What is the best way to sand after taking a carbon part out of the mold?
wet sand 400? dry with 300?
I always wetsand, just because if dry, the paper will clog up too fast, and the dust it generates probably isn’t the best for you.
And I’m of the attitude that, for the sake of a bit more elbow grease, using a finer paper will ultimately save time, since no matter what you start at, you have to sand with finer paper afterward to get the coarse grit scratches out, so better to do more work with 400 and be more precise than to have to go coarser, then finer.
And really, if I f*d up that bad and the part takes THAT much sanding to get good…I deserve to have to work harder…more time to think about what I did wrong and figure out how to keep it from EVER happening again! lol:D
well this isnt after clear coating. this is after the part comes out the mold and the 1st layer is gelcoat.
Then i sand. , then hit it with clear coat.
in other words, “scuffing” but with that grit. so the clear coat can stick better.
Still, the way I see it, the sanding is to take out any imperfections/mold lines, eliminate amine blush, and set up a good tooth for the further resin/clear coat layers to adhere to. I’d go 400, and have gone to 600, prior to subsequent layers.
thanks!!! …
I pull my parts and wash them to get the wax off them. Otherwise the clear will get fish eyes from the wax.
Then I sand them with 400 until the surface is dull and go back over it with 600 so I cant see any sanding scratches in my clear coat.
Youd be surprised what you can see when clear cures up solid and shrinks a bit.
Yup, it’s like a magnifying glass!