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Old 05-06-2014, 02:05 PM   #5
Mike Phillips
 
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Status: Director of Training
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 675
Default Re: How to wetsand, cut and buff a gel-coat boat

While a portion of our team was doing the sanding and compounding, some of the other guys were using the Rupes TA50 with microfiber cutting discs to remove the oxidation, stains and water spots around the lettering for the word Shearwater.






Question?
How do you work in small, tight areas?

These graphics that spell out Shearwater are a soft form of plastic that feels like rubber.

If you run a FULL SIZE wool cutting pad on a rotary buffer over them you will harm them and even disfigure them.






Answer...
The Rupes TA50 to the rescue! - I LOVE THIS TOOL!

I've been buffing out cars all my life and I've been waiting for a mini tool like this for doing intricate work and after using one time to remove oxidation I LOVE this tool

This is a must have tool if you buff a lot of cars and have an air compressor... check it out...

First we took a 6" Meguiar's DMX6 DA Microfiber Xtra Cut Disc and cut 2" discs out of it.






The discs fit onto the velcro hook material on the Rupes 2" backing plate.






Then using Marine 31 Final Step Polish I removed the oxidation around the bottom of the lettering...






Next by tilting the tool and working on edge I could get inside all the small areas of oxidized gel-coat inside and around the letters.












In the shots above the tool is actually running at full speed or wide-open but it looks like the pad is not spinning due the the camera settings and camera flash.

This tool never bogged down. It made quick work of doing some real painstaking polishing.



Here's Ozzy, a friend of Franks, this is the first time he's ever heard of this tool let alone used it...









Here's Robert DiTerrlizzi working like a surgeon with the Rupes TA50







Here's our friend John from India using the Rupes TA50 like a pro...






Get one!

Rupes TA50 Mini Random Orbital Sander

Meguiars DMX6 DA Microfiber Xtra Cut Disc, 6 inches


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