Don’t know about you folks, but sanding has become my favorite part of the board-building process. Also the most difficult for me. Perhaps this is why I like it. Pictured sanding quiver (RR Epoxy Glass Job):
Powerpad 6" medium to grind down fin boxes, tail bead, and leash plug
Powerpad 8" soft for the flats
Ferro 8" super soft for the curves/rails (go super slow on the rails)
Adhesive-backed 8" sanding discs: 100, 150, 220, 320 (got these from Canada on Ebay in quantities for <$1 each)
3M respirator (much better than simple masks and my safety glasses don’t fog up using this)
I also hand-sand with each grit after the power sand step.
After the 320 I am now hooked on the Resin X UV Clear as the final coat. Fills the inevitable exposed weave, much lighter than 2nd hot/gloss coat and looks great.
It is cool to see someone stoked on sanding! So here is a tip that will make your boards look better and save you money. Never allow the the machine to rest on the pad when not using; always store in away where the pad will not distort. Maybe you have it supported in the picture but it looks to me as if it is not.
Yes. I always store my powerpads off the machine and face down on a flat surface. Pic was taken moments before I began to sand down the fin boxes on the blue board. 60 grit on the 6" for box grinding, BTW.
Why do you use a SOFT power-pad for FLATS? I use hard pads on flats, medium on hulls or domed decks and soft or super-soft on rails. BTW, I usually finish rails by hand.
In my admitedly limited experience, the “soft” powerpad really isn’t that soft, and boards don’t really have many truly “flat” sections. There is almost always some curve to conform to. I found myself more succeptable to gouges when using the medium pad in “flats”. Soft seems to work better for me. At least at this early stage of the game.
The stiffness of the sanding discs is another factor that helps with flatness using softer pads on flatter areas.
And handsanding rails with the used stiff disc folded also gets the rail curves uniform really quickly.
If you can handle it, nothing does better than a hard pad for primary sanding. Gets things accurate and flat to start with, sometimes where a medium won't.
Any tips for avoiding those whatchmacallits where the pad gouges a little in the hotcoat? I seem to alway get one or two and it drives me crazy. Shirley there is some way to eliminate these?
My fiat currencies worth, walk the board out with the sander like you would do with your brush when finishing your hot coats. I find the speed you walk up and down the board controls how much resin you remove, along with the speed the sander is set to of course. No figure eights, dancing around the sanding bay, Elvis impersonations required.
I don’t know why that makes me laugh, but glad you picked up on it. I guess it came from the movie Airplane? Don’t call me Shirley? I dunno. stupid but funny.
Howzit Bill, Ever since I got sanding down it has been one of my favorite steps in building a board, it is as you said under rated and under appreciated but some body has to do it. Some builders hate doing it and then there are those that get the itch but a good sander is like a good shaper and can make or break a board. I am one of the lucky us who never gets the itch even when foiling fins where you are sanding fiberglass and will take resin dust over foam dust any day. I used to get all excited when I knew it was a sanding day. Now for the guy asking about adhesive,I reccommend(spelling) Tacky. When it comes to cutting the paper to prevent gouges you can cut the paper so it is square then cut the corners so you have an octogon. That has always been a trick when sanding a gloss job but it works for regular sanding also. As for storing my Power Pads I always laid them down with the pad facing up except for the one on the grinder and I a the board with the vee notch in it to hang my grinder on. Aloha,Kokua
