Sanding Epoxy

General Discussion
1

Could anyone lend me some help on what to get to for the sanding process of epoxy. Paper grits, Pads, Tools, etc. Finally ordered epoxy and cloth but completely forgot about all this stuff too. Thanks in advanced. rick.

2

I sand my laminate layers with an orbital sander, 80 grit, then 180 grit.

Sand the rails with a detail sander with a triangle head, same grits.

As for polishing/buffing etc… there is a thread “Bringing up a Shine wiht epoxy” that has a lot of usefull info.

I polished a board on the gloss coat 80->180->240->300->600->800->1200 and then cutting compound, and it gives an O.K shine. Not as wet as poly.

I took a trip to a resin & fibreglass shop here in perth. I wanted to ask about two things, the UV stability of epoxy and “polishability”.

1.) She said that no epoxy has UV protective abilities, they all sorta yellow… only exception I can think of is RR epoxy, but i dont know much about it.

2.) Epoxy can be taken up the grits to 1200 etc and then a cutting compound used, and it will have a dull shine… not a glowing shine like poly.

Basically we talked for a bit and came to the conclusion that 2pac was the answer to our problems.

A coat of 2 pac on a finished and finely sanded board will leave a very shiney finish, and act as a UV barrier for the epoxy beneath.

I gotta hit up some 2 pac for my next board.

Ant

3

Hey lavs,

Thanks for the info. I’ll have to check out 2 pac.

4

With RR if you put in Additive F it produces a much better shine in epoxy than without. I know that that helps. I don’t really polish my boards as I know they’ll just get scuffed up and covered in wax, but a good polishing job looks amazing.

I’ve been trying out acrylic sprays and spar varnish. The acrylic doesn’t offer much UV stability, but it will seal up the board. Spar varnish is great on the UV side, but it has a slight yellow tint.

I’ve heard a lot of great stuff about UPOL Clear #1, which comes in a spray can for about $16.99. It sounds expensive, but not when you compare it to gloss resin + sand paper + polishing compound, it’s pretty cheap.

5

Thanks Rachel. I’m not too worried about gloss coating either. I’ll check out UPOL though.

6

hey mate

i like 40 grit

cuz it doesnt get as hot

and doesnt clog the paper

and you can rip through aboard in no time

then do a urethane gloss

iff im not glossing

i use diamond pads wet

60 150 300 then 600