Any ideas for an alternative??

fred hargis

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Wapakoneta, OH
My "finishing booth" is some plastic pipe I suspend from the ceiling of the shop in my assembly area, it's roughly forms a 6'x6' frame. To this I hang pieces of 4 mil plastic (I reuse this a few times before tossing) that drapes all the way down to the floor. It's a little crowded in there, but serviceable. My biggest complaint about doing this is actually hanging the plastic to the frame, right now I use pieces of duct tape and put several pieces on each side of the frame. This takes a little time, worse...it's a PITA to take down. I often think if I had shower curtains and hooks it would work better, but shower curtains can be an expensive alternative. Anyone have a different approach to this (maybe I'm the only goof who does it this way)?
 
instead of using shower curtains, use the separate shower curtain liners instead. just put in some screw in j hooks spaced far enough, and you're good to go. even better, some of the shower curtain liners are weighted at the bottom as well.
 
I have a couple of show curtains behind the lathe because I got tired of sweeping shavings off of and from under my other machines.

The curtains from the dollar store were fairly cheap ($2 each or so, but its not a dollar anymore!) and I made some hooks out of some scrap wire to hang them over a chunk of 1/2" PVC. To hang the PVC I put a piece of twine through it and tied a loop in each end (still need to tie a stick to each end of the string to keep it from pulling through the PVC :eek:) and then hang each section from a hook at either end. This is pretty easy to take down since I can just undo each end and wrap the curtain around the pvc piece and stick it in the corner.

Possible downsides from spray setup:

  • Its not floor to ceiling (the shower curtains I've found are more like 5.5'-6' not 8').
  • Getting the overlaping bits to overlap sufficiently to contain overspray might be challenging. I get some "curly" leaks over the top/between the gaps (with two curtains side/side), I'd expect

I also think you could do something similar with plastic sheet instead of duct taping to the pipe, just wrap a piece of duct tape over the plastic to re-inforce it and punch a hole effectively making your own (custom length) shower curtain. This would likely work better with heavier plastic sheet than the painters "drape" stuff.
 
I buy the cheap blue tarps from harbor freight on sale for 1.99 and use them several times before tossing.
they have holes in them, so I use hooks, and if I need to reach the hooks, I just take long cable ties and hook it up.
Takes me a few minutes to set up, cut the ties down, fold the tarps all in a few minutes when Im done.
shower curtains or liners are 99 cents in the dollar stores, used to use them also.
 
Thanks guys, all good suggestions. I did find some curtain liners at the 'zon that were 8' long, though they are a little more expensive. Allen, with the tarps do you have any problems with light? The way I'm set up, I have one fixture inside my area (4- 4' long T8 florescent lamps) and the clear plastic lets in some light....not sure how that would work with the tarps. But the dollar store wasn't a place I had thought of....that would certainly be cheaper.
 
I have two lathes and both are moveable. Using PVC to build frame large enough to hold cheap shower curtain. So, square pvc frame with pvc feet. When not in use, they can stand flat against a wall. Since I can turn off the end of the lathe, I can move one or more from in front of the lathe to behind me on the end. Not very sturdy, but only have to stop flying shavings.
 
I wound up buying some of the liners that were 8' long. They hang real well from the frame I have and are probably the best I can do with this set up. They are a lot easier to put in place and take down than the sheeting I was using.
 
Tape or fasten the clear plastic to the pvc tube and when done "roll each side up on each pvc pipe". If the pipe can freely roll on a dowel or something, then to finish, just pull down on the visqueen and ready to spray.
 
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