'Fixing' the painting station

A couple of months ago I finally joined some ranks of the semi-serious painting fraternity and purchased a desktop airbrush booth.

I had looked at one previously (i.e. several years ago, ok about 6 years) but what grabbed my attention now was the integrated LED lights ("Keep up Grandad" I hear a couple of voices say....). With one foul swoop I would divest myself of the two lamps at my desk, clearing clutter away ... albeit temporarily. I don't have a large space to build and paint at unlike some people... so anything that can do double duty is worthwhile.

So the day arrived and my booth was duly assembled, I powered it on and... .... .. the lights and the fan started up. What a racket! 

Upon investigation I found that it was not going to be a simple 'unplug the fan' as everything was wired so that I couldn't easily do this. Having done a grand total of zero years undertaking any electrical wiring (sure I can read a schematic... sortof... but when it comes to the practical, let's just say I'm a 'leave it to the professionals' type).

Determined to make use of this tool, I figured I needed at least one more switch, so with booth in hand I trundled off to my local Jaycar Electronics store. I was assisted by a very helpful store manager, and $2.50 later plus some entry-level wiring I now have a booth that has LEDs without the noise. When I need to use the fan I'll just push the button on the side of the box and voila! 

Ready for drilling... 

What lies beneath

My $2.50 saviour

Wired like a pro <cough>

  

All screwed back together. lights on!

The final setup... in the right drawer of the desk is all the modelling stuff on a tray similar to the one in the booth, ready to be brought out into the vacant space between laptop and painting area

Pretty excited to settle down this evening for some painting... I hope...

While I'm on the subject of painting, I bought a new portable photo booth with an LED strip off eBay, and I am pretty happy with the results. Look for less rubbish photos in the future!

With white background...

With black background...

Right, gotta go paint something!