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[quote="Dustin FredricksonGood idea with the tent, but along those lines I would be more inclined to set up a positive pressure environment, feeding filtered air INTO the tent, and an exhaust vent to guide most of the rest out through another set of filters. I would think this may do a better job at keeping crud off the paint, as you know incoming air is filtered, which would be better for dirty garages like mine.[/quote]

I'd also rather be pushing on the flammable/explosive solvents than sucking them into a motor that isn't rated to use around such things.

Automotive paints are generally unhealthy, so I'd get a canister style respirator and make sure I have the right cartriges for the pait being used (the paint shop can probably help/supply them).

I bought my automotive paint (DuPont) from Kar Kolor off of Hwy 70 in north Durham. I'm also pretty certain that Bill McCanless works (or worked) for a paint shop that sells auto paints.

Lots of different auto paints out there (urethane, laquer, etc), some more toxic than others.

Um, yeaaaah. I put my leftover paint in a plastic cup when we went to clean the gun. Game back an hour later to half a cup and a pearl blue workbench. Lesson learned.

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

The catalyzed paints are especially unhealthy! They will harden in the lungs as well as on the vehicle and there is nothing med people can do except watch you die!
Fortunately the paint solvents used today are much less flamable than in days gone by. The best type exhaust fan we found besides a purpose designed one is an external motor belt driven squirrel cage blower from an older forced air furnace. They often have a built in filter holder. I would double up the typical furnace type filters. The temporary garage type structures that NT and HF sell with pipe framework and plastic sheet covering make good paint booths, and are a lot less expensive than an easyup. To build a semi downdraft positive pressure setup duct the filtered incoming air into the booth near the top, and the exhaust near the bottom opposite end. If not setup outside, you'll probably need a positive exhaust as well, but a small box fan would work to exhaust the fumes outside. You don't need a lot of airflow, so avoid the temptation to create an indoor hurricane! A lit candle held inside (before any painting please!) should just flicker and bend the flame, not blow it out.
Also under operator safety always check your mask for proper seal each and every time you put it on by holding your hands over the filters and sucking in. The mask should suck onto your face. If it leaks even a tiny bit stop and fix the leak. A proper fitting mask will seal without the help of the harness. Test the fit in the store before purchasing a mask by the same technique but without the aid of the harness or pushing it hard against the face. If it doesn't seal try another size or even brand or type until you find one that does. Us razor challenged guys can have it especially tough to find a mask that fits, you may need to do some trimming/shaving in the seal area. Better to have to grow your beard out again than risk your life. For those especially sensitive there are water based paints on the market (virtually all vehicles painted in Japan were done with water based paint by law there), but they do still have a small amount of solvent in them and will still harden in the lungs, so they still require a mask. Auto-Air is one widely available waterbased paint brand. They have many custom finishes in their line including true candy colors.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

I picked up the same compressor... couldn't pass up the deal. It made the clutch job on the BMW over Christmas much easier than the one on the Miata.

Careful with what the compressor is breathing when you blast. I don't think the air filter is that great on these. We smoked the old 'cheap' compressor doing some blasting over Thanksgiving. That grit covered every inch and crack in the garage. I'm sure some of it got in the intake and into the piston and is probably what caused the old compressor to start tripping the breaker.

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Colin O'Connell

'94 BMW NASA SPEC 3
'02 F350 tow vehicle (not bad for a tow vehicle)
'97 Miata STO (autoX and sunny day spoils vehicle)
'97 BMW 328i (loaner to the kids when their cars don't work vehicle)
'05 Toyota Highlander