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Old January 13th, 2010, 04:08 PM   #15
PainterJosh
stuck on Honda
 
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Name: joshua
Location: with Bre
Join Date: Jan 2010

Motorcycle(s): 1971 CB750 K1, 1989 CBR600F

Posts: 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by sixer View Post
nice work welcome to the boards-

Hows that duplicolor? I heard good things about it.

any tips on buffing the clear?
thanks-
the duplicolor primer is great. I was gonna buy a quart can of primer to spray, but I decided to just use that stuff cuz I like it so much. I went through about 4 cans. they make a normal version at the auto parts store, it's nice but doesn't fill and sand as well, still good though. this is the pro version they sell at the car paint store. it's really easy to work with and hides imperfections very well.

as far as buffing clear- one tip is I've noticed- air power is not as constant as electric. I didn't want to actually buy a polisher cuz I have so many different sanders and crap that I figured I could make something work. I have a really nice dewalt random orbital sander with variable speed, I am going to use a lambswool attachment with that for most of it on the low setting. little stuff by hand. but I have used my air die grinder or a drill in the past, chucked up to a foam pad or foam buffing ball(mother's makes them, at the auto parts store, looks like a pom-pom or loofa) I have an awesome Mac tools die grinder, but I like the drill better, it gives you constant speed. the air tools get faster as you move away from the surface and can cause probs if they go too fast. never use a 'polisher' w/out variable speed. you want to go relatively slow. use a polish that says it's for clear coats. for the average person w/ average tools the drill/mother's ball combo works pretty well.

to start with though, you have to wet sand a bit, some people call it color sanding or color blocking. depending on how bad your finish is you can start with 600 grit or 1000 grit. I would only use 600 if it's really snotty or you have a run. it takes that much longer to polish out. use water w/ a drop of dish soap. try to use some type of backing pad for your paper. a sanding sponge if you have one, a sanding block(the rubber kind) maybe for flat areas or just a scrap of flat rubber. avoid edges/corners/pointy parts! you can go through em pretty fast and have to recoat. get the area wet that you're going to sand with a clean sponge/rag, whatev. go slow, make lil swirls. you'll see the surface dull and the low areas/craters will stay shiny, keep wet-wiping it down to get the muck off and avoid scratches from stuff gettin in there. your paper will last a lot longer if it stays a bit wet. it helps with the clogging. you can figure out ways to keep it cleaner and make it last longer. sometimes I use a putty knife or compressed air. when you see most of the shiny spots go away you can start workin your way down the sandpaper chain. use 1000, then 1500, finish with 2000. again be REALLY careful of edges/ridges/corners.
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