There have been lots of threads about "which swirl finder light to buy" but not many on technique.
When your paint has lots of swirls/scratches there's not much technique involved. They show up at pretty much any angle and just about any light.
But when you have faint or infrequent scratches, or are in the process of correcting denser scratching, or have light colored paint like white, getting the right illumination (angle and height of the light relative to your eyes) can be a challenge.
Sometimes you think you catch a glimpse of some faint scratches but then have to go back and hunt for the right illumination so you can take a better look at them (sometimes you can't seem to find them again ;o)).
I learned something this weekend from Wills.WindowsAndWheels (as he was kind enough to let me audition his Rupes 15 and 21) about swirl finding lights which is more effective on white paint than any technique I've previously tried. I've played with it a bit more since then and it's definitely an improvement: Hold the light above your head (rather than between your head and the paint) and also move the light slowly up and down (rather than side to side) over about a 10" range.
Now I'm not saying this makes it easy to find every faint scratch in white paint, just easiER. It helps make the scratches pop out better. It does take some practice, but it's definitely better than what I used to do (mainly, side to side motion of the Brinkman Xenon light, with the light between my head and the paint).
If you've got some techniques that work for you, please share.
When your paint has lots of swirls/scratches there's not much technique involved. They show up at pretty much any angle and just about any light.
But when you have faint or infrequent scratches, or are in the process of correcting denser scratching, or have light colored paint like white, getting the right illumination (angle and height of the light relative to your eyes) can be a challenge.
Sometimes you think you catch a glimpse of some faint scratches but then have to go back and hunt for the right illumination so you can take a better look at them (sometimes you can't seem to find them again ;o)).
I learned something this weekend from Wills.WindowsAndWheels (as he was kind enough to let me audition his Rupes 15 and 21) about swirl finding lights which is more effective on white paint than any technique I've previously tried. I've played with it a bit more since then and it's definitely an improvement: Hold the light above your head (rather than between your head and the paint) and also move the light slowly up and down (rather than side to side) over about a 10" range.
Now I'm not saying this makes it easy to find every faint scratch in white paint, just easiER. It helps make the scratches pop out better. It does take some practice, but it's definitely better than what I used to do (mainly, side to side motion of the Brinkman Xenon light, with the light between my head and the paint).
If you've got some techniques that work for you, please share.
. But when I do pull it out, it is accurate for the most part to show swirls/swirls gone on a 50/50 panel. But then again, the flashlight ap was free, so maybe the high tech radar gun/swirl finders are better lmao :buffing: