Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

[Mary S]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

I'm adding this post kind of for reference.

"PTG readings on the door averaged around 115 microns."

115 microns = 4.5 mil

"Total material removal was 8-10 microns"

8 microns = 0.31 mil

10 microns = 0.39 mil

(How do I know this? If you want to do a unit conversion like this, just type something like "8 microns in mil" in the Google search box).

So basically this process removed between 0.3 and 0.4 mil, which is inside the margin of safety that most auto makers allow for clear coat removal.

(The following are the maximum allowable clearcoat reductions the major USA car manufacturers will allow: Chrysler 0.5 mils; Ford 0.3 mils; GM 0.5 mils.)

[RaskyR1]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

Hey Rasky, it has been a while!


With the Abralon, I tend not to over soak it as soaking the papers too much tends to cause the backing material to stretch (at least from my experience). [I still wet the papers in a bucket of water and use a sprayer with water...added June 4th for clarity] When that happens, the material tends to bunch up. This may or may not cause pig tails. I had this conversation about the papers bunching up with Kevin a while back and no conclusions could be drawn, so just keep that in mind just in case.

As for soap etc which is often used for lubrication during wet sanding, Mirka does not recommend using soap with their papers, just plain water. Now with that said, I do use a drop or two of M00 in my sprayer as I tend to use that far more than soaked papers. So if you are using soap and the paper is not cutting very well, that is probably why...

I hope that helps!

Tim

Thanks Tim! It has been a while!

They seemed to cut very well at first but after a panel or two the cut dropped significantly. I did have a few drops of soap in my sprayer as well but I just assumed the loss of cut was a result of the foam backing becoming saturated. On the '68 Firebird I wet sanded I did get some pigtails on the hood, but the rest of the car came out great without a single pigtail...I thought that was odd BTW.

Next round I'll use only water, and less of it and see how it goes. Thanks again for the tips!

Rasky

[RaskyR1]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

Thanks for sharing, that spot of the door looks great now! How is the orange peel on the rest of the car though?

The orange peel on the car is terrible and the spot I sanded really didn't change any either as I was using finishing disks with an interface pad. If I were to get a pic at the right angle you would still see the orange peel.

[RaskyR1]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

I'm adding this post kind of for reference.

"PTG readings on the door averaged around 115 microns."

115 microns = 4.5 mil

"Total material removal was 8-10 microns"

8 microns = 0.31 mil

10 microns = 0.39 mil

(How do I know this? If you want to do a unit conversion like this, just type something like "8 microns in mil" in the Google search box).

So basically this process removed between 0.3 and 0.4 mil, which is inside the margin of safety that most auto makers allow for clear coat removal.

(The following are the maximum allowable clearcoat reductions the major USA car manufacturers will allow: Chrysler 0.5 mils; Ford 0.3 mils; GM 0.5 mils.)

Thanks for adding that Mary!

I choose to use micron as I feel it gives you a more accurate measurement. Since the PTG only reads to a tenth of a mil you would likely have to have a change of at least 2-3 microns before it registers in mils.

1 micron = 0.03937 mil


Rasky

[Hemin8r]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

Thanks for posting this up Chad. The results came out looking perfect.

[Jimmy Buffit]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

FWI, when I attended the NXTi Tech Class in March of 2005, Mirka reps and Kevin Brown were teaching wetsanding with the Abralon foam discs. I'm just sayin...

But I tend to think hydroplaning could be an issue, so we'll be more open minded and experiment a little.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Wet sanding, cutting and buffing using only a DA

FWI, when I attended the NXTi Tech Class in March of 2005, Mirka reps and Kevin Brown were teaching wetsanding with the Abralon foam discs. I'm just sayin...

But I tend to think hydroplaning could be an issue, so we'll be more open minded and experiment a little.

Hi Jim,

I was not saying that you do not wet the papers or only use a sprayer. I just said that Mirka does not suggest using soap in the water (and that was from Kevin). I still wet them in a bucket and use a fair amount of water from a sprayer while sanding.

Tim