Polishing Polyester Gelcoat Mold To Mirror Finish Help


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whitecel
whitecel
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Hey guys,
  I made a made out of my solo cowl for my motorcycle and I had to sand down a little alligatoring.  After sanding it down, I went with 220->400->800->1000.  Then I used turtle wax rubbing compound followed by meguiars gold carnauba wax.  After all that, the part is still dull and doesn't look at all like it helped.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance
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dbcrx
dbcrx
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Hanaldo (21/09/2014)
Yeh hand polishing gelcoat is almost an impossible task, given its abrasion resistance. You really need a machine to do a great job.
It's not impossible at all. I do it quite often for small repairs. You will want to sand to 1200 or 1500 though and you do need a good cutting compound followed by a fine polish.
Hanaldo
Hanaldo
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That's why I said ALMOST impossible. I know it can be done, I do it on a daily basis with moulds that are too small and tight or complex for the machine polisher, but it's a lot of work and it does take a bit of practice to get a good result. I never bother trying to polish 1200 either, if I'm machine polishing then I go to 2000 and if I'm hand polishing I go to 3000, otherwise I'm there all day and I loath hand polishing. 
GO

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