Tooling surface finish Improvements

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#1

Hi all,
Currently finalizing a pattern made of high temp precision tooling epoxy surface coat.

Obviously need to make it as polished as possible before I make the mold out of it…

its a 2x3ft surface pattern and I have been sanding like craze for the last 4h… grit 60-100-120-150… Currently at 150 and going up but I believe I unfortunately left behind some deeper scratch even after all the sending effort…

At this point, what would be the most efficient technic to finish my pattern?

  1. Continue to sand and then polish… Go back to coarser grit if required till perfect finish… Alot of effort.

  2. Simply shoot clear coat on it and buff/polish

  3. Wax/polish multiple time…

Any tricks you guys can recommend me???

This surface coat is so damn abrasion resistant… Next time will only use it for my mold itself and will use another epoxy surface coat i have for the pattern which is much more sandable…

#2

Just keep going and do the best you can.

Any scratches that are left will then be a high/scratch on your new finished mould which is then easily sanded and polished away. Often a good idea to polish your new moulds anyway.

#3

If this were me I’d clear, cut, buff, and polish.

#4

Why did you use epoxy surface coat for your plug? Duratec makes some good topcoats for this purpose, which sand and polish easily. Surface coat is generally an overkill and very expensive. Not to mention difficult to control thickness since its hand applied. Duratec can be sprayed and thickness controlled