color sanding

All by hand except buff. Started with 600 or 800 cause i hosed the clear on.
Had to drive somewhere, buffed handle area to assemble. Getting it this smooth before buff makes it nice nice.
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Just a reminder.
You are dealing with polyurethane and all the first step of buffing.
1) it must be with a wool cutting pad.
2) higher RPMs on the first cut only,
Im at least 4 setting.
3) all scratches must be gone on the first cutting, then 2nd step can be foam and your average speed.
 
MX442 said:
Probably not sanding enough. Though I'm sure junk is getting under the paper and causing scratches. YES, large pigtails deep into the clear. I had to go back to 1000 by hand to get out the pigtails.


Using a Festool sander on speed 2 (of 6). Only using the weight of the sander, no pressure.

Here's 8 hours of sanding on a door today.... All by hand. 1000/1200/1500/2000. Trizact 3000/5000/8000. Cutmax, then ex 04-06. Looks great from 2 feet. Up close in the sun, scratches... :( 30 minutes after polish, pulled it outside, and already covered in dirt and dust. I swear this thing is magnetic. I'm almost embarrassed to show these pics.





The sideways scratch is from 1500. The vertical swirls if from the buffer.

I'm struggling to get the 1500 out. After 1500, I did 2000 wet. Counting 10 strokes, move an inch, 10 more, move an inch, etc. Went back over it up to 10 times. So that is over 100 passes, and didn't do squat to cut the 1500 scratch. :(
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those are more likely 100k scratches. spend more time at 1200 then 1500. do a small spot of cross hatch with the 1000 . this will let you know if your getting them out. 1200 opposite direction . we use to call them Tell spots .
 
one more tidbit of old school knowledge . if your buffing your ass off trying to get rid of scratches your over heating the paint. i have proved this to a dupont rep some years ago . took a buffer and heated the paint and peeled a big piece off . urethane goes all stupid with heat . you'll never polish it out once you've melted it. it will be shiny fine leather .
 
Thanks for the help. It will be a few weeks before I get to try again.

I will agree that I'm not getting prior scratch out. Hand sanding, I'm using a hard plastic block for 1000 wet, going front to back as mentioned here previously. Changing direction at every grit. 1500-2000 wet, I'm using a motorguard roller block. If dry, I'm using Eagle Assilex with the medium pad.

For buffing, I tried a Lake Country purple wool pad, and thought it was tearing up the clear. Switched to Chemical Guys orange Hex-logic and also thought it was too rough. Then dropped down to a white Hex-logic. When sanding out to 8000, is it necessary to start with wool? For the big areas, using a Makita rotary at speed 2.5. For the detail ares, using 3" pads with a cordless drill. I don't believe I'm creating heat when buffing. For polish, I'm using the 3m ultrafine blue pads.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm doing everything being suggested here. I guess I need more practice.
 
Just a reminder.
You are dealing with polyurethane and all the first step of buffing.
1) it must be with a wool cutting pad.
2) higher RPMs on the first cut only,
Im at least 4 setting.
Click to expand...
Thanks Barry. I'm afraid of tearing through the clear with wool on 4. Maybe I will give it a try on something that I can easily re-clear if I destroy it.
 
It seems like a lot of guys here just do a 2 step buff polish. So 5 rounds of buff/polish? :eek: Are you suggesting wool through white all with the same cuttting compound? What is the last sanding grit you stop with? Thanks.
 
i use all the grits of paper , 4 pads and 3 compounds. i usually skip the yellow pad. the wool does that stage .
 
MX442 said:
Thanks Barry. I'm afraid of tearing through the clear with wool on 4. Maybe I will give it a try on something that I can easily re-clear if I destroy it.
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No way,
Just hold buffer flat and no pressure, just weight of buffer.
I do 2 to 3 feet section at a time until all scratches are gone, then the next section.
 
MX442 said:
Thanks Barry. I'm afraid of tearing through the clear with wool on 4. Maybe I will give it a try on something that I can easily re-clear if I destroy it.
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Have a spray bottle handy and keep your panel slightly wet when using the wool pad or any pad. As your compound is drying or getting picked up by the pad a squirt or two helps the pad to stay lubricated and use less compound. Your pad stays cleaner as well.
 
Barry said:
No way,
Just hold buffer flat and no pressure, just weight of buffer.
I do 2 to 3 feet section at a time until all scratches are gone, then the next section.
Click to expand...
That's not easy to do on bumpers. Too many twists and turns and plastic doesn't dissipate the heat like metal.
 
MX442 said:
It seems like a lot of guys here just do a 2 step buff polish. So 5 rounds of buff/polish? :eek: Are you suggesting wool through white all with the same cuttting compound? What is the last sanding grit you stop with? Thanks.
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last week i used 3d step one and step 2 polish with the 3d wool pad and a lake county white foam pad both at a 900 rpm with that 3d pad it cuts pretty fast .( expensive pad but worth it) it looked pretty good at first then i thought it might look a little better so i bumped it up to 1500 and this is the result.... btw this is the first pannel i have ever color sand and polished , iam pretty happy with it ( the wire between the floresant lights is not urethane wave, its the wire its self lol)
 

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Looks great. Those 3D yellow wool pads are amazing. I bought several in case they are ever discontinued.

Don
 
dhutton01 said:
Looks great. Those 3D yellow wool pads are amazing. I bought several in case they are ever discontinued.

Don
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thanks don, I saw a post somewhere that you were raving about it, so i bought one. thanks for that insight. its worth every penny! lol
 
slammed57 said:
last week i used 3d step one and step 2 polish with the 3d wool pad and a lake county white foam pad both at a 900 rpm with that 3d pad it cuts pretty fast .( expensive pad but worth it) it looked pretty good at first then i thought it might look a little better so i bumped it up to 1500 and this is the result.... btw this is the first pannel i have ever color sand and polished , iam pretty happy with it ( the wire between the floresant lights is not urethane wave, its the wire its self lol)
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That is amazing. Absolutely fantastic job!

Did you use a rotary buffer or ? What kind was it for you to set the rpm's?
 
Slammed, nice work. Looks great!

Sounds like I'm wasting my time and $ with 5000 and 8000 trizact. I ran out of Cutmax, so maybe I'll try ACA500 next.

Another question for you guys. When dry sanding with the Eagle paper, it loads up quickly. How are you all cleaning off the paper?
 
MX442 said:
Slammed, nice work. Looks great!

Sounds like I'm wasting my time and $ with 5000 and 8000 trizact. I ran out of Cutmax, so maybe I'll try ACA500 next.

Another question for you guys. When dry sanding with the Eagle paper, it loads up quickly. How are you all cleaning off the paper?
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8000 is not a waste of time imho. I toss the Eagle yellow when it stops cutting. Typically a couple of discs per panel. Time is money imho so I don’t waste time messing with worn out discs. If it’s loading up more than that then maybe your clear has not cured enough.

Hopefully a pro will weigh in….

Don
 
5000 is a waste. 8000 is not however. the 8000 is great and saves so much buffing assuming all your other steps are done right. if your using the yellow discs then depending on how cured the clear is depends on how long it last but don is about right. 2-3 discs per panel. maybe 4-6sqft per disc
 
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