Sanding and polishing....

[SCRWDRVR]

I recently got a rotatory tool that has variable speed and I want to use it for polishing my paint jobs which I have always done by hand in the past.

So I'm curious to see what and how everyone else does theirs.

This is what I have and I'm not sure what polish I'm going to use with it...

[Snake45]

21 minutes ago, SCRWDRVR said:

I recently got a rotatory tool that has variable speed and I want to use it for polishing my paint jobs...

 

Sorry to put it bluntly, but this is a terrible idea. And I'm sure others will back me up on that. 

[crazyjim]

After wet sanding the clear, I'll often buff out with my Dremel Stylus.  I found some soft buffing pads on ebay a few years ago and they work very well with Novus #2.  Gotta be careful of the edges though.

[gijoe]

You really want to block sand/polish.  A rotary tool may be useful on a specific piece here or there, but I would discourage you from trying to use it on a body.  You'll have a very difficult time getting a consistent polish across the entire body, you'll run the risk of burning through the edges, and the metal collets have a way of coming into contact with what they aren't supposed to, even when being really careful.  

[Belugawrx]

Yep gotta agree..not a good idea... just the high rpm alone will melt most paint, and maybe even the plastic

[Miatatom]

I wouldn't recommend using it.

[StevenGuthmiller]

4 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Sorry to put it bluntly, but this is a terrible idea. And I'm sure others will back me up on that. 

Agreed!  100%.

Sometimes you just have to put forth some effort.

There's no substitute for good old fashioned elbow grease.

 

 

Steve

[slusher]

10 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Agreed!  100%.

Sometimes you just have to put forth some effort.

There's no substitute for good old fashioned elbow grease.

 

 

Steve

Totally agree..

[SCRWDRVR]

15 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Sorry to put it bluntly, but this is a terrible idea. And I'm sure others will back me up on that. 

No need to be sorry thanks for the honesty, hand rubbing it is then. At least I know now some things I was already doing right LOL.....

[jchrisf]

David Thibodeau uses a dremel to polish his 2k clears.  If it doesn't queue up to the right part go to 15:28 for his explanation.  Said he used to be a hand polisher only guy.

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 hours ago, jchrisf said:

David Thibodeau uses a dremel to polish his 2k clears.  If it doesn't queue up to the right part go to 15:28 for his explanation.  Said he used to be a hand polisher only guy.

I use the exact same Dremel tool at the same speed that he uses for polishing, for most of my grinding jobs.

Let's just say that anything is possible, but it takes one slip, or one slight contact with the metal piece on the top of the polishing wheel, and your paint job, and possibly even the body, is toast.

Personally, I'm not taking that chance.

I have had circumstances where a part was damaged, quite heavily while doing some grinding, merely by touching the part with the knurled chuck of the Dremel.

Even at the lower 10 speed, the tool is still spinning at 10,000 RPM.

Believe me, that's fast enough to do a lot of damage very quickly.

 

 

Likewise, you'll notice in this video that he is still doing the bulk of the work by hand with paper and pads.

It really doesn't require much more time or effort to do the final polish with a cloth and some compound by hand.

 

 

Steve

Edited March 26, 2019 by StevenGuthmiller

[gman]

I've used a Dremel with a polishing wheel on metal parts, and have seen what the RPM can do if the wheel slips or lingers in one spot too long first hand. I'd hate to think what that could do to carefully applied paint and the underlying plastic.

Think of the Dremel as more of a brute force/rapid progress tool, with hand filing, hand sanding and hand polishing as the icing on the cake. You can burn through portions of clear and color coats applied in typical scale thickness with a lubricated fine grit polishing pad or sandpaper, so the polishing wheel on a motorized tool can do that in the blink of an eye. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, gman said:

I've used a Dremel with a polishing wheel on metal parts, and have seen what the RPM can do if the wheel slips or lingers in one spot too long first hand. I'd hate to think what that could do to carefully applied paint and the underlying plastic.

Think of the Dremel as more of a brute force/rapid progress tool, with hand filing, hand sanding and hand polishing as the icing on the cake. You can burn through portions of clear and color coats applied in typical scale thickness with a lubricated fine grit polishing pad or sandpaper, so the polishing wheel on a motorized tool can do that in the blink of an eye. 

Undoubtedly!

 

 

Steve

[SCRWDRVR]

Thanks guys, I think I will just do them by hand, I did cars for years but can see the issues stated and from that experience. It's probably best to just leave well enough alone...