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Buffing scheduleQuestion
Forum Responses
Use the rubbing compound with a lamb's wool pad. I’ve used both Schlegel and 3M pads and noticed no difference in performance between the two on my Milwaukee buffer. After the rubbing compound, finish up by using Meguire’s #3 machine glaze with a polyester pad. I’ve had outstanding results with this combination. I’ve been less pleased with the foam rubber pads that work well on the harder automotive catalyzed urethanes. These don't work as well with softer wood finishes. Stick with the lamb's wool and polyester pads for wood finishes. Obtain these products from an automotive body shop supplier. They'll know more about how to make things shine than anybody else.
Can you go through step by step what you do and how much compound you use? Do you buff it till it is dry or stop while it is still wet? What sanding steps do you take before starting with the compound? What grit? From contributor D: The exact schedule I use is as follows: Start with P280 in a Dynabrade to level things out. This seems coarse but works better than using finer grits for the initial leveling. I use a six inch sander to bridge more surface area than with the more conventional 5 inch. Automotive body shops use six inch sanders exclusively for this reason. The type of sandpaper is important. The three that seem to work best are 3M 255L (fre-cut gold) and 365L (purple), Klingspor PS33W, Norton Champagne Magnum (Carborundum Premier Red is identical to the Champaign Magnum and is considerably cheaper). Mirka Royal isn't too bad, but cuts less aggressively. After the P280 go to P400, P800 and finish up with P1500. These higher grits are referred to by 3M as micro-finishing films. Find these at your local auto body supply store. With the right sandpaper, if you let the C-V dry well enough, wet sanding is unnecessary, which is a good thing since it's messy. Since you don't need water you can do this with electric sanders if that's all you have. After the P1500 you're ready for the rubbing compound and the lamb's wool bonnet. Squirt some on the tabletop and buff away until the buffer tends to grab. At that point you need to clean the buffing wheel with a star wheel to get rid of the excess compound. If you have friends in the auto body business, watch them buff out a car--it should teach you a lot. Follow up the rubbing compound with the Meguire's #3 in the exact same manner using the polyester buff. Wash everything down with soap and water and admire your reflection in the tabletop.
I don't recommend using P280 on a conversion varnish. Polyester, yes, but C/V, no. I think the coarsest grit to start with would be 800, then 1000, 1200, 1500. The Maquires I liked was called final cleaner or something like that. It wasn't a very coarse compound, but with a wool bonnet would go to high gloss fast. I like to finish off with 3M Imperial Hand Glaze and a flannel cloth to remove any machine imperfection and do a final overall cleaning of the buffed piece. You have to be VERY careful buffing CV. If you go through a layer anywhere you will get the dreaded "halo" and the only way to fix it is to spray another coat (look out 5 mil barrier!). I like catalyzed urethane for just that reason. I can do the entire topcoat in just 1 coat (spray a full coat, let tack, spray another full coat, let tack, etc.). I can spray a very thick coat this way, which is important for buffing. There used to be many good urethanes for this purpose but now the best I can find is House of Color automotive urethane. I agree with contributor D on the 3M micro-finishing films. They also make these in micron grits and you can wet sand to 9 micron, which is almost a gloss already. I use a Dynabrade 6" air sander and think that's the best. Lamb's wool rules--don't buy the fake stuff that looks like lamb's wool. If you burn a little piece it should smell like hair burning and not melt into a ball. My favorite compound used to be made by Sadolin Canada but I haven't been able to find it for years. It was Pasta Abrasiva and I could rough out my scratches in 1 or 2 passes. I use 3M and DuPont and Mezerna now.
The comments below were added after this Forum discussion was archived as a Knowledge Base article (add your comment). From contributor A:
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