What's the best lighting for buffing

H

HIG

I've been buffing the panels of my car and I do feel like I am improving at sanding/buffing but I'm wondering what's the best setup for lights. I have quite a few floresent light in the garage plus I'm shining 2 500 watt quarts lights on the panel from the side.

One tip I have learned from people here is wiping the panel with water W & G remover after the each step of my compounds (3M 3 step system) but I still get to the second compound and after going over the panel with that step and wiping it clean I find courser scratched I missed (they come right out with step 1) but I hate jumping back and forth.

I'm just wondering if I can improve on my lights?

Thanks, Steve
 
I always found the best light is daylight. after sanding and buffing I roll it out in the sun and go over it real good to make sure I didn't miss anything. I have found that indoor lighting never shows everything.
 
you dont buff out scratches , you sand them out. spend more time on finer grits than buffing . i buff in the booth .
 
Dub;26578 said:
I always found the best light is daylight. after sanding and buffing I roll it out in the sun and go over it real good to make sure I didn't miss anything. I have found that indoor lighting never shows everything.
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Unfotunately here in NY it's hard to get sunny days to get the car outside in, it seems like all nice days I'm stuck at work :) I painted the car apart and I'm buffing before I reassemble the car. All the parts have set alteast 2 or 3 weeks before I sand/buff but they have not been exposed to any UV light. My plans are to get the buffing pretty close, reassemble the car, then I can get it out in the sun, look it over real well and then concentrate on a "final buff".

The car is black with silver stripes so it's the black is what's driving me crazy.

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Thanks
 
shine;26581 said:
you dont buff out scratches , you sand them out. spend more time on finer grits than buffing . i buff in the booth .
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That's easier said then done when I don't have alot of experience. I will concentrate on the finer grits more, it's just so hard to tell when it's "enough"

Boy is color sanding/buffing a skill.

Thanks again, Steve
 
I try to position the work so that my fluorescent lights are running the same way as the curvatures or body lines being buffed, and also so that a good reflection of a light can always be seen directly in the area being buffed. It's no fun trying to crane your neck out to catch a reflection while running the buffer, move the light and/or the vehicle if possible during the course of the job.

To me, the fluorescents are best for revealing color sanding marks and other imperfections in the surface, but daylight will instantly illuminate any swirls remaining. So it is necessary to roll the vehicle into sunlight once the job is considered complete to check the job.

Good points.

To me, plenty of florescent lights in the proper positions is where its at.
 
I buff in the booth myself as well, and even with experience I find that i have to go back and sand a spot here and there because i didn't get it fine enough.
 
the biggest mistake most of us make is hurrying the sanding. i'm guilty that's why i use every grit . when you think your done with a grit make some passes across the panel 90 degrees . then you will know when your ready for the next grit. paint will polish pretty fast . but polishing out scratches is another story. for me there is far more work in finishing than spraying . i dont fret some dirt or even a few flow indicators .
i clear twice . i start with 800 or 1000 depending on how it looks. but from there i stair step every grit. each grit is for the one below it . try it and work 2 ft squares at a time. that really does work and save a lot of materials .
 
Chad.S;26605 said:
I don't do every grit, I usually skip a few. maybe that's where I struggle sometimes.
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I've found this is more of an issue when dealing with shrinking/sand scratches in primers myself, especially if the painter is rushing flash times.
 
I did a test about skipping some grits on my recent project.

Hood: 600/800/1000/1500/2000.

Body:600/800/1500/2000.

Before I did the whole car this way I did two sections back-to-back. One with every grit and one with skipping 1000.
Couldn't tell the difference between the two after the wool pad.

I tried a new trick that helped me between grits, and that was scribbling all the panels with a black Sharpie pen. It gave me a reference of what I had sanded and what I missed, especially close to edges.
I would use my squeegee to remove the water look at the panel and still see where there was some faint black Sharpie left and go over it one more time before going on to the next grit.
 
FWIW - I sanded a monster hanger out of a door on a F-650 that I had two coats of Universal Clear on. The only grits I had available were 800, 1000 and 1500 and Ultra Cutting Creme with a medium wool cutting pad had the scratches totally removed after 8-10 passes. I painted this truck a couple years ago and saw it last Saturday and said door still looked great. I had to buff that truck outside so all I used was daylight of course.
 
Seems I always miss some scratches no matter how I do it.

When I find them in the sunlight and get rid of them I'll find others in the garage
under the fluorescent lights that I didn't see before.
I also find a halogen light will help show them.
But it's also important to wash the car with soap and water real good
to show missed scratches, the compounds have glaze in them and hides
scratches.
So I use all 3, sunlight, fluorescent lights and halogens to check by.
I still miss some, I'm sure
 
jcclark;26629 said:
Seems I always miss some scratches no matter how I do it.

When I find them in the sunlight and get rid of them I'll find others in the garage
under the fluorescent lights that I didn't see before.
I also find a halogen light will help show them.
But it's also important to wash the car with soap and water real good
to show missed scratches, the compounds have glaze in them and hides
scratches.
So I use all 3, sunlight, fluorescent lights and halogens to check by.
I still miss some, I'm sure
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I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that has to go back and fix missed things.

It is weird because when I'm buffing I have my florescent lights overhead and 2 halogens shining from the side, sometimes I think the florescent shows up scratches better othertimes I think the halogen show them better. I am wiping my panels down with waterborn W & G remover to remove the glaze.
 
AndyK;26626 said:
The only grits I had available were 800, 1000 and 1500 and Ultra Cutting Creme with a medium wool cutting pad had the scratches totally removed after 8-10 passes.
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If you do a proper sanding job how many passes does it usually take to remove all the scratches?
 
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