Removing defects from epoxy resin scales, a how to

There have been quite a few questions lately about removing defects in epoxy resin. Resin can be problematic because of the long cure time (3 days). The gloss finish will show any little defect, the worst of which is a spot of dust. There is just no hiding any kind of defect in a high gloss finish.

If you have a problem with the finish you have two options. You can sand it out and recoat it with a gloss urethane or another coat of epoxy on it. the down side, it takes another day to 3 days for the finish to cure and you still run the risk of having another spot of dust falling on it.

The other option is to sand it out and then sand/buff the gloss back into the finish. I had a set of pink ivory scales that had gotten a speck of dust on side. So I figured this would be a good time to document the process. There really is not much to it. You need some micromesh sandpaper, I have a set that runs from 1500 grit to 12000 grit, some white rogue, wax, and a padded sanding block. If you have a buffer, it makes the final step a little easier.

You start with the 1500 grit paper and wet sand your way down to the 12000 grit. One thing to keep in mind, sand to much and you will expose the wood. if that happens, you have to refinish the scales. Sand the defect out at the three higher grits. Once you get past 3200 grit you are not removing much material. If your spot is not removed by then, you need to go back to 1500 and sand a little more. Keep the pressure light, remember you are sanding off a hairs width of finish. Don’t spend to much time around the edges, the sides will be a little thinner than the top so they are easy to sand through. Keep the scales wet while you sand.

Once you get through the 12000 grit you will have a nice gloss, but it still needs a little more polishing. For that, I use white rogue and my buffer. You have to be very careful at this point. If you go to slow or use too much pressure, you will burn the finish and have to start over. A couple basic tips, keep the edge on the outward side of the buffers rotation. If you get a corner turned into the buffing wheel, it will grab and throw your scale across the workshop, break the scales or break your hand. The basic safety rules still apply, no long sleeves, no dangly anything that can get caught in the wheel, ware eye protection yada yada yada.

Once you have them buffed you will almost be there. The shine will be back but to match the original high gloss finish you will need to give them a final wax and light buff. Then you will be ready to drop in your blade.

Ran out of attachment room.

Thank you, for taking the time to put this all together, I for one do realize how much work these things take to do....

Wow...that's awesome of you,cannonfodder, to take the time to document this and post it.

It's really great how the craftsmen on SRP really take the time to share their techniques and "secrets."

Thanks guys!

Mark

Awesome post. Nice and succinct. Wiki worthy.

Great looking out for the rest of us here. And thanks for taking the time and hard work in putting this together.

Nice post Cannonfodder.

This tutorial has been wikified, with many thanks to Robin (BeBerlin), here.

James.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

This tutorial has been wikified, with many thanks to Robin (BeBerlin), here.

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From the give-credit-where-credit-is-due department: I did not do anything. I only made the images a bit bigger. Great job.

On a personal note: Creating longer posts with images in the Wiki is a lot easier than in the forum. And help is always available in the Chat.

Glad everyone found it helpful. There really wasn’t much to it, just a little sanding and snap a photo between each grit. Another little tip, if you are going to give them a coat of gloss urethane instead of buffing them out don’t sand them to fine. If you do not have micromesh, you can use regular auto body sand paper. Do not go beyond 1000 grit. You can actually go to fine. The finish needs something to grab onto, the light striations give the urethane something to bind with.

Where did you find sandpaper with those grit levels. Did you end up at an autobody supply store or something?

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Originally Posted by dnjrboy

Where did you find sandpaper with those grit levels. Did you end up at an autobody supply store or something?

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Buy Micro-Mesh Sanding Kit, Finishing Accessories, Sanding & Scraping -

This should come in very helpful. A few questions though...

Is it absolutely necessary to go all the way up to 12k grit? With CA and Poly, I'd go to 2000 grit then polish with simichrome and it would be alright.

Also, I find when I sand epoxy at grits past 1000, the paper loads up very quickly. It's not as bad wet sanding, but I still get loading. Do you have the same problem? It's not that loading is a huge problem, it's just that if I were to get micromesh sandpaper (which is much more expensive), I don't think it would be too economical if every time I used a sheet it loaded up and I had to get rid of it.

That is why you have to keep them wet. It keeps the loading to a minimum. I sand them with a stream of water trickling on them all the time. I have not had a problem with the micromesh loading up. If your resin is still semi soft then it will load up.

Epoxy with 2000 grit is still very cloudy. You could buff it beyond that point but it would take a lot more work than simply sanding up through the ultra high grits then a quick buff to restore the ultra gloss finish.

Once they are put together, they look like this.

Another quick question here... I was just wondering if it's safe to start at a lower grit than 1200? As in, would it cause any effects that would prohibit attaining the ultra high gloss? I'm guessing as long as your sand through each grit thoroughly, that it is indeed safe, but I'd just like to make sure.

I suppose you could. Something like 800 grit would cut the resin very fast. You run a big risk of sanding through the resin before you get to the last grit.

Thanks for the info. I think I should be alright though. After having learned my lesson about sanding through so many times with CA, I should be able to handle it with epoxy :)