My shop in Greenville chose to keep our old downdraft booth over switching to a crossdraft system, and it's been a solid call for our custom paint work.

Everyone said to upgrade for speed, but the control I get with the downdraft on a 1967 Mustang's candy apple job is worth the extra 15 minutes per coat, so what specific jobs make you guys stick with older equipment?

3 comments

3 Comments

parkerb7513d agoMost Upvoted

...and I mean is it really that big a deal either way? I've been running the same downdraft for eight years now and sure it's not the fastest but my paint jobs come out fine and I'm not exactly rushing out the door at the end of the day. People get all worked up over saving a few minutes per job but then they forget half the time you're waiting for paint to flash anyway. Crossdraft might push overspray to the back but my downdraft just sucks it down and filters still need changing just the same. You pick your poison and you deal with it.

mary8362mo ago

Honestly can't agree, that extra time adds up fast on big jobs. We switched our main bay to crossdraft last year and the finish on production work, like fleet vans, is just as good with way less booth time. The air flow is more even on large, flat panels which matters for metallics.

faith_perez2mo ago

Yeah but @mary836 you're only looking at the booth time itself. What about the extra cleanup after? Crossdraft pushes everything to the back wall. That overspray builds up fast on big jobs. Now you're spending more time cleaning filters and that back wall area between jobs. So you save a few minutes spraying but add it back cleaning. It's a trade off.