I gotta scratch... 80 grit itch

[Evil_Fiz]

I am sanding bare metal with 80G so I can apply epoxy. I am using Dura-Gold PSA on an old-school 4" hard rubber hand block, the one with the teeth, and 6" PSA discs on my DA. I am not sure when to replace the paper so I am doing about half a panel per DA disc or sheet on the hand block.

DISCLAIMER:
I bought the Dura-Dold paper before I knew better so I plan to usr it up on the metal sanding. From now on I will be using Sunmight and Benchmart Abrasives paper.

The 2 pictures below are from DA sanding at the point where I replaced the disc. Is the scratch on the metal good enough? I have no previous experience or point of reference,

Closeup of center area of the picture above

Cheers,
Emil

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

80 grit on a DA provides plenty of scratch.
You replace the paper when you start feeling as though you keep going over the same spot with no visual changes.

 

[Lizer]

If you can see the scratch you’re good to go. Don’t overthink it.

 

[MAKZ06]

I did my whole F100 using DuraGold at times in various coarser grits. Same here, had purchased several rolls of each in 80, 180, etc before I started the project. Didn’t take long for me to realize why it was so cheap… It works fine, it just doesn’t last long, so I moved on the good quality stuff when the rolls ran out. It was so frustrating constantly replacing the paper on my boards. I did NOT try to save money on the super fine finishing grits. I knew those were critical to have good consistently sized abrasives so I didn’t end up with deeper scratches than I should for the final progression of sanding.

 

[Evil_Fiz]

Thanks for the feedback. And now... back to sanding.

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Emil