Tip: Cutting and Buffing Paint

[mlwynn]

Hey Rob,

I have painted my interior and am planning to paint my exterior with Stewart systems. Good stuff, minimal toxicity. I will be very interested to find out how Dan's polishing regimen works with a single coat system. I asked the folks and Stewart Systems and they said it should work fine. I wonder if one ought to use a couple more layers of paint?

Anyway, please post your results.

Regards,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Finishing
San Ramon, CA

[DanWright]

As a RV-12 builder, I wonder how this would work with round head rivets. Anyone have any thoughts?

[MrNomad]

Originally Posted by DanWright

As a RV-12 builder, I wonder how this would work with round head rivets. Anyone have any thoughts?

Any raised surface that rises above the level of the alum around it is a candidate to get burned thru by the sand paper during color sanding or almost certainly when the wheel is used. If your rivets are perfectly flush or below the surface of the surrounding material, perhaps they'll survive.

It's easy to find out. Take a piece of scrap and prep and paint it using the same procedures you're planning for the plane. Install rivets alike those you will use on the 12. Color sand and polish using Dan's post. The rivets that are below the surrounding surface will remain painted. The others......

You can hide many sins with an air brush & blending.

Dan, if you plan to write about blending, I look forward to it.

[gereed75]

blending please!!

It was a pleasure meeting you at Osh.

For those wondering, Dan's plane is every bit as great in person as in the pix.

[DanH]

Don't know much about blending. I'm a poor painter, thus lucky to be a half decent cut and buff guy.

Appreciate all the nice comments abour my airplane, but you guys would make terrible airplane judges

[Joe Hine]

Dan....Thanks for posting this. My airplane was painted years ago, but I'm at the paint stage of an E type restoration and your post has prompted me to do and cut and buff job. Doors are done and look great, I'm now working on that huge curvy bonnet. Best, simplest description I've seen of how to do this...thanks again

Joe Hine

[The Wizzard]

Dan, how are you painting your plane? Single or 2 stage? I am assuming that cutting and polishing will work either way.

Dave

[humptybump]

I recently restored/refinished a propeller (to match my airplane's paint scheme) using Dan's instruction. It was my first project using metallic base and clearcoat. It was surprisingly easy and the results amazed me.

Thanks Dan.

[erikpmort]

I can't believe there are people reccomending cut and buff for single stage on this thread ! Even on solids it can distort color easily. At my shop (Maaco) we paint gallons of single stage everyday and only ever attempt to cut very small runs in single stage solids if they are in inconspicuous places. Lighter colors like white are most forgiving. I see people screwing up their paint jobs trying to buff all the time. All the time. Be careful and get help. Oh and start somewhere inconspicuous, like your friends car . Base clear is heavier but fades less and does have much better metallic clarity and depth

Also most people don't know you have to get the temperature just right on a buffer. Temperature huh ? Yes you can't go too slow or too fast. Either something very bad will happen or nothing will happen and you wont get the shine back.

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by erikpmort

I can't believe there are people reccomending cut and buff for single stage on this thread ! Even on solids it can distort color easily. At my shop (Maaco) we paint gallons of single stage everyday and only ever attempt to cut very small runs in single stage solids if they are in inconspicuous places. Lighter colors like white are most forgiving. I see people screwing up their paint jobs trying to buff all the time. All the time. Be careful and get help. Oh and start somewhere inconspicuous, like your friends car

Also most people don't know you have to get the temperature just right on a buffer. Temperature huh ? Yes you can't go too slow or too fast. Either something very bad will happen or nothing will happen and you wont get the shine back.

I am no painter. But I have painted one RV-6, two VW's, a kit car, an S-10 and a bicycle with PPG Concept single stage paint (no metallics...I know my limits). All the projects except the bike were color sanded and buffed either a moderate amount or very extensively. I've had great success finishing these projects by color sanding and find this to be essential for paint projects that are mostly painted outdoors.

Another VW I restored was painted by professionals in a down-draft booth with PPG single stage paint. Yep, the pros color sanded and buffed the living daylights out of that finish until it looked like a mirror. Even the pros have to deal with the difficulties of painting modern low-VOC paints (orange peel).

Color sanding and buffing single stage paint is a lot of work and requires the proper equipment and technique. But it is well worth the effort and can result in superb results especially for those of us who don't have high-end booths.....and skills.