Who has the oldest booth?
- This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 9 months ago by .
- Posts
Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about our booth the last several months as it has required some maintenance and a lot of cleaning. After cleaning out the pit I discovered that the steel tube that goes from the pit to the exhaust stack is completely rusted out (which is why we get a lot of ground water in our pit). Also noticed that all the doors are rusting on the bottoms and some have holes through them. And to make it even better, the ceiling is sagging and rusting at the seems between the filters. I looked up the exhaust stack and it definitely has not been cleaned in years.
It is an old booth, and all things considered, performs very well (especially for its age). I am not sure exactly how old it is, but I do know that it was made no later than 1986, other than the air makeup unit (that according to the records, was replaced in ’97). I am sure that when the booth was new, it was probably about the best money could get…
Unfortunately, even with all the aging in it, I keep being told there is no way the owner will buy a new booth, or spend anything to have it serviced (beyond absolute necessity). :S
I know some of you guys have newer booths and homemade booths, but now I am curious who is using the oldest :lol1
Our Nova Verta booth was installed in April 1997. Can’t beat yours for age, its still working like new, never given us a moment’s trouble. Had to change the exhaust fan in 2007, other than servicin the burner and changing filters it hasn’t gone wrong.
The existing structure of this old girl is at least 35 years old or more.It was originally a brick room with devilbiss doors(sadly devilbiss in barrie ontario went out of bussiness in the late 90’s) that was set up like a pressurized crossflow with an air makeup.Then in 85 or 86 my boss and an engineer from binks came down and did all the neccesary measurements and planning to turn it into a downdraft.They dug a pit,installed a stack and a tubeaxil exhaust fan and made the existing heat/air makeup come down from the ceiling thru the filters.When we changed over to water the paint reps were blown away how well it worked in r3egards to airflow,we didn’t have to do a thing.So for over 20 years this was the only booth in the shop until they bought another one in 2005.THis booth serves double duty for cars/trucks and semis.Every couple of years we sand it and paint it,clean the stack and fan,and had a gas valve changed this past winter in the air makeup(35-40years old).So here is a pic just before it got a major cleaning.
[IMG]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss241/jaysonm1969/020.jpg[/IMG]
Cleaned up
[IMG]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss241/jaysonm1969/003-1.jpg[/IMG]
mixing room
[IMG]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss241/jaysonm1969/021.jpg[/IMG]
Poor mans gun washer :p
[IMG]http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss241/jaysonm1969/023.jpg[/IMG]how high is that booth jayson? sometimes the older stuff is better
My work has 2 cross draft booths with no air makeup units. The bake lights are on tracks. They don’t work so they have not been used in a very long time. Filters are on the doors. They do say Devilbiss on them. They have a huge amount of airflow.
Mine is a 21 year old Devilbiss semi downdraft with an old pieced together indirect air make up unit that I installed that needs to be replaced. I am limping it along till I make a decsion but I am leaning towards a new booth.
Our booth
[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/422161_10150731421280033_723495032_11714114_302611191_n.jpg[/img]We unfortunately do not have a mixing room. The mixing bank and most of the goods are at the end of 1 of my bays (as seen below). Then we have a small mixing bench outside the booth door and the gun cleaner is next to the booth controls. Not much space in the shop, but it works.
[img]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/422161_10150731421255033_723495032_11714113_1228280294_n.jpg[/img]
[quote=”Jayson M” post=25578]sadly devilbiss in barrie ontario went out of bussiness in the late 90’s[/quote]
Just a note that Devilbiss did not go out of business. It was bought by Team Blowtherm in 1998. In 1999, Team Blowtherm also acquired Binks. In 2003, Team Blowtherm merged with JBI to form Global Finishing Solutions. All GFS products (auto refinish, industrial, aerospace, etc.) are now made in our Osseo, Wisconsin facility.
Thanks for posting your booth pictures! It’s always interesting to see how long some booths last and how well they are taken care of.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.