Polishing 101
Cleanie Dini's tip for polishing and ladies (not polishing ladies): Take your time, be gentle.
When one first picks up a high speed polisher
they may wield it as little more than a grinder, and in actuality may
do that
much damage if they do not follow a few simple basic points to keep in mind when
you attempt to polish for the first time. When you attempt to polish a boat,
step up to the plate with the intent of removing scratches, surface contaminates and
oxidation from painted and gel coat surfaces. If this is not your intent then
put down the polisher and grab the rags. The main purpose of a polisher is to
quickly and efficiently remove scratches, swirl marks, contaminates and oxidation by rubbing in an
abrasive on the surface. The point of the high speed of the polisher is two
fold. It first brings the surface temperature up so the abrasive can do its
work (by softening the paint), second the speed wisps the abrasive and any oils off the surface leaving a
clean shiny surface (buffing).
You have many different variables you need to consider every time you go to polish. It can be broken down to few different points. (for a technical breakdown see italics below)
- Begin with a clean boat
- Know what material your boat is (Imron Paint, or Gelcoat)
- Start with a slow speed in a place that won't be seen easily
- Never take the buffer up to max speed
- Keep the buffer flat
- Take your time
- READ AND LEARN ABOUT POLISH AND PADS YOU ARE USING BEFORE YOU THINK ABOUT POLISHING
With these few simple points you begin to gasp a high speed rotary polisher. Keep in mind that nothing works magic and you are facing a great number of risks doing this these risks include but are not limited to:
- Burning gel coat
- Cutting through paint
- Putting swirl marks in gel coat
With the risks in mind remember don't be
discouraged, there is still reason to polish. With every risk is a reward
and
that reward is in most cases a boat that looks better than the day you bought
it. Gel coat is a very hard durable surface that lends itself well to polishing.
When high speed polishing you must first decide what condition your boat is:
like new, slightly oxidized (looks slightly dull), oxidized (can wipe chalk off
with your finger), severely oxidized (feel rough to touch with lots of chalk).
If your boat is like new or slightly oxidized I would suggest that
you use a random orbital polisher. If it is worse you then move on to the pad.
The pad is quite important in that it governs how the product is rubbed on and
taken off. There are wool and foam pads. For oxidized finishes I would go with a
foam pad which is less abrasive and lean towards a pad that is less aggressive
within the foam category (see Presta for foam pads that differ in
aggressiveness.) For severely oxidized surfaces I would choose a wool blend pad
(again Presta offers a full line of wool pads.) Pure wool is the most abrasive
and as other
materials are mixed in the pad becomes less abrasive. Next would the type of
polish. There are hundreds of
polishes to use and only you can choose the
correct polish for your needs, that is why you must first know your boat then go
to product reports and read about the products. There is a product out there
that will make your boat look great. Find it here on this site, if you don't
know, ask the question. Keep in mind that you will want a polish for light
oxidation and a compound or cutting crème for heavy oxidation. If your gel coat
isn't bad stick with a hand polish. Next is a good procedure to develop your
polishing skills.
- Inspect polisher and power cord for any breaks or open wires. make sure you have one long cord (no breaks) and keep it away from the water if you on on the water. Tie down power cord before you plug it in and make sure all cord is dry same goes for your hands.
- Read MSDS and see what safety equipment is needed (goggles, dust mask, etc.)
- Secure any adapter to polisher and any pad to adapter or polisher
- Set up your worksite with polish, wipe down rags and any other supplies you may need
- Apply directed amount of polish to center of pad and rub in.
- Plug power cord in and polisher into cord
- Set speed to lowest setting and make sure polisher is working properly
- Place pad on surface and slowly start polisher
- Your polisher will slowly rub in the polish (apply only enough downward force to keep the polisher controlled)
- Direct polisher to cover directed area (usually 1-2 square feet) and never wait around in one spot for too long.
- Slowly increase speed to about 1/3
- Lighten pressure and let product buff off
- Assess work
If your body gets tired stop and take a rest, you are polishing not an iron man
During this whole time your polisher is flat on the surface. Don't try to get into corners or give the pad any one place to focus heat.
Two passes with a light compound is better than one with a harsh compound. Email me any questions so I can update this to better educate the home polisher.
Pages in this site dealing with polishing pads and products:
3M
Presta
Porter Cable
Milwaukee
When polishing you deal with the angular velocity and the tangential velocity. As you move further towards the edge of the pad you may keep the angular velocity constant but increase the tangential velocity. For that reason you attempt to keep the pad at a slight angle to maximize contact area at all times and never in one place too long or you will create hot spots and leave burn marks in the gel coat. What also happens when you have the polisher at too much of an angle to the work surface is you reduce the surface area and focused the force on that smaller area. This increase the surface temperature even more. Keep this in mind when you are polishing, if you doubt the heat feel a surface you just pulled your polisher off of.