I finished added the gloss coat and now I am down to the final sand/polish. Would someone please give me the final steps like go from what grit to what grit. Is it liquid polish or wet sanding? etc… Thanks in advance.
I finished added the gloss coat and now I am down to the final > sand/polish. Would someone please give me the final steps like go from > what grit to what grit. Is it liquid polish or wet sanding? etc… Thanks > in advance. First of all, did your gloss come out smooth and even? first, scrape the gloss overlap on the rails with a razor blade then dry sand the rails with 600 grit. If your gloss came out smooth and even use 320grit to start on deck and bottom, just float your sander.This will make your sandpaper last longer and keep sanding marks to a minimum. Next use 400 grit then use 600 grit,you want to wear out the sand paper(both grits). When you do this the sandpaper will work like a rough polisher. When you’re satisfied with your sand job start rubbing out with compound or shurlustre. Rub out 2or 3 times (how shiney is up to you),then polish with a good polish. Hope I made this clear enough! Aloha Kokua Fiberglass
do you do any wetsanding? and is the 320-600 with a power sander? or hand? thanks kokua
Machines: Black and Decker Auto Pro 3000 with 1000-3000 rpm reostat and easy pull trigger. Milwaukee 5000 rpm small body polisher. Power Pad Medium Sureluster Meguire’s #7 Polish Diamond or Hermes 400 and 500. If you used gloss resin and the gloss came out smooth with only a couple of tits, slap a used piece of 400 on the Black and Decker, turn the reostat down to 1000, and with the easy pull trigger you can walk the pad along the resin bead. That done, put a fresh piece of 400 on the machine, keep the reostat down to 1000 and walk the pad working your way out from the center and only going about a 1/4 to 1/3 way down the rail. The slow sanding speed helps keep the paper cool. When the paper heats up, it gums up, your board gets spiral scratches, the board heats up as you try to get the scratches out, then the thing waffles and the polish comes out like crap. When your done with the bottom, check your paper, it may need to be replaced, and start in on the deck. Repeat with the 500. Once you’ve finished with the 500, pull the piece off and use it to wetsand the rails by hand. With the Milwaukee 5000 and a big wool pad, Sureluster the board once, twice if necessary. Then go back to the Black and Decker set to about 2500 and a small polishing pad. Squirt on some Meguire’s and polish the board. If you started with a good gloss job, the board will come out like glass.
do you do any wetsanding? and is the 320-600 with a power sander? or hand? > thanks kokua I don’t wet sand,I hand sand the rails only. Wet sanding cuts better but you can sand through the gloss and you won’t realize it because the water hides it. Kokua
First of all, did your gloss come out smooth and even? first, scrape the > gloss overlap on the rails with a razor blade then dry sand the rails with > 600 grit. If your gloss came out smooth and even use 320grit to start on > deck and bottom, just float your sander.This will make your sandpaper last > longer and keep sanding marks to a minimum. Next use 400 grit then use 600 > grit,you want to wear out the sand paper(both grits). When you do this the > sandpaper will work like a rough polisher. When you’re satisfied with your > sand job start rubbing out with compound or shurlustre. Rub out 2or 3 > times (how shiney is up to you),then polish with a good polish. Hope I > made this clear enough! Aloha Kokua Fiberglass No unfortunately the top gloss didnt come out smooth. The bottom looks better. What happened was the gloss that ran underneath when I was doing the bottom ruined/or at least messed up the top coat. I tried to keep the runs to a minimum by dragging a brush but this left streaks. Anyway to avoid this?
Machines: Black and Decker Auto Pro 3000 with 1000-3000 rpm reostat and > easy pull trigger. Milwaukee 5000 rpm small body polisher.>>> Power Pad Medium>>> Sureluster Meguire’s #7 Polish>>> Diamond or Hermes 400 and 500.>>> If you used gloss resin and the gloss came out smooth with only a couple > of tits, slap a used piece of 400 on the Black and Decker, turn the > reostat down to 1000, and with the easy pull trigger you can walk the pad > along the resin bead. That done, put a fresh piece of 400 on the machine, > keep the reostat down to 1000 and walk the pad working your way out from > the center and only going about a 1/4 to 1/3 way down the rail. The slow > sanding speed helps keep the paper cool. When the paper heats up, it gums > up, your board gets spiral scratches, the board heats up as you try to get > the scratches out, then the thing waffles and the polish comes out like > crap.>>> When your done with the bottom, check your paper, it may need to be > replaced, and start in on the deck. Repeat with the 500. Once you’ve > finished with the 500, pull the piece off and use it to wetsand the rails > by hand.>>> With the Milwaukee 5000 and a big wool pad, Sureluster the board once, > twice if necessary. Then go back to the Black and Decker set to about 2500 > and a small polishing pad. Squirt on some Meguire’s and polish the board.>>> If you started with a good gloss job, the board will come out like glass. How do you know when to change grits? When the scratches are gone from the previous grit, or can you stop before that? I just wory about sanding through when I sand the scratches out from every grit.
How do you know when to change grits? If the paper has resin build-up, change the paper. If it feels like the paper is no longer cutting, change. Low speed, cool paper. It doesn’t take much to cut the wax on top of the gloss resin. Of course, this works best if you used pure gloss resin. If you used hot coat to gloss or some sort of gloss/hotcoat cocktail to cut down on the reddish hue of gloss resin, the whole process changes.
Didn’t you tape off the rails? I’m trying to visulize what you did or didn’t do to get resin on the deck. When I pull the tape on a gloss job(first side, the bottom) I always check for resin that might have got on the deck. You can always spot sand it off if you don’t catch it with acetone before it hardens.
Didn’t you tape off the rails? I’m trying to visulize what you did or > didn’t do to get resin on the deck. When I pull the tape on a gloss > job(first side, the bottom) I always check for resin that might have got > on the deck. You can always spot sand it off if you don’t catch it with > acetone before it hardens. No unfortunately I didn’t tape of the rails. I did tape them off in the hot coat stage but this left a definate edge so I was thinking that I shouldnt do it for the gloss coat. Big mistake. With this being my firt board I have learned a huge amount. I watched the JC videos but they dont even cover a gloss coat.
No unfortunately I didn’t tape of the rails. I did tape them off in the > hot coat stage but this left a definate edge so I was thinking that I > shouldnt do it for the gloss coat. Big mistake. With this being my firt > board I have learned a huge amount. I watched the JC videos but they dont > even cover a gloss coat. You needed to tape it off at mid-rail,then pull the tape after the gloss resin sheets off the tape. after an hour or two, two is better I run a razor blade along the ridge left by pulled tape,this allows the deck gloss coat to adhere at the seam.When you tape off to gloss the deck,run the tape about a 1/16" below the seam. When you go to take off the overlap the resin below your razor scraped seam will basically pop off because gloss resin won’t stick to itself, just like sanding resin won’t stick to itself. The best thing about the Glassing 101 tape is their glassing rack,wish I had the extra time to build one of those!Hope this helps, Aloha Kokua Fiberglass
It sounds like you have some problems to deal with… I would look it over and try to decide if either side is worth the trouble. It’s hard to say without seeing yours, but I’ve been known to just give up and sand off a botched gloss that was beyond saving. If you have a lot of resin drips, brush marks and resin that went on to the other side, it may be the easiest way. Just treat it like a sanding coat and regloss making sure to use good tape as you lay a nice straight tape line along the edge. I peel the bottom edge of the tape away from the board so the resin doesn’t run off to the other side. Once that coat cures, sand the seam - trying to keep a fairly straight “scuff line.” Flip the board over and run the next course of tape along the scuff line but on the shiny gloss so the next coat of resin covers the area that was sanded. I also wear rubber gloves while doing the final sanding before gloss to avoid greasy paw prints that will crater and pit when trying to gloss over them. Re-read Teddy’s, Kokua’s, Spence’s and Loco Mo’s posts. Gloss/buffs are tricky - it’s easy for me to understand how they add so much to the cost of a new board from the shop.