Color sanding

[Jeff Buchanan]

For the bicycle painters out there, does anyone prefer to color sand after the final clear coat, then buff and use a hand glaze. Or do you guys recommend wet sanding prior to the final clear coat?

Thanks!

[Dave Anderson]

Hi Jeff,

For me, the short answer is that "it depends". I nearly always sand before the final clear coat. I sometimes "cut and buff" after the final clear, but generally only to remove an isolated dust nib or etc. Cutting and buffing an entire bike frame, especially a lugged one, with all of their nooks and crannies isn't very appealing to me.

Dave

[Rody]

Jeff,

Color sanding usually refers to small touch up sanding directly on your basecoat, before any clear is applied. If I'm interpreting your query correctly, you are asking if after the final clear, painters are sanding down the finish and buffing it back out with a compound.

I prefer to level my layers before the final clear by sanding and then shooting a very hot (heavily reduced) final clear that will burn into the previous layers and smooth everything out like glass. Shooting a heavily reduced final coat can be incredibly frustrating though, as if you are not practiced, you'll have runs all over the place. The trick to this is building a paint fixture that allows you to continually rotate the frame, keeping it moving, so you use gravity to your advantage, avoiding sags or runs as the catalyst hardens the final coat.

Much like Dave, I will getly touch up a small dust nib with a quick hit of 1200 grit and a little Perfect-It if necessary.

I never, ever, polish out an entire frame...way to time consuming. I prefer to adopt a process that makes it unnessary.

If you have the inclination and time, buried in my blog are numerous posts detailing the paint process.

Good luck,

rody

[Jonathan]

Jeff, I do a final sand before a very reduced final clear.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Thanks for the advice. I painted 2 frames last week (my 3rd and 4th try) and was unhappy with the final finish. I had a bit of orange peel and dry spray so I ended wet sanding with 1500 grit and hand rubbed the finish with Meguiar's #2 fine-cut cleaner.

Dave and Rody- You guys are 100% right, I finished about 10 hours later. I was thrilled with the finished product, however, no way to make a profit with that method.

Again, thanks for the help!

[Rody]

Jeff,

Post up some pics of the finish before sanding and a quick detail of the product you are using, gun and setting parameters. We'll see if we can't help you tweak it a bit to save you some time.

r