Taking a respite from my lurking (mostly due to have 19+ hours of work a day,
and not due to a lack of anything to say....) before I go batty again:
Ken Streeter says:
>
>
> Marcus writes:
>
> > I HATE sanding. I've been sanding for days, or so it seems. Somebody tell me
> > it will be worth it!
>
> It will be worth it.
>
> Or at least, if you don't spend all the time you can possibly stand
> sanding, and then three days more, you will be greatly disappointed
> after the paint goes on. :-(
>
> > my car with $2000 and get it back a week later with new paint.
>
> I presume when sanding, you are using a sanding block? If not, it
> will be very hard to get prevent large waves in the sanding. Although
> there won't be any scratches, it is difficult to get even sanding
> results when hand sanding without a sanding block.
Some of you might recall I spent some of my formative years working at at
high falootin' fancy schmancy body shop. Gunter and Mike were two Hungarian
Brothers that ran a shop that catered to mostly 30's vintage showcars, and
newer Rolls and Mercedes.
The first summer I worked there, I was only allow to do initial sanding
immediatly after body work had been completed. Eventually I graduated to
being allowed to sand primer coats and spray primer coats. Once Gunter
started on the final color, no one else could touch the car. By the end of
the third year working there, I was considered talented enough to actually
color sand at some of the earlier stages. What a thrill that was, let me
tell you. (I think a big resounding "not" would be appropriate here).
Anyhoo, here is the process I used there and ever since (this is with
lacquer0:
Bead blast with plastic meadia to bare metal/bondo layer.
Use heat gun and chemical softener to remove old bondo if desired (Mike did
lead work on the cars).
Do body work if any.
Scuff sand surface with first 180 grit dry sanding using a sanding block.
Wet sand entire surface (yes this is before final primer coat, car usually
had red oxide primer in places, then final primer was light grey) with 300,
600 and 1200 grit.
Metal prep and final cleaning of area to remove all sanding dust.
Primer spray car coat #1.
Wet sand with 400 grit.
Primer spray car coat #2.
Wet sand with 600 grit.
Primer spray car with light mist of primer coats #3-10.
wet sand with 1200 grit.
Repeat last two steps until Gunter is satisfied (usually required about 6
mist coats.)
Primer spray car with light mist of desired color coat #1.
Wet sand with 2000 grit to find trouble areas, work on the trouble areas with
first 600 grit, then 1200 grit.
First true coat of desired color sprayed, in extremely light mist #2.
Scuff sand with 2000 grit.
Mist spray car with color coat #3-7.
scuff sand with 4000 grit.
Repeat previous steps until primer is no longer visible, this should take
about four coats. I was never allowed to touch the cars during the painting
process after about coat 4. Gunter didn't want me to mess things up.
Spray light coat of color #8.
Allow to cure for week, then scuff sand with 4000 grit.
Spray medium coat of color #9. This should be thick enough to cover a felt
tip marker line on the previous coat (but don't get out your marks-a-lot
pens).
scuff sand with 4000 grit.
Spray penultimate fairly thick coat of color #10
After curing for another week, scuff sand with 4000 grit then use polish
compound to bring back the gloss and clean up any minor blemishes.
Spray final coat of color #11.
Use polish compound after paint cured a day.
Spray 2 to 3 coats of clear coat, allowing each to dry enough that they are
no longer tacky (about 2 hours, use extra hardner in last coat)
Let car cure for about another week, then wax with medium soft carnuba.
After paint has cured a couple of months, switch to a hard carnuba.
This whole process took about 6 weeks to do. No air tools were used for
sanding, just my little ole fingers. Paint jobs uaually ran about
$8000-$10000 plus any body work. This was about 15 years ago. My dad had a
car painted this way, even when it was parked outside for a number of years,
the paint still looked better than most new cars even after 10 years.
--
Miq Millman mmillman@ptdcs2.intel.com 503 642 6139 (Aloha site)
AL4-55 Intel, 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497
See also miq@teleport.com
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