Ever get pigtails when damp sanding?

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adrynalinjunkie

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Mike,
I think I saw you were using megs 1000 grit damp sanding discs on the GG 3" DA
Do you ever get pigtails damp sanding with a DA?

I have been nocking new sprayed clear flat with 1000 dry on the DA then following with megs 1500 damp but I am so tired of dealing with pigtails from dry DA sanding I am tempted to order some megs 1000 damp discs and skip the dry sanding all together.
 
What speed are you using? Try to keep the speed down (on a GG 6" DA, this would be about speed two or three).

When using a low speed, limit the amount of pad rotation, This will require some pressure, which is fine. Pad rotation is one of the most significant contributors to pigtailing.

Do you have any higher grades of sanding disks? This will make it a bit easier to finish.

What are you using to remove the sanding marks? Starting with 1k grit is pretty aggressive, so a wool pad and a rotary are probably going to be in order.
 
I'm not Mike but I'll share withyou my expierence as I've done a fair amount of painting and sanding. 1000 grit is pretty rough and yes pigtails are possible. Use superior technique like changing paper frequently and working as clean as possible. Avoid putting too much pressure on the sander and let the machine do the work. Most importantly you need to get up to the higher grit sanding paper 2000 and above. They are using 5000 grit now!

Many times pigtails are caused by getting contaminants stuck in the paper. You really need to work as clean as you can can not be underscored enough when wet or damp sanding.

I'm not preaching here just sharing an opinion and hope it helps. PS; Use high quality sand paper but that's a given.
 
That's true I never thought about it but when the disk spins and the disc starts wearing out the paper gets clogged with seeds of sanding dust. Those seeds or clumps of dust are what makes the tails. (When the disc is spinning)
That's why I like damp sanding because it creates the moist slurry that never clumps up and forms seeds that make pigtails.
 
adrynalinjunkie said:
Mike,
I think I saw you were using megs 1000 grit damp sanding discs on the GG 3" DA
Do you ever get pigtails damp sanding with a DA?

I have been nocking new sprayed clear flat with 1000 dry on the DA then following with megs 1500 damp but I am so tired of dealing with pigtails from dry DA sanding I am tempted to order some megs 1000 damp discs and skip the dry sanding all together.
Click to expand...


Sorry for the late reply... been kind of busy....


I don't like dry sanding, I don't like to wear a dust mask or respirator and I certainly don't want to breathe in whatever vile chemicals are used in car paint. That's just me though as I have friends in the industry that prefer to dry sand but they also do wear protective air filtering masks.

I do like dampsanding as it keeps the dust embodied in water instead of the air. Your discs won't tend to clog as fast either since the water will provide a place for the paint to reside instead of impacting into the face of your sanding disc.

As far as reducing pigtails I think Ralph aka magnus makes a very good point about working clean.

Fact is you're going to have abrasive particles wear off the disc
Fact is you're going to have paint particles abraded off the paint

These are two uncontrollable factors and the only way to avoid them is to work clean. What I do is wipe my panels after sanding thoroughly and rinse the face of my discs off with my clean water supply, (spray bottle of water).

I don't try to adjust my pressure to avoid pigtails, I adjust my pressure to sand efficiently, that is the goal. I don't adjust my speed to avoid pigtails I set the speed at what's needed to maintain pad rotation.

Besides the above, the most important factor you CAN control is to have a clean shop and a surgically clean car before sanding.


Might be a few more tips in this video from last night where all the sanding we did was dampsanding with 3" and 6" Trizact discs.

I did not see any signs of pigtails from our sanding.

Before we started I did see pigtails from the when the body shop machine sanded dry.


1965 Mustang GT Fastback - Wetsanding - Live Broadcast


[video=youtube_share;izDqUHdoCQg&hd=1"]Part 1 - How to Wetsand, Cut and Buff a 1965...[/video]​


[video=youtube_share;Z-BptVd-_R8&hd=1"]Part 2 - How to Wetsand, Cut and Buff a 1965...[/video]​




Hope that helps...


:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Sorry for the late reply... been kind of busy....


I don't like dry sanding, I don't like to wear a dust mask or respirator and I certainly don't want to breathe in whatever vile chemicals are used in car paint. That's just me though as I have friends in the industry that prefer to dry sand but they also do wear protective air filtering masks.

I do like dampsanding as it keeps the dust embodied in water instead of the air. Your discs won't tend to clog as fast either since the water will provide a place for the paint to reside instead of impacting into the face of your sanding disc.

As far as reducing pigtails I think Ralph aka magnus makes a very good point about working clean.

Fact is you're going to have abrasive particles wear off the disc
Fact is you're going to have paint particles abraded off the paint

These are two uncontrollable factors and the only way to avoid them is to work clean. What I do is wipe my panels after sanding thoroughly and rinse the face of my discs off with my clean water supply, (spray bottle of water).

I don't try to adjust my pressure to avoid pigtails, I adjust my pressure to sand efficiently, that is the goal. I don't adjust my speed to avoid pigtails I set the speed at what's needed to maintain pad rotation.

Besides the above, the most important factor you CAN control is to have a clean shop and a surgically clean car before sanding.


Might be a few more tips in this video from last night where all the sanding we did was dampsanding with 3" and 6" Trizact discs.

I did not see any signs of pigtails from our sanding.

Before we started I did see pigtails from the when the body shop machine sanded dry.


1965 Mustang GT Fastback - Wetsanding - Live Broadcast


[video=youtube_share;izDqUHdoCQg&hd=1"]Part 1 - How to Wetsand, Cut and Buff a 1965...[/video]​


[video=youtube_share;Z-BptVd-_R8&hd=1"]Part 2 - How to Wetsand, Cut and Buff a 1965...[/video]​




Hope that helps...


:)
Click to expand...



Cheers! +1000

I found this out all too quickly working in a body shop. Damp sanding and keeping the area clean are the 2 best ways to avoid pigtails. It's a tedious process, but the results are worth your patience.

And, YES it's very possible to get pigtails when damp sanding. As Mike said, keep your work area clean and frequently rinse/change your sanding discs to avoid those pesky little pigtails. With good practice and technique you can dampsand quite confidently, achieving incredible finishes.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
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