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jingato
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Group: Forum Members
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Hi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! 
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beliblisk
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 53,
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+xHi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! These are sanding marks not swirls. You were moving to fast trough the grids. You defenetly can sand it with 800 and clearcoat it 
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jingato
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 9,
Visits: 48
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+x+xHi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! These are sanding marks not swirls. You were moving to fast trough the grids. You defenetly can sand it with 800 and clearcoat it Ok, thanks. That is good to know. I will go back to the sanding at 800. I don't mind working it back up to 3000 either. Would you recommend not sanding in circular motions? Also, is there a benefit to clearing it vs polishing it? I have the polish, should I just polish it again after? Is it easier to hide the sanding marks with clear coat or anything?
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beliblisk
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 53,
Visits: 2.8K
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+x+x+xHi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! These are sanding marks not swirls. You were moving to fast trough the grids. You defenetly can sand it with 800 and clearcoat it Ok, thanks. That is good to know. I will go back to the sanding at 800. I don't mind working it back up to 3000 either. Would you recommend not sanding in circular motions? Also, is there a benefit to clearing it vs polishing it? I have the polish, should I just polish it again after? Is it easier to hide the sanding marks with clear coat or anything? I would say that it depends on your cosmetic standard for finished product. Its really hard to make glass like finish with sanding (i mean really no scratch what so ever). Scratches will only appear as circular (under the light or sun) regardless of the way you sand. I thend to switch directions as i change grid like 800 0* and 90* then 1200 +-45* so you can see if any remaining coarser scratches easier. Clearcoat adds UV protection so thats added bonus Bare in mind that clearcoting will expose any even the tiniest pin hole and that takes good UHS clear coat and quite a few hands to fill. Ultimate finish for me is clear coated and then sanded with 2k to remove orange peal folowed by 2 stage polish  This is gelcoated, sanded to 2k (to remove print trough after full post cure) and polished (not perfect finish but it suffices).
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jingato
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 9,
Visits: 48
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+x+x+x+xHi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! These are sanding marks not swirls. You were moving to fast trough the grids. You defenetly can sand it with 800 and clearcoat it Ok, thanks. That is good to know. I will go back to the sanding at 800. I don't mind working it back up to 3000 either. Would you recommend not sanding in circular motions? Also, is there a benefit to clearing it vs polishing it? I have the polish, should I just polish it again after? Is it easier to hide the sanding marks with clear coat or anything? I would say that it depends on your cosmetic standard for finished product. Its really hard to make glass like finish with sanding (i mean really no scratch what so ever). Scratches will only appear as circular (under the light or sun) regardless of the way you sand. I thend to switch directions as i change grid like 800 0* and 90* then 1200 +-45* so you can see if any remaining coarser scratches remain easier. Clearcoat adds UV protection so thats added bonus Bare in mind that clearcoting will expose any even the tiniest pin hole and that takes good UHS clear coat and quite a few hands to fill. Ultimate finish for me is clear coated and then sanded with 2k to remove orange peal folowed by 2 stage polish This is gelcoated, sanded to 2k (to remove print trough after full post cure) and polished (not perfect finish but it suffices). That looks really good! I'll try the same Thanks again
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beliblisk
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 53,
Visits: 2.8K
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+x+x+x+x+xHi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! These are sanding marks not swirls. You were moving to fast trough the grids. You defenetly can sand it with 800 and clearcoat it Ok, thanks. That is good to know. I will go back to the sanding at 800. I don't mind working it back up to 3000 either. Would you recommend not sanding in circular motions? Also, is there a benefit to clearing it vs polishing it? I have the polish, should I just polish it again after? Is it easier to hide the sanding marks with clear coat or anything? I would say that it depends on your cosmetic standard for finished product. Its really hard to make glass like finish with sanding (i mean really no scratch what so ever). Scratches will only appear as circular (under the light or sun) regardless of the way you sand. I thend to switch directions as i change grid like 800 0* and 90* then 1200 +-45* so you can see if any remaining coarser scratches remain easier. Clearcoat adds UV protection so thats added bonus Bare in mind that clearcoting will expose any even the tiniest pin hole and that takes good UHS clear coat and quite a few hands to fill. Ultimate finish for me is clear coated and then sanded with 2k to remove orange peal folowed by 2 stage polish This is gelcoated, sanded to 2k (to remove print trough after full post cure) and polished (not perfect finish but it suffices). That looks really good! I'll try the same Thanks again I would just sand it with 800 and clear coat it as perhaps you dont have much epoxy there to play with anyway. If you see sinkholes when spraying dont try to fill them in a single go.... it usually takes quite a few hands (if there is just an odd one here and there you can tap them with something pointy to fill them). good luck .... oh and befor that get it to service T somehow as it will ruin perfect finish with some nice print trough
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Warren (Staff)
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Group: Administrators
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The NW1 will work on resin from 1200 grit upwards, but generally 1500 grit or finer makes it much easier to work. NW1 is a diminishing abrasive so the more you work it the finer it gets so you need to work it for long enough to break it down finer. Also don't put too much on the pad as otherwise you break down some of it, then later introduce the coarse bits which scratch it up again! But following it properly you should get a good gloss.
As mentioned, you may have gone through the grits too quickly.
Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant
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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Just in addition to beliblisk and Warren's advice - 240 grit is WAY to harsh to have much hope of polishing out to a true full gloss. If you need to start with anything harsher than 800 grit in order to flat the surface, then you really need to clear coat or add another layer of resin (which can be difficult to keep flat). If you start with 240 grit, then you are very likely to end up with the result you have there.
Wet-sanding and polishing is definitely a skill, it takes awhile to learn to do it well enough to not end up with some degree of scratches/swirls/hazing. If you can spray paint well, that is often the quicker method - though personally I am generally never happy with the surface straight off the gun anyway, most 2k clears will dull-off a touch on curing and still need a polish to bring them back to their full gloss.
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jingato
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 9,
Visits: 48
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+x+x+x+x+x+xHi. I am working on the final stage of my first carbon fiber skinning project. I used all XRC products and carbon from easy composites and the process went smoothly. I did do some of the early sanding with a random orbital sander at 240 grit. I then wet sanded by hand using circular motions from 400 up to 3000. At that stage, the product looked really good, but had a dull, matte finish. I don't recall having any noticeable swirl marks at that time, but it is possible they just weren't visible. Anyways, today I did the polishing. I did all polishing using pads that I also bought on easy composite and attached to my random orbital sander. I started with the NW1 super cutting compound ( black ), then used the TopFinish 2 ( black ), and then finished it off with the EasyGloss. Below is the final result. As you can see, there are a lot of swirl marks. I'm not really sure how to proceed now. Should I just try a second round of polishing? Should I go all the way back to the sanding stage? Should I give it another coat of resin? Or should I spray it with some automotive clear coat? I have the clear coat and wouldn't mind doing that, but would that fill in the swirl marks? I don't want to spray it and then regret it. What do you guys with experience recommend? Thanks! These are sanding marks not swirls. You were moving to fast trough the grids. You defenetly can sand it with 800 and clearcoat it Ok, thanks. That is good to know. I will go back to the sanding at 800. I don't mind working it back up to 3000 either. Would you recommend not sanding in circular motions? Also, is there a benefit to clearing it vs polishing it? I have the polish, should I just polish it again after? Is it easier to hide the sanding marks with clear coat or anything? I would say that it depends on your cosmetic standard for finished product. Its really hard to make glass like finish with sanding (i mean really no scratch what so ever). Scratches will only appear as circular (under the light or sun) regardless of the way you sand. I thend to switch directions as i change grid like 800 0* and 90* then 1200 +-45* so you can see if any remaining coarser scratches remain easier. Clearcoat adds UV protection so thats added bonus Bare in mind that clearcoting will expose any even the tiniest pin hole and that takes good UHS clear coat and quite a few hands to fill. Ultimate finish for me is clear coated and then sanded with 2k to remove orange peal folowed by 2 stage polish This is gelcoated, sanded to 2k (to remove print trough after full post cure) and polished (not perfect finish but it suffices). That looks really good! I'll try the same Thanks again I would just sand it with 800 and clear coat it as perhaps you dont have much epoxy there to play with anyway. If you see sinkholes when spraying dont try to fill them in a single go.... it usually takes quite a few hands (if there is just an odd one here and there you can tap them with something pointy to fill them). good luck .... oh and befor that get it to service T somehow as it will ruin perfect finish with some nice print trough Hey, so I went with the clear coat using a spray can and I got the orange peel like you mentioned. I did some sanding, but then it looked like it was spotty. Perhaps I sanded too much after the clear? Can I ask you also what is gelcoat? Is that another method of clear coating? Do you know if that comes out better than clear coat from spray paint? This is another small piece I did some testing on. I had cleared it and then sanded it, but it looked spotty so I decided to sand off all the clear coat and then polish it. It doesn't look half bad, but it does have these blemishes in a few spots that you can only see at certain angles. Do you know if sanding off the polish and clearing it again would get rid of those blemishes. Would a it maybe need another layer of resin over it after sanding and then the clear coat or gelcoat.  I'm curious about this gecloat because that example you had looked pretty damn good.Is it something you spray on or paint? Do you have a link to the product you used?
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Hanaldo
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Group: Forum Members
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Gelcoat isn't for skinning, it is for making parts from a mould.
The blemishes on that small piece look like areas that still have clear coat. Whether they are two spots where the clear coat hasn't been sanded off yet or they are the only two spots where the clear coat has been sanded through - hard to tell from that photo. But you could try to keep sanding them, and see if they get bigger or smaller. If they get smaller, they are remaining clear. If they get bigger, then you have a lot more sanding to do to completely remove the clear.
There isn't really a short-cut to achieving perfect results, it takes practise as well as using good materials. Spray cans just won't give you a good finish straight from the can, they will be orange peely. The solution is either to practise sanding and polishing and improve the finish that way, or to get proper spray equipment and use a proper 2k coating that will give you a good finish off the gun. Both of those approaches will require good technique, so there just isn't an option that doesn't involve honing your skills.
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