When it comes to going waterborne, a lot of folks want to know what paint booth to buy or what waterborne drying system to add to their existing paint booth.
For drying waterborne paint, all that is needed is increased airflow, either from a high-performance spray booth or a waterborne add-on system that will move air around the workspace. Many options exist, from high-powered paint booths with strong air makeup units pushing 19,000 – 20,000 cfm to waterborne jet blower systems and even simple things like paint booth ceiling fans. In terms of an extra tool or an add-on system, you want something that is independently creating airflow. What does that mean?
Handheld systems and others that use your shop’s compressor to shoot air are not ideal. They may be inexpensive on the way in but can lead to a whole list of costs when you factor in how much work it puts on your compressor and how it can affect other tools in the shop. If the compressed air is moist, it can also affect the dry times. Independent waterborne systems like ceiling fans and blower systems that have their own fans and motors are much more reliable and generally draw their air from the paint booth or workspace where the air is already clean and heated and thus, dryer. These systems have shown great drying times and will not affect the rest of the shops compressed air supply.
In terms of speed, auxiliary air movement systems such as waterborne jet systems and ceiling fans are the fastest drying, however, air turbulence may stir up dirt and debris if the paint booth or prep station is not clean. High powered spray booths that are designed to produce more cfm (cubic feet of air per minute) in the traditional draft pattern are a clean alternative to add-on blowers and fans but will take a little more time to dry since the draft us still not penetrating as close to the surface as a turbulent air system. The major benefit of waterborne paint booths with high CFM is the cleanliness of the job. In terms of drying waterborne paint, it may take a high powered downdraft paint booth a few minutes longer to flash, but if the job is clean, there is much more time saved overall since little or no buffing will be needed. By the same token, if a blower system can flash off waterborne paint very quickly but throws dirt or dust, the job may actually end up taking much longer in re-do’s and buffing time.
In either case, the key to successfully drying waterborne paint is simple. Provide more airflow & above all, KEEP YOUR WORKSPACE CLEAN! A clean job is always the fastest…
