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Our last class of 2017 and we put sandpaper and rotary polishers into student's hands!! This class is always great fun because we're usually really pushing people's comfort zones and giving them a whole new skill set. Great fun!!
As per usual, we started with a classroom presentation to discuss theory, sanding and polishing techniques, etc. Then a quick hands on demo, lunch, and a couple hours of hands on work by the students. Hand sanding, DA sanding, rotary polishing.
Here's a close up of some hand sanding work. While it must be said that the overlaps here are incredibly uniform, we would like to see the overlaps much tighter than this. Tighter overlaps give a more uniform finish overall.
Tight quarters for hand sanding and DA sanding on the same hood.
One little complaint here: see that index finger on the hand sanding pad and the other fingers curled up? That can lead to a pressure point and uneven sanding, even with the foam pad in place. Not the best technique, but that's why we oversee the students closely, take pictures, and limit the class size to 12 people.
3000 grit DA sanding on the left, 3000 grit hand sanding on the right. Quite a difference, isn't it? Which one do you think will buff out easiest?
Speaking of buffing out the sanding marks, we used both rotary and DA polishers for this task. Just a few short years ago we wouldn't have dreamed of using a DA for sanding mark removal. But today 3000 grit and even finer sanding is common, and the technology of DA polishers, pads and compounds has advanced so much that even a novice can now remove sanding marks with a DA. And no rotary swirl!!
This is the finish obtained by a student who had never wet sanded in his life, nor used a rotary polisher. We call this "a good start". Correction: we call this "an amazing start!!"
As per usual, we started with a classroom presentation to discuss theory, sanding and polishing techniques, etc. Then a quick hands on demo, lunch, and a couple hours of hands on work by the students. Hand sanding, DA sanding, rotary polishing.
Here's a close up of some hand sanding work. While it must be said that the overlaps here are incredibly uniform, we would like to see the overlaps much tighter than this. Tighter overlaps give a more uniform finish overall.
Tight quarters for hand sanding and DA sanding on the same hood.
One little complaint here: see that index finger on the hand sanding pad and the other fingers curled up? That can lead to a pressure point and uneven sanding, even with the foam pad in place. Not the best technique, but that's why we oversee the students closely, take pictures, and limit the class size to 12 people.
3000 grit DA sanding on the left, 3000 grit hand sanding on the right. Quite a difference, isn't it? Which one do you think will buff out easiest?
Speaking of buffing out the sanding marks, we used both rotary and DA polishers for this task. Just a few short years ago we wouldn't have dreamed of using a DA for sanding mark removal. But today 3000 grit and even finer sanding is common, and the technology of DA polishers, pads and compounds has advanced so much that even a novice can now remove sanding marks with a DA. And no rotary swirl!!
This is the finish obtained by a student who had never wet sanded in his life, nor used a rotary polisher. We call this "a good start". Correction: we call this "an amazing start!!"
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