Workbench Creations

I my girlfriend youngest daughter is an artist going to college. She wanted to get into graphic design, but her mother said, if I paying for her college, you go and major in something that you can get a job. Shes going into her third year as undeclared.

Anyways, I bought her a airbrush kit for Christmas, I was thinking of something simular. I didn't think it was going to be much of a problem.

Question I have: Does the air current have much effect?

I am not sure I understand your question, but when I tested it with spray paint I could clearly see the paint getting pulled down and into the holes on the table. Without the unit on the mist just hovered above the unit for a while, so it did make a difference.

I was talking more of the depositing of the paint on the picture.

Have suggestion you may want to attach a hose to the output to move the fumes farther away from where she works. Though the filter is removing the solids the fumes it is dumping back out at her feet. Or a bed of charcoal to remove them.

I agree, which is why the output goes to something that a hose could be connected to. I left that part up to her, I put in the filters to get the solids more to protect the blower from paint accumulation. The main idea was always to go to a vent hose to put the fumes somewhere else.

Is there risk with this design, which sends the vapors past the spark of the fan motor, of fire or explosion? If not, why not? If this is a risk, what would be the best way to avoid it?

The blower motor is an induction type which does not create sparks.

The blower is designed for an overhead vent for a kitchen oven. I would think the risk of igniting an oil mist or smoke from cooking would be just as high and is designed accordingly.

I would substitute a couple of those square hole grilles you see for office over-head lighting to hold the canvas off of the filters.

Nice little project, makes someone's life a little better. What else could an engineer ask for?

I agree. Overspray is a huge problem with spray cans and will kill these filters very quickly.

I agree that the filters will get clogged frequently as would most filters, a big part of my choice of filters was cost and availability for that reason. I did this project about a year ago and just got to posting it now, but if I recall the filters came in a 4 pack and were in the $5 range for the pack. Since you use two filters at once that gives you two sets of filters, but still not bad for the added safety.

I consulted my sister about the use of the square grilles you reference as I do think it would be easier than making a board with holes in it as I did. In addition to spraying paint on, she uses a tool to scrape paint off in various places. So while I think the plastic grille could be used, it would need a flat board under the painting so the grid pattern didn't come through.

In the 90's I took up the airbrush. After just a year, I started wearing a cannister mask. I started reading airbrush magizines and found they have similar tables (hoods). I was working inside a garage at first, then I got a filter hood and took painting indoors. In about my third or forth year, I had a physical at work and it pointed to kidney problems. A little investigation found it was not a work site problem, but a hobby causing the problem. I was trying very careful with the over draft of my paints. The problem was I turned off my hood fans when using the solvents. be aware of the solvent fumes !

Cool project. I hate spray cans myself, but if you have to or want to use them, then that downdraft box is a great idea .
Del