My best results were at 1200 RPM, with a WET pad. Slow speed, and lots of water, keeps the board cool. HOWEVER… it’s messy. A final buff with spray ‘‘Lemon Fresh Pledge’’ furniture polish, really made things sparkle.
I love it when simple works best… lemon fresh pledge is your polishing god
lockbox has the best fix so far
Ive done it a similar way by just smearing uv gloss on with my finger then sand carefully by hand
But im thinking of taping down a clear plastic film over the resin befor sliping into the sun
that will get it even flater
Howzit DS, The trick is good quality spray laquer,apply a few coats and it will polish out, just don’t rub through it. Can’t tell the difference.Aloha.Kokua
…Pauluk,
I used lam Reichhold /res 10203 + wax + UV cat to do perfect gloss coats under every weather
with lam+wax+Mekp you can do a fine gloss but with more than 20 ºC and no more than 60 % rel humidity
I dunno about gloss resin + UV cat
Kokua…yeah, I was hoping you’d show up…sand it out with what?400 500 or just 600 or even 1500?
Biz…Harbor Freight…even better price
Kensurf…waxpaper the miracle mateial…use it all the time…squeegee and throw in the sun…I even did it raining once and it kicked fine!
Hey Bill…good tip, I tried LP (Lemon Pledge not Linear Polyurehane…been there done that too…lethal stuff) but oh what a wonderful lemony fragrance…yes, sounds like the rpm’s are real key to a good result…thanks
When buffing I like to wear a trash can bag with a hole cut out for my head and arms. Get good and grunged out with buffing compound then toss it.
I’ve used UPOL one part clear coat for cleaning up exposed weave… is that what you mean by burns? It dries quick and blends nicely. Maybe two coats, a light sand with 600 on overspray then buff by hand with a rag - how’s that for low RPMs? I don’t try and buff with a machine at that point. Works good on all kinds of ding repairs - new boards and old.
A little hand rubbed automotive paste wax, if you’re really picky, to finish it off.
I’m so glad someone asked this question. I deal with burn throughs nearly every day. I’d say about half are my fault and half are our glosser’s. He has really big problems with resin coverage on hard edges in the tail. That’s where 95% of the burn throughs happen. The resin just wants to fall right off the hard edges and leaves practically nothing to sand. I’ve even burned through w/ 1200 grit by hand in those areas! Any suggestions to help with good resin coverage on hard tails?
I use a similar method to what Lokbox was talking about. It works, but takes way too long, even with UV resin… Especially when you’re getting paid per board. Any help would be appreciated.
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When buffing I like to wear a trash can bag with a hole cut out for my head and arms. Get good and grunged out with buffing compound then toss it.
I’ve used UPOL one part clear coat for cleaning up exposed weave… is that what you mean by burns? It dries quick and blends nicely. Maybe two coats, a light sand with 600 on overspray then buff by hand with a rag - how’s that for low RPMs? I don’t try and buff with a machine at that point. Works good on all kinds of ding repairs - new boards and old.
A little hand rubbed automotive paste wax, if you’re really picky, to finish it off.
John…yes, this is what I’m talking about…a quick available economic way to fill the weave with a hard non yellowing acrylic that will shine up by hand or otherwise to finish out the board…sure we can use UV resin but you can also burn righ outside of the fix zone quite easily…so quick good fill that stays clear and at least as hard as the coat around it. Funy I was looking at UPOL today at Home Depot.
flat lacquer…any prefer brands…in spray cans yes?
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I’m so glad someone asked this question. I deal with burn throughs nearly every day. I’d say about half are my fault and half are our glosser’s. He has really big problems with resin coverage on hard edges in the tail. That’s where 95% of the burn throughs happen. The resin just wants to fall right off the hard edges and leaves practically nothing to sand. I’ve even burned through w/ 1200 grit by hand in those areas! Any suggestions to help with good resin coverage on hard tails?
I use a similar method to what Lokbox was talking about. It works, but takes way too long, even with UV resin… Especially when you’re getting paid per board. Any help would be appreciated.
Read Kokua and John Mellor’s comments these guys know and you will be a happy camper trying their suggestions.
Also for razor sharp tail rails I always round the tail rail as foam so the glass can wrap around providing stength then come back in and tape a slight dam to baste lam resin to build up the area you want sharp, then hotcoat the board and block sand a razor sharp edge…you will not burn to glass weave because the edge is a resin bead…works marvelous…
…well I tell you again that if burns occurs is for a not so good work or proper technique or bad pad with not the right sandpaper grit, but you already know that if you have 40 years of experience…
I start with 360 with normal resin, but with gloss resin you can start with 400, so there s no way you can burn through
-you can do the lokbox tip, because that do the trick
the secret is in the finger pass
then put a super soft pad and a 500 grit or a 600 if its in the rail and only sand the possible edges
the rattle cans are crap and work good with minor repairs or tail rail repairs, etc
and most dont have UV stabilizers—also I dont like to delivery to the customer a fake gloss that tears apart quickly, etc
there s a lot of difference between those (most) fins finished with laqueur (and not from a can…) than those finished with resin (gloss) more difficult (not production stuff) but better
bruce i can help if ypu want
but right now i am haveing a bit of a hard time p m me
Here’s how I do it, and I get the same quality as any shop and never any burning. (1) Prep the lam (grind down lap lines, overlaps at the notches, etc) so that you get a smooth hotcoat. (2) Apply hotcoat. (3) Sand hotcoat with #80 using a medium power pad (7" for SB’s, 8" for LB’s) on the flats only, and hold the pad flat against the surface as you finish. Switch to a 5 or 6" random-orbit and #100 for the tape lines on the rails. Make a 3" thick soft foam pad (see archives) for the rotary, and go over the rails with #120. The foam pad will not leave any flat areas. Hotcoat and resand any areas where you hit weave. (4) Blow off the board really well, wipe it lengthwise, one pass walking with a paper towel damp with acetone. (5) Glosscoat using real gloss resin cut with SA and styrene per Kokua’s mix (see archives again), brush across once then lengthwise once. Close up the room, no drafts. (6) Use the random orbit and 220 just on the tape lines carefully. Use the med. power pad in the rotary with #320 on the flats - wet (be careful with the water). I have a helper put a liberal amount of water on the board with a sponge and I go over it while most of it is running off. If you see brush strokes, start with 220 dry then the 320. Switch to the foam pad with 320 and do the rails, also wet. Repeat the whole flat and rails thing using 500, and then do everything with the foam pad only and 600. (7) I use Trewax fiberglass compound from West Marine, or even their brand. If you’ve done a good sanding job, the compound isn’t very critical. I will say that if you elect to use any of the 3M or other automotive-type compounds, you’ll need to sand to 800+ for a mirror finish. No real tricks to the compound polishing, I use a wool bonnet and adapter disk, and always keep it moving lengthwise with a lot of water. Watch the contact pressure on the rails, nose, tail. (8) Clean off the board, rub off any excess compound by hand with a damp towel. (9) If you want, apply an automotive wax by hand. Buff it out with a clean bonnet at slow speed.
I spend about 1 hour on gloss sanding/polishing for an average 9’ LB. You can speed things up if you use that big Milwaukee monster for the polishing. In this case Pledge, lacquer, acrylics, are only filling in scratches from a poor sanding job. The reason may be the sanders you’re using or technique (both glassing and sanding). Burning is most often caused by trying to polish out an area that isn’t sanded to a high enough grit. All of this progressive sanding takes down the glosscoat, and the trick is to get things smooth from the begining - lam, hotcoat, glosscoat so you don’t need to sand that much.
never heard of straining gloss resin before, may I ask why, or what is being strained out?
Although I’ve never tried it, I’ve seen guys fix small burns with clear nail polish. The key is to not get rub throughs in the first place. You need a nice soft brush, and good technique. Any good glosser strains or even double strains their resin. Makes sure you have no dirt or any other debris in your resin. I usually got rub throughs on the rail seams, or around the fillets on glass-ons. For clean rail seams, after you shoot your first side, you let the resin flow for a couple of minutes, then pull your tape edge clean with one last pass of the brush. Block your seam with used 100 grit, being careful to sand the seam flat, and put scratches up onto the clean resin by about 1/16 or 1/8th of an inch. Now overlap your tape line so that it lines up with the edge of your scratches. This gives you a nice “peel” line to feather your edge.
I sand my flats with 320 wet or dry (dry) then use that used piece to knock down the seam. Peel that piece off and use it to wetsand the seam flat and the rest of the rails. I then switch to 500 to finish wetsanding the rails smooth. When you get good at sanding you’ll need no finer grit than 500 for rails. 400 for rails makes you work too hard and actually increases your chances of sanding through as you just end up working it too much trying to get it flat. After your rails are good, dry the board completely, then use 400 wet or dry (dry) then 500 (dry) and even 600 for dark colors. If you want polishes that aren’t scratchy never go from 400 straight to 600 as 200 grit is just too much of a jump especially for dark colors…
One of the most common mistakes is overbrushing. You need to get good at applying your resin quick and evenly. Put it on liberally, and pull it back of with minimal passes. Don’t keep brushing and brushing. Let it flow then pull your tape line clean and avoid getting too thick of resin on the rails. It’s a balance…a one shot deal.
Lokbox…good advice. Actually I have good result with the 320/500 combo. If it’s something out of the norm may have to do some 220 but that’s cuz I screwed up or was ia hurry. And yes, using 600 is rare but we all know reds, purples, navy, black and any ark color shows flaws just like with cars and body work.
I don’t expose weave on rails, or very rarely as I get a great shine just using 500 grit. A little 320 if need be…and I just do it quickly by hand as the wax comes off quite easily on rails. I like the tip on the blocking the first seam line then taping a smidge past onto the sanded extra resin edge…makes a lot of sense and offers protection. The worst is to tape trying to exactly meet each seem and having tape residue and other crap in the seam or leaving a line you can’t get out without a re do…so good on you for the method.
My whole prompting of this thread was just because I hadn’t doone polises in quite awhile then had some shiny longboards to do with red panels and some other colors that challenge you. I got a few burns aka eposed weave because of using too light a hotcoat gloss on the flats trying to kep weight down and it didn’t help that the 6 oz was warp glass which unless you are very diligent can lay less than flat w/out careful squeegeeing while laying up…and we are only talking a very minor amount.
I didn’t want to drive all the way to Ventura FH to p/u finishing resin so I’m just going to go back over the thin glossed deck with a light and thorough sanding and apply a regloss then have at it again…acutally easier then trying to patch into a too thin deck to begin with. Live n learn ya know.
And now that I have three brand new Power Pads in soft, medium and hard, I should be able to breeze thru this board and keep it beautiful.
I love how the shiny boards with red and other neat colors look but I really hate slowing down my entire production formula for the sake of it…so I’m tacking on healthy fees if people want me to gloss and polsih plus it will take twice as long delivery…that should send a clear message for those in a hurry or looking for the best price scenario.
Thanks agai.
Is my board ready yet?..the age old universal cry of anxious surfers everywhere. Get er done!!
Howzit DS, I would say to start with 400 then 600 but use a light touch so you don’t sand through it. For the laquer use glossy type so it will shine. When I rub out boards my sanding schedule is: bottom 320-400-600-shurlustre, deck 400-600-shurlustre. For the rails it depends, sometimes 400-6-- and if they are real nice I just use 600. Aloha,Kokua