Indiana Paint Booth Lighting for Tall and Long Products
Recreational vehicles, trailers, truck bodies and similar tall products are a big part of manufacturing in Indiana. In a booth built around products like these, overhead light alone leaves the lower half of a sidewall, the underside of a rub rail and the area beneath a bumper in shadow. Double D Mechanical plans booth lighting that reaches the lower and side surfaces of large products, coordinated with booth construction, airflow and electrical routing.
Discuss your installationGetting Light Under the Beltline
The lower third of a tall sidewall is where runs, dry spray and thin coverage hide. Angled ceiling fixtures help, but many booths for tall products add vertical rows of side-wall fixtures or a lower horizontal row to throw light upward and across. Positions should be checked against the product with its typical clearance to the wall, since a trailer parked close to one side changes how much light reaches it.
Covering the Ends of Long Products
Front and rear caps of long products often sit near the booth doors, where there may be no fixtures at all. End-wall lighting or fixtures integrated near the door frame can light those surfaces, but they must stay clear of door travel and seals. In drive-through booths, both ends need attention.
Keeping Conduit Off the Booth Floor Area
Side-wall fixtures need wiring on the outside of the booth walls, which often share space with make-up air ductwork, exhaust plenums, compressed air drops and the walkway along the booth. Running conduit high and supporting it from booth framing or building steel keeps the walkway open and prevents damage from forklifts and carts moving product.
Matching Light Across Several Booths
Plants with more than one booth benefit when lighting is the same type and color in each. A painter moving from one booth to another should not have to readjust what a correct color looks like. When one booth gets new fixtures, consider whether the others should follow.
What to Have Ready in Indiana
Useful details for the first visit.
- Product height, length and typical distance from the booth walls
- Photos of the product in the booth showing shadowed areas
- Existing fixture layout and booth drawings
- Outside-of-booth space for conduit and access
- Number of booths and whether lighting should match across them
Planning a booth or oven project in Indiana
Crews mobilize from Houston; Indiana is roughly 850 miles away, so equipment, panels and tooling are staged and shipped ahead of the install crew.
Manufacturing in Indiana is concentrated around Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, and South Bend. The sectors most likely to be specifying spray booths, blast rooms, powder systems and cure ovens there include automotive and powertrain, RV and trailer manufacturing, steel, and aerospace components.
Cold winters mean make-up air heaters are sized for sub-freezing intake, and booth or oven placement has to account for frost lines, snow loads on roof penetrations and winter slab work.
Frequently asked questions
Why are the lower panels hard to see in our booth?
Ceiling lights shine down and are blocked by the upper body and rails. Side-wall fixtures placed lower on the walls help light the bottom of tall products.
Can lights be added near the booth doors?
Often yes, as long as the fixtures and wiring stay clear of door movement and do not compromise door seals.
Does adding side lights affect booth airflow?
Properly sealed fixtures in the wall should not change airflow, but the openings must be gasketed so unfiltered air does not leak in.
Should all our booths have the same lighting?
Matching fixture type and color across booths helps painters judge color consistently from one booth to the next.
Where does the wiring go for side-wall fixtures?
Outside the booth, routed high and supported so it does not block walkways, plenum access or air equipment.