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  1. #1
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    How to wet sand paint flat by hand by Mike Phillips

    Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod



    Date: Saturday, December 16th
    Time: 9:00am till we're finished
    Location: Autogeek's Show Car Garage

    Requirements: Member of the AutogeekOnline.net discussion forum or member of Autogeek's Detailing 101 Facebook Group


    Hands-on project covers,

    1. Hand sanding techniques
    2. Machine sanding techniques
    3. Rotary buffer techniques
    4. Orbital polisher techniques


    1929 Ford model A Sedan Delivery

    Custom features

    Full TCI chassis and suspension.
    Steel body, fiberglass fenders.
    Chevy 4.3 V-6 engine
    Automatic transmission
    Headers
    Lokar Shifter
    Aluminum framed fold out windshield
    LED taillights
    Hagan saddle gas tanks
    Full gauges
    Vintage air conditioning
    Great driver.


    Here's the car as it looked this morning before it was dropped off for a custom paint job.

















    Out of the paint booth this Saturday!

    This custom paint job should be completed by this Saturday, as soon as it's back home I'll have new pictures of the completed paint job and will add to this thread.





  2. #2
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod

    First picture of our project car out of the paint booth




    More to come...





    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod

    .


    Those taking part in this project will have a chance to use the NEW FLEX Cordless rotary polisher and orbital polisher....


    More pictures here,

    NEW Cordless FLEX Tools at Autogeek Rotary and Orbital Polishers







  4. #4
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod

    ***Update***



    Our wetsanding project has arrived....







    We start at 9:00am tomorrow...




  5. #5
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod

    ***Update***


    Here's a few BEFORE pictures of this cool streetrod....









    Later after Mike the owner finishes assembling the car inside and out, we'll have it back, park it in the same place and take the after pictures. Probably be sometime in January as he still needs to put the interior in.


    The tip or lesson to everyone reading this... when working on epic projects....

    Take great before pictures!


    You can never go back in time and get the before shots after all the work is over. That is unless Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Rajesh Koothrappali and Howard Wolowitz will let you borrow their time machine.




    Probably faster and easier just to take pictures...



  6. #6
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod

    But that's not all!...


    Moved the Model A into the garage and took a few pictures to show the orange peel. If you're new to wet sanding, that's okay - we were all new at one time. While most people gravitate towards swirl finder lights to look for swirls - for orange peel what works GREAT is normal florescent lights.


    Here's a few pictures...


    Orange Peel
    I opened the garage bay door as it puts a strip of sunlight shining through the garage onto the large flat panel on the side and highlights the orange peel texture common to new/custom paint jobs.






    Here you can see the garage bay door open...





    Here you can see the orange peel...








    I adjusted a camera setting to darken the shot...





    Looks like the texture on the peel of an orange - See the yellow pole in the reflection?




    It's this pole - if we do the job right, when the Model A comes back we'll take after shots and we should see dramatically more clear and defined reflections.





  7. #7
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: Wetsanding Project - 1929 Ford Model A Sedan Delivery Streetrod

    Yet more....


    There's a lot of thin panels and intricate areas on these old body designs so to work these small areas we're going to get small to quote Steve Martin...
















    Time to shut down the Show Car Garage!


    I'll be here tomorrow morning around 8:00am

    See everyone tomorrow...



  8. #8
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    How to wet sand paint flat by hand by Mike Phillips

    How to wet sand paint flat by hand by Mike Phillips



    Why wetsand paint?

    Great question. The answer is to create a more perfect reflection when you look at the finish on a car. Sanding removes orange peel and other surface texture and irregularities by leveling the surface until it's completely flat. After you have sanded the finish flat then your buff out your sanding marks usually with a compound, wool pad and rotary buffer. After that you polish using a foam pad to maximize gloss and shine. If you do everything right you will end up with a show car finish.

    NOTE: Wet sanding by hand or by machine is really only safe for custom paint job, not factory clearcoats. The reason why is a custome paint job will have more paint compared to a factory finish. For more information see this article,



    Hand sanding techniques

    Below are the basics. If you really want to know how to wetsand, I recommend taking a class from an experienced instructor that covers this topic in their class.


    Soak your papers at least 15 minutes before use.
    The Nikken Finishing papers have a latex rubber impregnated paper backing that is waterproof and this prevents the finishing paper from breaking-down into pulp from over soaking. It's possible for grit particles to enter into your water source so if you can, use Grit Guards in the bottom of your bucket.


    Try to place your papers in water and soak them at least 15 minutes before sanding.




    There are two common ways to wrap your paper around a backing pad



    1: Wrapping - this is where you wrap a half sheet around a backing pad.








    One side is covered with a seamless portion of sandpaper. This of course is the side you sand with.






    2: Folding - this is where you fold a single half-sheet of paper in half once and then fold this around your backing pad.










    One side is completely covered, this if course is the side you sand with.





    Half sheet folded around the backing pad.







    What it looks like from a top view.





    Clean water
    Use water from a clean source to lubricate the surface while sanding. Add a little soap, (a few drops is all that's needed, don't go crazy with the soap), and as you sand, continually spray water to the section you're sanding as this will make each stroke easier. Seriously, spray water onto the surface after every other stroke or two you'll find the paper will cut a lot smoother.


    Hold the backing pad canted, or at an angle, see how the tip of the paper-wrapped backing pad is leading as I move my hand forward. Don't hold the pad squared-up as you sand because you'll tend to cut deeper ruts if you sand with the pad in perfect perpendicular alignment in the direction of your strokes.


    Right - Hold backing pad at a little bit of an angle while making front to back strokes.





    Wrong - Don't sand with the backing pad in a perpendicular alignment with your front to back strokes, you risk gouging or putting in deeper scratches where the paper is cutting on the outside edges of the length of the backing pad.




    1929 Model A Wetsanding Project at Autogeek

    One of the things I like to do with my job here at Autogeek is invite our forum members and our facebook group members to Autogeek to be part of projects I put together. These are NOT classes in the sense of a formal class like I teach here three times a year or the Roadshow Classes I teach at off-site locations, but simply "projects". In the past these have been held on Thursday nights, like the TNOGs I started for Meguiar's back in 2006 that continue to this day. Nick and Joe over at McKee's 37 have been holding Thursday night classes since Bob McKee sold Autogeek but kept his own name brand of products so I've moved my Thursday night classes to Wednesday night so as not to create confusion.

    For some project however, a weeknight isn't enough time to do the job properly - for these projects I schedule them for a Saturday. As is the case for this project. Trying to wetsand, cut and buff an entire car on a weeknight is ridiculous, so I scheduled it for a Saturday and we had a great turnout. Sad to say, half the guys that showed up left early, some said they had other obligations. My guess is they had know idea how much work this type of craft is nor did they understand how much time goes into a project like this. No worries - now they know.


    So after washing the Model A and removing the overspray paint which you can read bout here,

    How to remove overspray while washing your car


    Next up was a few lessons on correct technique (shared above in the pictures), and then I turned the guys loose...


    Here's Frank using a sanding backing pad to squeegee off the sanding slurry to inspect for orange peel. If all the orange peel has been removed you can move onto a new area to sand.







    After sanding the hood flat - Frank moves onto the side panels of the engine cover.







    At the back is Antti sanding the orange peel flat above the rear door





    Here's Jim sanding to remove orange peel on the passenger side of the Model A





    Glen is tackling the side of the engine cowl and the passenger front fender...





    Arthur and his boys are sanding one of the rear fenders, which were left off the Model A on purpose to make sanding and buffing them and the rear section of the Model A easier.









    Craig and Mark are tackling the other fender...





    Hand sanding results - the major panels are all now sanded completely flat




    Next step...
    After hand sanding you can remove your sanding marks via the compounding process or you can refine your sanding marks to a much higher grit level via hand sanding again or via machine sanding. I chose to use machine sanding for the next step and those pictures are available here.


    When you do everything right, the final results looks like wet paint...







    Recommendations


    Before ever taking on any type of wetsanding project, first you will need the right supplies and tools. For more information on the tools and supplies we used to hand sand this freshly painted streetrod, see this article,

    Cost to wetsand a car? Example of tools needed and the cost






    On Autogeek.com

    For just the hand sanding step, here's what we used...

    Griot's Garage BOSS Finishing Papers #2000 precision finishing papers - $29.99

    Meguiars Sanding Pad E7200 - $3.99





  9. Likes FrankS, Aaryn NZ liked this post
  10. #9
    Mike Phillips
    Guest

    Re: How to wet sand paint flat by hand by Mike Phillips

    ***Bump***


    Need a clean URL for the link.


    And here's a similar project showing hand sanding with MACHIND SANDING DISCS


    Mirka Abralon for Hand Wetsanding and Machine Wetsanding 1934 Ford Pickup Streetrod Project









    Who else does these types of project?




  11. #10
    Super Member Aaryn NZ's Avatar
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    New Zealand
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    Re: How to wet sand paint flat by hand by Mike Phillips

    Great article Mike.

    Ugh. I’m just not a fan of sanding ... I could never be a body shop guy. In saying that, I full understand the results begin at the start. It is definitely a skill that is incredibly valuable to have up your sleeve even if you seldom need you use it.

    Geeze, that Panel is a sweet looker!


    Aaryn NZ.
    a DETAILS Blenheim New Zealand - IDA Member - C.Quartz Finest Authorized Installer

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