13 replies to this topic

[skoughi]

Hi chaps needing some advice. Back in the day when I was much younger and working in bodyshops we always wet sanded our celly primer, but we had the luxury of a heated booth to dry off any moisture. I'm shortly going to be sanding back the upol celly primer I applied a couple of weeks ago and I'm thinking I should probably dry sand it as I'm in my rather cold garage so any water thats applied to the primer will take ages to evaporate. Dry sanding primer sounds horrendous to me, can I achieve any sort of finish dry sanding with 600 to 800 grit paper? Will I use up the UK's supply of wet n dry before I get the shell ready for gloss? Experience and advice greatfully accepted.

[myredmini]

For dry flatting i block it with p180 to cut it back flat. Then re guide coat and p400/p500 da with an interface pad to remove ALL p180 scratches. Fast. Effective. Great results! I use p180 abranets (search ebay)

Hope this helps

[skoughi]

Cheers for the reply, I don't have a da sander though and I would imagine the discs you're suggesting will be unique to a da. The top coat will be a straight colour 2pack so I'm hoping to get away with 600 grit and as it'll be painted in the garage then I'm already resigned to the fact that there will have to be some sort of cutting and polishing done. I'll probably be hand sanding the primer but I just feel the paper will continuously be clogging up, a power sander with a large pad or da would probably be whats required as you've suggested.

[Carlos W]

Dry when sanding anything other than top coat

[skoughi]

Just had a look for the abranet sanding blocks a sandpaper strips, looks like good stuff, if I wasn't so tight with cash then I think I would invest in some!

[kezzkitkat]

I have the abranet sanding system absolutely spot on and I still use a wet and dry method however I use different grades abrasives than said

[Daz1968]

I also use abranet p400 I used as final flat on 2k high build. Have used other sanding systems in the past but not anymore abranet is fantastic, I did mine by hand using mirka sanding blocks

[mini-geek]

Abranet! 4 times the price of the basecut range..

They have downsides too.. The edge of the disc is very sharp and can/will damage edges..

Personally I'd block it with 320 dry then 500 dry then 800 wet on a soft block or just your hand..

Aslong as you leave it a couple of days at a reasonable temp' it should be fine..

[myredmini]

Abranets last a lot longer and do not clog creating grooves in the primer. Well worth the money!

[skoughi]

Been out to the garage and tried a strip of 400 production paper wrapped around a rectangle of scotch brite and the primer sanded down better than i expected. The paper clogged up a bit so will cut it with some 240 then 400 and finish off with 600. If I'm not too keen then will resort to 600 wet and keep the space heater on! Thanks for all the advice guys, keep it coming!

[mini-geek]

When you say space heater, is it one if those gas ones?

They produce water vapour so aren't brilliant at drying things..

[skoughi]

No its one that runs on paraffin which is as bad. The fumes are quite bad that comes off it to be honest. If checked to see if it has an inline fuel filter so it could be cleaned and have it run a bit better but can't seem to find one! It blasts out a lot of heat and takes the chill out of the garage rather quickly so I only have it on for short blasts as I'm also worried incase of contamination from the fumes on the primer.

[midridge2]

Just wet flat it with 8oo grade and use a heat gun to dry the panels, ( a old school painters best tool)

[Notay]

sorry to hijack this thread, but can anyone recommend a quality air DA sander (with dust extraction) so that I can use the abranet discs? I have a 3hp, 90litre 14cfm compressor. I was using a Clarke DA sander and that just doesn't budge when it touches a surface, or runs out of air which suggests it consumes a lot of air (although the book states 6cfm).

 

I plan on dry sanding epoxy primer. Many thanks in advance

 

Notay