Electrostat Booths

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:21 am

Paul- was wondering if you have any electrostat booths at the college. How do you electrically charge a wood guitar anyway?

Are a lot of guitar companies besides Gibson using these booths?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:35 am

Couldn't tell you how many companies are using these...our booths here are quite old-fashioned side-draft booths, no water-wash, and no heaters.

Electrostatic booths are great for a high-production-volume setup, as I understand it. My students are just learning how to use spray guns, and electrostatic booths, and the high voltages used and the necessity to ground everything makes the paint savings realized in an electrostatic system a poor tradeoff for potential safety hazards involved with the booth being used by about 200 different students every semester, with 40% of them ESL with limited language skills in English nuance.

My next investment will be in booth heating systems @ $75K...

britye · Post by **britye** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:49 pm

I remember wrapping a chain around the frame and let it just lay on the concrete floor of an old cross air booth once at the behest(sp) of an oldtimer at the shop I worked at can't say that it made any difference though. Not that I could tell but he swore by it. Of course he used to bring a bottle of wine into the booth while he worked.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:19 pm

Probably afraid his breath would ignite...

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 6:07 pm

Talk about old fashioned: my spray booth is a squirrel cage with a 1HP motor and furnace filters for trapping the overspray.It's a backdraft system that works well..3 guitars max at 1 time...I built it in the corner of my shop, it works but has very limited space. G&L had 1 of the 1st waterfall systems that was high tech back in the early 80's..Paint was + charged and the water was - charged. Leo told me he liked the old way his factory in Fullerton did it, but the new EPA standards forced him to upgrade.