hi ! just few questions about hotcoats , sanding, and paint!! well actually i’ve used orbital sanders for my first five boards (and it’s not …super!!!) , and want to try sander/polisher!got one like 600 watt power,going 2800rpm,3500 rpm and 4000 rpm !!! what kind of pad should i use (medium,soft?? 6" or 8"?)???is 600 watt enough???is glassing 101 helpful about that? i’d like try to paint on next boards, got a compressor (powerful) but without a tank !!should i change ! or take some spray bomb and paint on hotcoat befor varnish???could airbrushing 101 help me too in that case!!thank a lot
so many questions… I’ll help on a few! sanding should be done on the slowest rpms. any faster and the pad will literally melt the hotcoat and everything will get gummy. Not good. Depending on how level your hotcoat is, start with say 150 grit on a medium power pad. Personally I really ccan’t tell all that much difference between the medium and the soft power pads. I use the larger size. I think the’re 7". Get some 3M “90” spray adhesive and use that to attach sheets of sandpaper to the pad, and then trim the excess. if you are going to go to a gloss coat you need not go higher than 220 grit. But if you want a sanded finish, then you can go to 400 or even 600 if you want a nice dull matte look. That’s just for the top and deck, the rails are trickier and require more hand sanding, but the same grits should apply. Good luck. Drew
Ben, Regarding painting on the hotcoat: Use water based acrylic paint. Liqui-tex is a good brand. I buy the thick paint in the tube, then mix it with water to the right consistancy and add a squirt of Future acrylic floor finish. Strain the paint through a piece of pantyhose as you pour it into the gun to eliminate clogs. I bought the Airbrushing 101 video, but didn’t get much usable information out of it. I suggest that you just experiment a little on test surfaces, think about it, then just give it a try. Be sure to use flat paint, not gloss or semigloss. Also, you don’t need a huge compressor tank for surfboard spraying, but I don’t know how you would spray without one. Doug
thanks guy, and do you think the power (600 Watt) of my sander/polisher is enough!!!compared to milwaukee or makita which are 1100 watt powerfull??thanks http://www.xxxseduction.net/Steven/
The lightweight sander should be OK. Those Miwaukees are heavy duty production sanders weighing in @ 18 pounds! I have a harbor Freight variable speed that was on sale for $25!..it works fine. Order $50 worth of stuff and shipping is free (US only) Get a planer too! Sander comes with backing pad, wool bonnet and a stik-it backer plus some spare brushes. Krokus http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?f=bylogo&logourl=ChicagoE%2Dwtag%2Egif&brand=Chicago%20Electric
thanks a lot krokus!!!hey mike what was this F… problem with my affiliate url!!!argh!!!, so was impossible to me to answer , have to change everithing!!! http://www.museedelamer.com
massive heavy sanders may be built to last forever, but what’s the use of a million-board sander when you only do a few a year? I use a Chinese made variable speed 300-3000 rpm sander/polisher with a 7" soft pad. $45 on ebay. It doesn’t have the torque the 15-year-old Black and Decker does, but it’s lighter and that’s a big help. I set the thumbwheel speed at about 3/4 and have at it, with 60 grit Hermes closed coat white sandpaper. This stuff is much longer lasting than the Norton Adalox or other open coat aluminum oxide papers I’ve used, so I bought a sleeve of it at about 75 cents a sheet. I use 3M spray stuff to stick on a sheet, then trim to about 1/4 inch wider than the soft pad. This way there isn’t a hard edge at the rim of the pad. PLEASE NOTE this is pretty aggressive sandpaper when you first lay it on!! So a soft touch over the flats top and bottom will do a good deal of cutting. I use a lower speed on the rails, then set the board on edge in my rack (and here’s the key) used the soft pad only in my hand to smooth the rails and set the edge if any. One other sanding note: if you heat up the soft pad too much (I sand out in the yard) the adhesive will soften and the sandpaper shifts on the pad, making it out of balance. You’ll feel it. Just move to shade, peel off the sandpaper and reset it to center, nice and smooth.
hey doug!just been on liquitex site and many informations there!but actually , after spraying your canvas before putting frisket for next desing on the old one do you wait for it to be dry?, but do you put some varnish onto as they recommend on liquitex site or not???i am afraid of pulling of the paint with the frisket or either tape ??? any suggestions? http://www.museedelamer.com