buffing and polishing after the clear is cured.....help:(

[installer]

so here is some information to understand what i'm up against:

i painted, airbrushed, and marbilized a helmet for a friend of mine, we are both happy with the results, although after the clear coat cured it had the obvious orange peel to it.
my question here today is what do i do to get ride of the orange peel?

this is what i "tried", sanding the entire helmet with 2000 grit, basically to level all the peaks in the clear, then used a wax compound on a electric car waxer, it did bring some of the shine back but not all, and i can still see where i sanded a few areas despite spending more time on them with the car waxer they still stayed the same.

i used a clear out of a can (dupli-color) and it looked awesome when it was wet, i just wanna get that "shine back"

thanks for the help guys!

[Cowboy]

First Off You Dont Use or need Any Kind of Wax Product on it , Till After It Looks Like Glass & is FULLY Cured . I Ussually dont wax Anything for at least 30 days .

Now Being Duplicolor Aeresol, I Have No Clue How Thick it is . How many Coats have been applyed . So Hard to Suggest How Agressive of Sandpaper Or Compounds to Use .

So To Be Safe I Would suggest Getting You a Can of Dupont #7 polishing compound , & Try to Hand Polish it First , If Needed Use it On Yer Buffer . Now If That is Coarse Enough . Get Duponts Rubbing Compound Much Coarser So Be Carefull its Cuts fast Even by Hand .

Now, The Reason I,m Suggesting this Rather Then A Buffing & Polishing System for auto Finishes . Is The Cost Factor, Unless You are Doing it Proffesionally & Large Areas . There No need for the Expensive stuff that would Problly last You ten years .

Also When Wetsanding with the 2000 or Anygrit for that Matter . Have a Lil Dish of Clean water to Soak Yer Sandpaper in For 15 minutes Prior to sanding, Adding a Drop of Dishsoap in the Water Also Helps a Lil. I Prefer Dawn . ( I,m Soaking in it now ) LMAO , Ya Probblly gota be Older then dirt ta get that one, Sorry.

Thats Of Coarse assuming You Are Using a good Quality Wet & Dry Sand paper . Hope this Helps a little. Best of Luck.

Oh & Dont Be Afraid to Add a Lil water With the Compound Either as it gets Closer to the Desired shine.

[ABD]

CB got ya covered..:headbang:

I've never buffed stuff from the Can..Guessing it doesn't have an activator??..Might take months to get hard enough to buff if it's just average stuff from a spray bomb.

Never tried a Car waxer thing for buffing either ...I think those are orbital aren't they??...I use a regular variable speed buffer (cranks some rpm's)..Bought a cheapy for $50, The pads were like $60...The pads and the compound is what does the trick..(I use Meguires medium cut) .After you sand with 2000..The wool pad with compound, removes that 2000 scratch and your left with like a 4000 grit scratch..then you switch to a foam pad..that leaves something like a 9000 scratch..the last pad leaves a crazy fine scratch that ya can't see with yer naked peepers...lol

those numbers aren't exact..I know they go increasingly high with each pad, up to crazy fine scratches...All buffing is, is replacing one scratch with a finer one..Until it's so fine it looks perfect.

Like CB said..takes an initial investment if you want to go that route...For me though, sure took the headache out of things.lol

[sharonsstudio]

I think you've been welll covered from above

[AndyW]

Thought an I may be wrong but if by hand start at 1200, then 1500 working up the grits, Garcela G3 compound can take out sand marks from 1500 grit, finish with G10, most rattle cans I have used say leave at least a week before attacking for final finish, no wash etc for a bit after that.

[Cowboy]

Might be Right Andy as Far as the Products Your Talking about . But With rattle Cans Its Hard to tell , Unless Its quality Paint . IMO . Use a 3m Rubber flat Block its Less Then a 1/8 inch thin & Curve around the Surface To Knock the Peel Down.

I Would Never want to Use a Tougher Grit the 2000 , Wet & Keep A Really Close Eye on it Wiping it Clean Every Few seconds or so To See if Yer Getting Rid of the Orange Peal or not . Never Rush it, the More Heat You Use By sanding to aggresive or By Buffing , Can Ruin it in short order .

Its a helmet , Fairly Small Curved surface , & When You Using Inferior Products you Have to be Very Carefull how You Go about it . Take Yer Time & Learn from it . Theres all Kinds of Short cuts, But something You Painted Is worth the Time To Make it the Best You can make it look & Last . Just My Thoughts , Best of Luck .

[installer]

thanks very much everyone, i will be trying it a different way. i think i need to have someone clear coat it with an automotive clear coat.

the rattle can clear seems to be a little thin, even after i applied 4 coats.

might have to re-do the helmet, but at least i learned a couple things.

[fontgeek]

I would make sure you get all the existing wax off before you go any further.
As CB said, I think your clear coat is probably thin, and it's always tough to guage how heavy a rattle can is letting you spray.

Cowboy, the old comercial isn't forgotten, but it was Palmolive not Dawn that "Marge" had people soaking in.
Still, a funny reference though!

[Stang]

Again, Cowboy has it covered. But I think you meant "polish" after 30 days right Cowboy? Wax is the stuff they put in Suave shampoo. I personally like the 3M Perfect-it 3000. I've used several different kinds in the last 25 years and that walks away from the rest. I've gotten a lot from jobbers for me to try and some of the free ones weren't worth the price I paid.
Lookin back I think Marge was kinda hot in a weird way.(maybe if you're a trucker) Get her and Flo on Mel's caunter top and there's a movie for the archives.

[PinWerk]

well hey stang.. glad to see ur around these days lolol...
i use pro stuff on pro clears.. if its rattle stuff.. i use can polish n rubbing / polishing compound with a rag. i did a bumper on a car just to see how the junk hold up one time.. lasted years like that until i sanded it all off and went with hok paints and pro line stuff for buffin n cutting.
rattle cans tends to be thin though. so one reason i use hand instead of machine buffer.
then again i dont use rattle stuff no more.