Well today I did not get any work done on the airplane but I did manage to start the construction of the “Finishing Department” of the RV Factory. This would be otherwise known as a paint booth. I at first was going to convert one side of the garage into a temporary paint booth but I am not sure I will try to paint the whole plane myself. So instead I built a 3 sided booth that uses a 20” box fan to move the air. I got the idea from a local builder I met last week. I was thinking along these lines but after seeing his I adapted his ideas into mine. I wanted it to be able to do the painting of all of the empennage parts. Most of these are small except for the spars and skins. This should work out fine. It is also mobile so I can use it outside on nice days, which will be few and far between from now until summer. The northwest goes over cast for the next few months this time of year! For small stuff I can just use it in the shop, but if spraying more than a rib or two, I will set the exhaust out the garage, bring the door down to the top of the exhaust and use plywood (yet to be made) to fill in the side of the garage door opening. This should allow all of the fumes to exit the garage, the over spray should be taken up by the filters. I have two filters, one on the intake side of the fan and one on the exhaust. I will use some cardboard on the outside to protect from overspray until I know the filters are doing the job I think they will. I know this is not the “fireproof” fan some would recommend but many have tried this method with great success, besides I do not plan to shoot too much primer at once. A large build up of fumes would be the big issue there I think.
I will have to finish the plastic canopy for the booth tomorrow; the pictures below are the finished product. I will add a picture of it set up by the garage door once I make up the filler panels. I have a wire shelf to lay parts onto and will fashion some wires to hang parts at the top. The opening is 51” H x 48” W x 24” D. The b
