My paintbooth is almost done

[rjbass]

Fatfingers,

Just fyi, I added these to my paint booth and it made a world of difference. They are 30 watt daylight flourescent trumpet bulb lights used for photo booths, check them out...

http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/shtwoliset.html

Rod

[fatfingers]

Rofish, that's a interesting idea. Just recently I saw some mirror-like material at a local supply shop and thought about placing it on the bottom of the booth to reflect and magnify the light. My only concern was that it might be heard to clean up because the material is sort of a plastic with a mirror finish. I could use a regular mirror but I'd have to be careful working with the glass in the work area.

Pebo, I'm going to take your advice and try removing the diffusers tonight when I go out to paint. Thanks for the great tip.

rj, I did something very similar last night. I used a 100 watt full-spectrum bulb with an aluminum shade very similar to the ones you posted. It made a world of difference when I put it on the top of the box shining through that top window. I now have plenty of light. I may consider replacing the side lighting with what you've posted.

[rjbass]

By the time your done you are going to have one awesome paintbooth.....

I think it's as much fun building these type of things as it is using them.

Rod

[fatfingers]

Rod, I really appreciate the help you've given me. That info you sent me really has me fired up about building the next one. This stuff is nuts. I'm turning into a woodworking guy, with all kinds of tools and stuff.

Pebo, I pulled the diffuser off tonight, but it didn't make any real difference so I'll leave them on. I'm working in a rather small room, about 8 feet by 8 feet, so I don't want to risk hitting them with anything.

[thomas]

fingers,

I am new to this site and I'm impressed with your booth. I've just started the craft and looking forward to painting my lures for the first time. I've just purchased a dual action airbrush, but have not yet purchased any paints. Would appreciate any advice you could give me regarding the type of paint I should use. Also, what size (width, depth and height) of booth.

thomas:)

[fatfingers]

Thomas, welcome aboard. This site is one of the friendliest places on the internet. It is amazing how many great people there are on here and I feel lucky to have come to get to "know" many of them. It is really something to see how people are willing to help here.

I actually met one of the members from Romania and he visited me last summer during his first trip to America. We fished together for a day and he caught his first largemouth bass, which they don't have in his country. It was a real pig and hes said, "Is that a good one?" I said, "Oh yea, that's a good one!" His name is Savacs and he builds amazing detail into small baits.

The bottom line is having fun with this stuff and this place and the people here make that pretty easy to do.

As to the paintbooth, it measure 2 feet high by 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep. Those dimensions seem to allow enough room to work while still creating a space that the exhaust fan can handle. So far, I would probably not change those dimesions if I build another one. The windows on the sides and top are a big, big plus. The top window allows me to stand up and look down through the top when I'm priming baits because when you use spray cans the overspray tends to blow around in there quite a bit.

On the next booth I build I will build a separate box to house the exhaust fan. There are two reasons why I think that would be a big improvement.

First it segregates the exhaust fan from the work area and the exhaust fan is somewhat noisy. I prefer to have a radio or CD playing in the background when I paint and its a bit hard to hear over the fan noise. The exhaust fan could actually be placed outside the shop in a watertight box, thus creating a bit more space in the shop and eliminating the noise.

Secondly, if you separate the exhaust fan and attach it to the box by way of a 4 inch corrugated hose, the hose would capture much of the overspray particles on the "ribs" and would prevent the overspray from collecting on the fan blades...which could cause the fan to start to wobble from the collective weight of the paint captured and dried on the squirrel-cage fan's blades. That info is courtesy of rjbass, by the way and I'm definitely going to make that change on the next one.

As to paints, I use strictly enamels and I'm one of the very few on this site that does. Most guys here use water-base paints and swear by them and sooner or later, I'm going to give them a try.

For now though, I have access to some fantastic additives for the enamels that allow me to add and control color change effects (to a certain degree) and also to convert most colors into pearls, etc. I have a supply of this stuff so I'm going to stick with the enamels for the near future.

Here's one that I just painted that changes colors somewhat in the light as the bait rotates on the centerline axis:

[hazmail]

Love it- vey compact and well thought out- I see the fan motor is not sealed, if you use anything with thinners/ alcohol etc you may get an explosion/ fire, NO fun , I have had it happen. Seal up all the holes with silicone and as long as you don't run the fan for hours the motor will not overheat. Have fun, looks like this will be perfect for the garage, will have to make one. pete

[JBlaze]

Really enjoyed reading these posts on your paint booth. I didn't know there was such a thing as full spectrum bulbs.

While learning to paint, one thing I have already discovered is you can't have too much light. I think I will have to make a paint booth. Beautiful Paint job, Hope I get that good some day.

[hazmail]

"Fat Fingers" just remembered- for painting/ finishing, I used to use a fan out of a small portable "evaporative cooler" (not sure what you call them there), picked it up at the dump $8 -They are usually 4 x speed buttons (sucks like an adolecent girl) and because of the damp environment they are used in, the motor is sealed, so you don't have the ZZZ "flash back" problems with thinners etc. Believe me it is a problem (flash back), I have been a fire fighter for 30 yrs and have seen a few Car spray booths go up in smoke because of this.

Love your lures- great patterns AND superb finish- What do you use for the finish coat???

[fatfingers]

Thanks, hazmail. I am trying to locate something similar to what you've mentioned as I would like to completely eliminate the entire possibility of a flash.

I'm going to build another one sometime this year and I'll make some changes.

I use Devcon 2ton expoxy for the finish. Here's a minnow bait I just finished; it'll get two more coats of epoxy and be ready to use:

[hazmail]

BEAUUDDDIFFULLL. That finish just makes the colours leap off the lure. pete

[thomas]

ff,

Where do you get the eyes for your baits? Beautiful work by the way.

thomas

[fatfingers]

Thanks, Haz and Thomas.

I buy almost all my components, eyes, etc., from Rollie and Helen's Musky Shop, which is an online supplier of everything musky.

No matter what size baits you build, you should check out their free catalog to see the latest innovations in lure building. They're great people to deal with too.