get fresh air. Used a regular respirator with organic vapor filters for years without issue except fogging of glasses, I now use a 3m Versaflow system.

I use an hvlp "conversion" gun - uses an air compressor, not a turbine, to supply air. Gun is rated at 12cfm, but works fine with a 120v oil compressor 5.5 scfm @ 90 psi rated compressor. Turbines can have issues with wb and higher viscosity material - I can spray anything with the correct tip/needle. I dont need portability, and I need a compressor for other stuff.


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

> ....I use a 1000 cfm 120v blower, placed in a sheet metal cabinet, with 2 25×25" filters. The blower sits in the space and blows out the back. A box fan will not provide enough air flow…..
> - OSU55


Could you be more specific about what you mean by 'blower'? I read cage fan but I'm curious of you have a link to the product. I'm still thinking about ventilation


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## OSU55 (Dec 14, 2012)

Similar to this https://m.grainger.com/mobile/product/DAYTON-9-1-2-Galvanized-Steel-Blower-5NRC3?breadcrumbCatId=8768&fc=MWP2IDP2PCP. A small hvac "squirrel cage" blower, mine is rated at 1000 cfm, and is 120v. Most houses will use a larger one and usually 220v. If you have 220v then one will work. Mine is not explosion proof, which a commercial business must have, and many people claim not having an explosion proof blower is suicidal, but its worked for many years. Vapor from one gun is insufficient to reach ignition saturation point as long as fresh air is being fed through. If the shop was closed up then its a problem.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Remember, you can make the blower explosion proof by merely blowing air into a Y. The air blowing across the top of a T, for example, creates a siphon effect on the lower pipe. It works well enough sandblasters use it to pick up sand.

As to locating blowers, grovel to an HVAC place. They have to get rid of furnaces, with blowers still in them, they pull from houses. If you have to, offer scrap prices.

If you are a bit electrical savvy, you can install a switch to choose between low, medium and high speed. In the end, low should be more than adequate for these uses, though the siphon approach MAY prefer medium speed.

The switches to select between speeds are cheap, but you will have to jump to each of three levels on a gang switch, to feed hot in, to select from and to feed a given speed circuit on one of the three levels.

All you need is an ohm meter to track down the pattern of the switch [a lot don't come with wire diagrams or schematics].

You might get lucky. I got one squirrel cage with a switch already on it. I had to install my own on our home unit.

If you didn't want to go the siphon route, just push the air into the tent and leave a LARGE exhaust. This would blow the tent up, while the other siphon would put a vacuum on it, and make it want to collaps.

You might be able to use HVAC flex ducting for the exhaust hose, since it's much bigger than common dryer vent or common (e.g., 4") dust collector hose.

Obviously, it would be a very good idea to exhaust outside.


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

> ...Remember, you can make the blower explosion proof by merely blowing air into a Y. The air blowing across the top of a T, for example, creates a siphon effect on the lower pipe. It works well enough sandblasters use it to pick up sand…
> - Kelly


Not certain I understand this well enough to grasp how these fluid mechanics shapes make a blower explosion proof. I assume explosions happen when a combustible gas gets to the right density mix that an electrical spark could ignite it.

Maybe you're saying the gas is pulled in from the T joint and out rather than pushing the gas through the blower at all?


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

You got it, Denver. The blower itself never sees any of the combustibles, so cannot ignite them.

The blower would be outside the tent and blow into the T. As the air blows across the pipe going down, a suction is created, drawing air contaminated air into the T, and exhausting it with the air blowing straight out.

Only the pipe coming off the T would go into the tent.


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

T must be facing down for that to work?
And the Y? How does that work, is it better?

I'm finding crazy high CFM fans… not sure what would be most tolerable. Starting to think oi I pressurize the tent from one side, give the air one clear path out through a cheap furnace filter on the other side I could achieve the effect


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

For the sand siphon, yes. A hose from it just drops into a bucket and is buried in the sand. For siphoning air, any position would work.

Like my post mentioned, the siphon would put a negative pressure on the tent and blowing air in would put a positive pressure on it.

The filter would help with solids, but wouldn't do anything for volatile things in the air.

To slow a furnace fan down, you can dig around on the net until you find info on which leads will give you what speeds. For example:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=furnace+fan+blower+speed+connections#kpvalbx=_CWpJXoW9MPGS0PEP_YepmAk62


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

I love how complex and systematic this gets. I think your first post was a lot of digest so pardon me for picking apart one subject before I get too far into the next one! I don't mean to ignore the rest


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Went and did a bit of digging under "venturi exhaust."

[Warning, the word "venturi" will report as not being a word, according to certain idiots, who think there is no such thing as a venturi.]

"How does a venturi blower work?
The blower operates on compressed air from a compressor or steam via a connect hose from a compressed air source. The Venturi creates a large volume (CFM) of air suction to extract gases and fumes from the tank and discharge the air out through a large galvanized exhaust cone."

Check out this site for various examples of the use of venturi systems to create vacuums:

https://woodgears.ca/physics/venturi.html


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## Denver_80211 (Feb 25, 2018)

All roads lead to Matthias Wandel. Thanks for the research!!

I need to do some testing to see what I can achieve with the weak cage fans I currently own. I thought they were strong… but 460 CFM is not all that much. The tent I ordered is 1440 ft3 -Three minutes to replace all the air. I need that cycling air at LEAST twice as fast I would think if not faster but at some point I create a lot of air movement in there and I'm not sure how that impacts the spray from the gun, etc.


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## AAL (Jun 30, 2014)

I work on smaller pieces so I built a "6' cube" from PVC piping wrapped in plastic sheeting that could be used in my workshop, garage, or outside weather permitting.

I used "Side Outlet Elbow PVC Fittings" for each corner & eventually found some PVC Snap Clamps to secure the plastic sheeting to the PVC frame instead of spring clamps as soon earlier on.

It was very inexpensive. I didn't glue the piping or fittings which allowed it to be totally portable.

You could do the same on a larger scale.


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## AAL (Jun 30, 2014)




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## AAL (Jun 30, 2014)




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