Exhaust is everything here. A prep station's job is capture at the source, and its exhaust filter is the capture. Sanding dust is fine, dry, and fast-loading; primer overspray is sticky and heavy. Together they load exhaust media faster than a paint booth's arrestor sees from basecoat and clear. Whatever arrestor format your PrepKleen's exhaust path holds (pad, roll, or pleated media), it should be the shortest-interval consumable in your shop, and skipping it costs capture velocity exactly where OSHA measures it.

Intake and recirculation. Prep station designs vary in how they supply air: some draw shop air through overhead or wall media, others condition make-up air through a pre-filter stage. Saima's published record does not settle which arrangement your station has, so the fitment check covers the supply side too: photograph every filtered opening, not just the obvious exhaust, so nothing runs bare.

Cycle math. Run exhaust media on a short, fixed interval tied to workload (jobs prepped, not weeks elapsed), because dust loading is invisible until airflow drops. When sanding dust hangs in the air instead of pulling away from the panel, the change is already overdue. Intake or pre-filter media runs a longer multiple; change it on visible dirt bleed, then tune.

OSHA 29 CFR 1910.94(c) is the standard with teeth for prep work: it requires ventilation that carries contaminated air away from the operator's breathing zone, and a dust-blinded exhaust filter defeats that directly, pushing technicians onto respirator protection alone. EPA NESHAP 6H reaches prep stations when target-HAP coatings, primers included, are sprayed there; the rule expects a filtered enclosure and documented filter maintenance. NFPA 33 rounds it out: captured sanding dust and primer overspray is combustible accumulation, so used media handling and a real change schedule are fire-code hygiene, not just air-quality hygiene.