Help eliminating dust from paint

[themongoose]

I’ve done a few cars now and I’m routinely seeing fine dust in my paint. What do you guys do in order to significantly reduce the amount of dust you get in the paint? I am using MCW enamels. Sometimes I can sand it out but I tend to create more problems that way by burning through the paint on the edges that I hit by accident.
my spray booth has a pretty big fan on it that exhaust to the outside. I’m using a 16 x 20“ furnace filter that the fan pulls through.


also when I’m done I cover the parts.


 

[tcoat]

First thing I would do is to grab some bristle board and cover all the surfaces in your spray booth. Even with the best of ventilation some overspray settles and becomes dust. By lining with bristle board you can easily and cheaply just swap it out as it get coated.

[eaglecash867]

I know its unconventional, but I don't use a spray booth. I tend to airbrush very differently, getting close in to my model parts, so not much paint ends up going into the air. I'm pretty meticulous about dusting everything frequently. Not just at my work bench, but throughout the rest of my house as well. That keeps airborne dust to a minimum for me. Before applying primer or paint, I'll usually give my parts a quick blast from a can of compressed air. With the MCW enamels, I don't use their hardener, so dust contamination for days afterward is a concern. I cover those parts just like you do, usually using an inverted Gladware food container. Somehow I avoided getting dust in the enamel on my Mustang hood that way...only to somehow get a little bit of some kind of schmutz in the MCW silver lacquer I put on top of that. For that, I wet sanded very slowly and carefully with Micromesh pads, starting with 3200 and working my way up to 12000. Finished that off with an overall rubdown with some Novus #2 and a cotton glove, followed by a gentle polishing with a microfiber towel. That worked really well for getting rid of the schmutz. Managed not to burn through the paint, and the Novus really made the shine pop.

[DennisM]

I was just listening to one of the modeling podcasts and Dr. Strangebrush was on. He was talking about this. I think it was plastic model mojo if I remember correctly. He was talking about exhaust booths. They don't just draw in dust, they also give it an electrical charge making it more likely to stick to your model. Maybe when doing high gloss painting try turning it off?

Edit: I think it was this one from October 20th
open.spotify.com/episode/5SROT7T6d5arXRzo5amswV?si=lazAb0L9RD6QWUkIs_5hSg

[themongoose]

Nov 26, 2023 12:58:40 GMT -5 tcoat said:

First thing I would do is to grab some bristle board and cover all the surfaces in your spray booth. Even with the best of ventilation some overspray settles and becomes dust. By lining with bristle board you can easily and cheaply just swap it out as it get coated.

I’ve never heard of bristle board. Can you describe it or drop in a pic, maybe i know it by another name?

[tcoat]

Nov 26, 2023 15:25:44 GMT -5 themongoose said:

Nov 26, 2023 12:58:40 GMT -5 tcoat said:

First thing I would do is to grab some bristle board and cover all the surfaces in your spray booth. Even with the best of ventilation some overspray settles and becomes dust. By lining with bristle board you can easily and cheaply just swap it out as it get coated.

I’ve never heard of bristle board. Can you describe it or drop in a pic, maybe i know it by another name?

Sorry spellcheck changed it and I didn't notice.

Bristol board. The sort of semi gloss light cardboard stuff.

[fox]

My wife made a sheer curtain for my spraybooth. When I'm finished painting, I close the curtain and leave the exhaust on for a while. The curtain catches the dust and keeps it off the models. You can actually see the dust sollect on it. Once in a while, my wife takes the curtain off, throws it in the wash, then puts it back up. Been doing it this way for years. Here's a photo or two so you can see it.
photos.app.goo.gl/Zqrb55ybhr1zVjJT8

Stay safe.
Jim

[armornutii]

   Glad you asked that Chris. I bought my booth from a guy in our club...haven't used it much yet however being a downdraft type that very thought crossed my mind.
   Since it draws air in while painting, keeping paint area as dust free as possible sound like a great idea. I'm also interested in tcoats Bristol Board. I also like foxes input as well, keeping the booth proper clean sounds lije a real good idea . Thanks bud, great question.

[eighty3studios]

I use one of those Tamiya anti static brushes and brush stuff off before I paint, It definitely helps

[kyledehart5]

Anti static brush here as well. And then I live with whatever dust decides to make its way in. 😂🤣 Terrible attitude, I know.