Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
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How to refine hand sanding scratches by machine sanding - Mirka Abralon #3000 Sanding Discs
Mirka Abralon #3000 Sanding Discs
Over the course of known automotive history - most wet sanding is performed by hand. We've only had sanding discs to enable us to machine sand for a few decades.
What's the deal with machine sanding?
The deal is it makes buffing faster, easier, cooler to the paint and leaves more paint on the car. When hand sanding, due to the human elements of muscle fatigue, it's pretty much impossible to sand evenly for 100% of the time and to avoid instilling tracers into the paint. These are givens and the norm for hand sanding. Machine sanding will not only refine deeper hand sanding marks to make them more shallow but will also remove tracers making the overall results visually better.
What do you need to machine sand?
First you need a machine. What kind of machine? Pretty much any free spinning orbital polisher can be used to machine sand. Gear-driven orbital sanders can be used too but you need to be experienced in order to avoid mistakes.
Second you need machine sanding discs. There's a number of brands on the market including the brand we used for this project, Mirka Abralon which are available in both 6" and 3" sizes.
Third you need a clean source of water in a spray bottle to keep the surface wet while sanding.
I teach both hand sanding and machine sanding in my 3-day classes and the next 3-day classes are, February, May and September. For more info call Autogeek at 1-800-869-3011
For guys that are new to machine sanding I like to start them out with the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher.
Why? Because it's SUPER EASY to control. Then after they get some experience and confidence I move them up to larger tools. It's the old training philosophy of learning to walk before you run.
Here I'm using the Griot's Cordless 5 Inch Lithium-Ion Random Orbital Polisher - it's a tick fast on the OPMs when you first fire her up but once you apply a little pressure and start moving the polisher over the panel it becomes very controllable. Plus... no cords...
Here's Frank using the Griot's 3" Mini Polisher as a sander on the cowl. Frank is not new to machine sanding just making sanding easy around edges and body lines.
Here's Glen testing out the Griot's cordless polisher as a cordless sander.
Here's Arthur using the RUPES Nano Short Neck to machine sand around a raised body line.
And here's the final sanded results - completely flat paint - ready for the next step...
On Autogeek.com
Mirka Abralon #3000 Sanding Discs - 6" diameter - $49.99
MIRKA Abralon 3 Inch 3000 Grit Sanding Discs, 20 per box - $39.99
Mirka Abralon #3000 Sanding Discs
Over the course of known automotive history - most wet sanding is performed by hand. We've only had sanding discs to enable us to machine sand for a few decades.
What's the deal with machine sanding?
The deal is it makes buffing faster, easier, cooler to the paint and leaves more paint on the car. When hand sanding, due to the human elements of muscle fatigue, it's pretty much impossible to sand evenly for 100% of the time and to avoid instilling tracers into the paint. These are givens and the norm for hand sanding. Machine sanding will not only refine deeper hand sanding marks to make them more shallow but will also remove tracers making the overall results visually better.
What do you need to machine sand?
First you need a machine. What kind of machine? Pretty much any free spinning orbital polisher can be used to machine sand. Gear-driven orbital sanders can be used too but you need to be experienced in order to avoid mistakes.
Second you need machine sanding discs. There's a number of brands on the market including the brand we used for this project, Mirka Abralon which are available in both 6" and 3" sizes.
Third you need a clean source of water in a spray bottle to keep the surface wet while sanding.
I teach both hand sanding and machine sanding in my 3-day classes and the next 3-day classes are, February, May and September. For more info call Autogeek at 1-800-869-3011
For guys that are new to machine sanding I like to start them out with the Griot's Garage 3" Mini Polisher.
Why? Because it's SUPER EASY to control. Then after they get some experience and confidence I move them up to larger tools. It's the old training philosophy of learning to walk before you run.
Here I'm using the Griot's Cordless 5 Inch Lithium-Ion Random Orbital Polisher - it's a tick fast on the OPMs when you first fire her up but once you apply a little pressure and start moving the polisher over the panel it becomes very controllable. Plus... no cords...
Here's Frank using the Griot's 3" Mini Polisher as a sander on the cowl. Frank is not new to machine sanding just making sanding easy around edges and body lines.
Here's Glen testing out the Griot's cordless polisher as a cordless sander.
Here's Arthur using the RUPES Nano Short Neck to machine sand around a raised body line.
And here's the final sanded results - completely flat paint - ready for the next step...
On Autogeek.com
Mirka Abralon #3000 Sanding Discs - 6" diameter - $49.99
MIRKA Abralon 3 Inch 3000 Grit Sanding Discs, 20 per box - $39.99
