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Our final Advanced Class of the year saw a group of very enthusiastic students with a great willingness to learn. We saw some excellent work from this group, and that always makes these classes both fun and rewarding for us.
Following the classroom portion of the day we headed out to the garage for some live demos and then hands on work by the students.
We start by damp sanding with 1500 grit finishing media on an air powered DA sander, then we refine those sanding marks with 3000 grit finishing media for easier buff out.
Before you start compounding though, make sure you've got a clean pad. Here we use a spur to clean a wool pad before removing the sanding marks.
First pass with M105 and a wool pad on the rotary buffer.
Inspecting the progress - a good light really is important here.
Flat panels are fairly straightforward, but working on contours require a bit of a technique adjustment to reach some areas.
Monte has already completed his damp sanding and is working on compounding out the sanding marks.
Yes, this is Monte's reflection in the surface that he just finished compounding. Nice work!!
The following images show the progression of the process: This is how the surface should look after damp sanding with 1500 grit. It's nice and uniform and you can't see any reflections in the surface.
The next step is to refine the sanding marks shown above with 3000 grit finishing media. Look at the improvement in gloss by sanding with a really fine abrasive. Buffing this out will be very easy and with minimal impact to the paint.
After compounding with M105 and a wool pad. When done properly, with a clean pad that his held flat to the paint and with slow movements, you can create an excellent finish that is almost completely free of holograms.
Not too shabby, eh?
Here are a couple examples of what you do NOT want to see. The pattern you see here was caused by the sanding disc not being held flat to the paint. This results in the uneven sanding you see here, with rows of angle cuts into the paint. If this had been done with even more aggressive media and no foam interface pad, you could have a serious problem on your hands as the paint would look very wavy if you just buffed out something like this. You should be shooting for a very uniform and consistent finish when damp sanding.
This shot shows fine sanding marks still remaining in the paint. You can make out all the tiny little tic marks that cause the paint to look hazy. This isn't a bad thing, it just isn't finished being compounded. A lot of people just starting out with the sanding process look at this and think they're ready to move on to their finishing polish. In reality, since these marks were created by the sanding step, they still need to be removed by compounding with a wool or foam cutting pad - a finishing polish and finishing pad won't do it. Continue compounding until all the sanding marks are gone, even if you create some light holograms in the process, before moving on to your finishing polish step.
Following the classroom portion of the day we headed out to the garage for some live demos and then hands on work by the students.
We start by damp sanding with 1500 grit finishing media on an air powered DA sander, then we refine those sanding marks with 3000 grit finishing media for easier buff out.
Before you start compounding though, make sure you've got a clean pad. Here we use a spur to clean a wool pad before removing the sanding marks.
First pass with M105 and a wool pad on the rotary buffer.
Inspecting the progress - a good light really is important here.
Flat panels are fairly straightforward, but working on contours require a bit of a technique adjustment to reach some areas.
Monte has already completed his damp sanding and is working on compounding out the sanding marks.
Yes, this is Monte's reflection in the surface that he just finished compounding. Nice work!!
The following images show the progression of the process: This is how the surface should look after damp sanding with 1500 grit. It's nice and uniform and you can't see any reflections in the surface.
The next step is to refine the sanding marks shown above with 3000 grit finishing media. Look at the improvement in gloss by sanding with a really fine abrasive. Buffing this out will be very easy and with minimal impact to the paint.
After compounding with M105 and a wool pad. When done properly, with a clean pad that his held flat to the paint and with slow movements, you can create an excellent finish that is almost completely free of holograms.
Not too shabby, eh?
Here are a couple examples of what you do NOT want to see. The pattern you see here was caused by the sanding disc not being held flat to the paint. This results in the uneven sanding you see here, with rows of angle cuts into the paint. If this had been done with even more aggressive media and no foam interface pad, you could have a serious problem on your hands as the paint would look very wavy if you just buffed out something like this. You should be shooting for a very uniform and consistent finish when damp sanding.
This shot shows fine sanding marks still remaining in the paint. You can make out all the tiny little tic marks that cause the paint to look hazy. This isn't a bad thing, it just isn't finished being compounded. A lot of people just starting out with the sanding process look at this and think they're ready to move on to their finishing polish. In reality, since these marks were created by the sanding step, they still need to be removed by compounding with a wool or foam cutting pad - a finishing polish and finishing pad won't do it. Continue compounding until all the sanding marks are gone, even if you create some light holograms in the process, before moving on to your finishing polish step.