Paint polishing

[RicModMaker]

Any experts out there? I've primed, coloured and cleared my Hammond enclosures but the finish isn't as good as I would like. Its feels sort of rough.
I've bought some 2000 grit wet and dry, a buffing wheel for my grinder and am looking for some polish.
Anyone got any tips on how I can smooth and polish these?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Sarin]

It might sound silly but why not treat them like bodywork on a car. Smooth, apply lacquer, polish?

 

[RicModMaker]

It might sound silly but why not treat them like bodywork on a car. Smooth, apply lacquer, polish?

That's what I'm thinking but I've never done any body work. What sort of polish would be suitable do you think?

 

[1000moths]

So the quality of the end finish is very dependent on the coats under it, so the 2000 grit may not be enough if the undercoat and colour coats aren't smooth. However if you are going to polish I'd recommend looking at some YouTube vids on car detailing.

 

[1000moths]

I did a flip paint finish on a PC case once and got it to a mirror car grade finish but it took many many hours and had to touch up the primer a few times when I'd sanded through to the metal. To get a mirror finish you need a perfect prime and subsequent colour coats.

 

[Danny K]

How did you colour them?

And what paint was it ?
Was it acrylic ?
Most important thing to paint is a good key and no oils.

1200 wet / dry, tack cloths or a decent quality cleaner that can dissolve any oils / grease.


Failing all this jaw about wrapping rather than painting ?
2000 grade is very fine I suspect your be there an age just scratching the surface

 

[Hammy]

How about T-cut, will bring a thin layer of paint off, not sure if it could get rid of any 'orange peel' dimples type of finish though.

 

[1000moths]

Tcut won't smooth a finish that wasn't already smooth.

 

[Sarin]

That's what I'm thinking but I've never done any body work. What sort of polish would be suitable do you think?

As mentioned above, i would probably use T-cut.

 

[BaDaBooM]

Seedy wait a couple of weeks for it to dry. Might feel dry but it isn't, then sand it with wet 1200 grit to get the orange skin off, you can use 200 grit but it will be more work. Then use rubbing by hand and don't use any high speed polishing wheel it will burn the paint. Polishing buffers that pro's use that look like a big angle grinder are low speed and even when you use one of those you have to make sure the paint is really wet or it will burn the paint.

Paint is really hard to get right, I'm no pro at it. I used to work in garage as mechanic years ago and did some simple paint jobs when the painters had too much on.


I painted this today, still needs clear coat to make it pop a bit. Guy ordered a Hana SX350 in purple for this girlfriend