paint booth lighting

[rjtaylor]

I am about to complete the construct of my paint booth. what ideas do others have for the lighting inside to make painting easier?

[Phil]

Are you spraying Stewart's System? If not, any lights in the paint booth should be explosion proof. My paint booth runs up to the ceiling, so I just use the overhead lights, and what light comes in through the clear plastic sides. But a professional aircraft fabric worker I know also uses several 4' fluorescent lights mounted vertically on wooden stands.

[dedgemon]

Good booth lightng is really THE most important thing you can do to improve your paint work. I use 8' double flourescents overhead, every 8 feet. The most important lights however are 4' vertical fixtures along the walls. When you are shooting you want to be able to look across your paint film INTO a light. This is what allows you to see the wet film and judge how much paint you are spraying and see any dry spots.

[rjtaylor]

In regard to fluorescent light tubes for paint booths, what color shade is best? I am referring to cool white, daylight, warm white, or similar. thanks. rob.

[Phil]

None of the above. Those are terms used for selling cheap residential tubes. Go to an electrical warehouse and ask for 85 CRI (color rendering index) lamps. This is a measure of how much of the color spectrum they will display. unfortunately 95% is about the highest you can get with fluorescent, but those are very expensive and will be special order only.

The color is listed in degrees Kelvin, which is based on the color of a black body at that temperature, so lower temps are more red, higher are more blue. Warm white is around 2700K, while 4100K is considered neutral indoor light. 5500K is suppose to be the same color as natural daylight, but in my experience tends to give a little blue color shift, and 6700K has a definite blue color.

But the real key for painting is the high CRI because it'll help show differences in colors, like that area with less coverage. My preference is 85 CRI, 4100K lamps.

[rjtaylor]

how much do the lamps you recommend ~~(85 CRI, 4100K) lamps. cost? my fixtures are 48" and two lamps per fixture...........

[Phil]

About $2.50 to $3.50 each. The lower price is by the case. Assuming you're using T8 lamps. You probably won't be able to find 85 CRI T12's.

[harmonpa]

If your lights only have the face of the light facing inside of a true paint booth they are class i div 2 lights typically but if you built an area you need explosion proof lights. As mentioned make sure the bulbs are color corrected. Heres a guide on paint booth lighting for more information.