Intake side. The intake face is your only barrier between shop air and wet paint, with no ceiling stage behind it to catch what slips through. That argues for treating intake panels as the premium position in the budget: a tacky-faced synthetic panel media, seated with no bypass gaps around the frame, changed before it blinds. Gaps matter as much as media grade; a quarter-inch of daylight around a panel is an unfiltered jet aimed at your work.

Exhaust side. The exhaust wall runs arrestor media, fiberglass pad or roll as the default, polyester where loading runs heavy. When exhaust arrestor loads up in a cross-flow, face velocity falls and overspray starts drifting back into the booth instead of leaving it. If you smell solvent lingering or see fog mid-booth, the exhaust wall is where to look first.

Cycle math. A sensible CORE 1 pattern is several exhaust changes for each intake refresh, tuned by spray volume. Because the dossier for this model does not document panel counts or dimensions, our first shipment follows a fitment check: nameplate, one intake panel measurement, one exhaust pad measurement. From then on, the sizes are on file.

A simplified booth carries the full-size rulebook. EPA 6H (NESHAP Subpart HHHHHH) applies to automotive refinish spraying in a CORE 1 exactly as it does in a flagship downdraft: filtered exhaust, manufacturer-guided maintenance, records kept. OSHA 1910.94(c) sets ventilation requirements for spray finishing areas, and cross-flow booths that skip exhaust changes are the classic way small shops fall below the line. NFPA 33 rounds it out: overspray-loaded media at the exhaust wall is combustible accumulation, so the change log you keep for the EPA is the same one the fire marshal wants to see.