Help Polishing Nitrocellulose without Swirl Marks

[Radiohead]

Hey All,


I am finished a solid body with Nitrocellulose Lacquer. My problem is that I am see swirls in the finish after using swirl remover from StewMac?


Here is my process. 6 cans of clear lacquer waited about 10 days. Yesterday I wet Sanded to about 2,000 and let the body sit over night.


This morning I used StewMac colortone polishing compounds. I went from Coarse / Medium/ Fine to Swirl Remover. It looks good, but when the light hits just right at 45 degrees I can still see swirls in the finish.


I was very careful to use a separate foam buffing pad in my drill for every change in compound. I even wiped up the excess with separate rags? Am I using the drill at too high a speed? Am I expecting too much from a do it yourself job?


Please help.

[jacksonkellyfreak]

I would try some Kit scratch out, followed by cleaner wax, followed by meguiers or other brand carnuba wax.

[Radiohead]

Thanks, I will check some of these products. Here is the results. It my first flame and I am happy with the results. It is like the Nitro is soft and the swirl remover is actually marking the surface? I tried to hand polish out some of the marks and I could see I was scratching the surface?

The Nitro is from Deft in a spray can.



You can see the swirls around the flash mark...

[jacksonkellyfreak]

I think Im about to break your heart man, but that really looks like you burned the paint. Maybe its just the light, but I swear Ive had burns and hazeouts look just like that. I know n.c.l. is a total pain to work with, and when you get it hot enough it reflows and lets go of its pigments, resulting in the haze. My biggest advice to you is get a random orbital buffer. it will never ever burn paint as it rotates at 4000 rpm and never touches the same spot twice in a short enough gap to build up a hot spot. it builds a uniform heat that just gets absorbed quickly by the surrounding paint. I would hit that coat with about a 600 and spray one more clear on it. then get the buffer and repeat your steps. But I could be wrong. try the kit scratch out first just to be sure. let it dry to a haze then buff the holy crapola out of it. reapply till the swirls are gone. if you dont see a noticeable change after 2 or 3 passes, then the paint is burned.

[Hellbat]

You might get some more feedback in the tech Q&A section. Usually Sully or Mike Learn will spot it there and give some advice.

[cullenszoo]

You might get some more feedback in the tech Q&A section. Usually Sully or Mike Learn will spot it there and give some advice.

Is there another Tech Q&A section?
I had really good luck polishing out pick scuffs with a car polish called Scratch X and used a buffing cloth. I agree that it might be burnt but I'm actually thinking that it hasn't cured long enough. It may be too soft so the clear is getting scratched by the buffing compound. I'd give it a couple of weeks as is and then see if you can polish those scratches out.

[Radiohead]

Hey JKF, thanks for your advice. I picked up some Meguiars 2X scratch remover, Mothers Micro Polishing Glaze & Mothers Carnauba Wax. I am really happy with the results. I guess I was only 1/2 way done at the Stewmac Swirl Remover. Here are some photos now.







I was pretty confident that I did not burn the Nitro as I was very careful to always have some wet compound on the pads. Anyway, I think it came out great. Thanks again for the initial advice.

[sully]

The end result looks great. I use the meguiars stuff on poly, but have the stewmac compounds for nitro. When you said you sanded up to 2000 and then started with coarse compound, that's part of what your issue was. You could have gone straight to either the fine or the swirl remover from 2000. Stewmac recommends that you sand to 600, then go through the compounds - coarse, medium, fine, swirl remover. When you went from 2000 to coarse, you essentially undid your sanding.

The only thing I'd be concerned about from here is the deft shrinking back more. With rattle can nitro (hell, any kind of nitro), it's recommended to let it sit for at least 4 weeks. When you mentioned the finish going soft, it sounds like it hadn't finished gassing off yet. Worst case scenario, you just reclear it.

Looks like you did a really nice job, though!

Sully

[Trem]

Turned out Great

[BayRocker]

That looks really nice...great job!!

[jacksonkellyfreak]

it looks great man!! I love the blue, and Im glad I could be of help to you

[toejam]

Is there another Tech Q&A section?

Nope, just this one. This thread was originally posted in the Non J/C section and got moved.

[Radiohead]

Hey All,

I thought I would share the final results. Thanks again for the advise. I built this for a friend. My first maple quilt, inspired by the PC 1.

24 Fret BE Maple Neck/Board - Only side fret markers
12-16 Radius
OFR
Evolution in the Neck
Crunch Lab in the Bridge
5 Way Mega Switch to split the coils

[toejam]

Looks great! Love the reverse Strat headstock.

[MartinBarre]

Yeah that looks awesome!