The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Sanding and primeing?

Ihave a couple of questions in regaurds to geting my truck sanded down and paint ready.First off what is the best air tool for sanding down and removeing the old paint and rust?I was thinking of a jitter bug or palm sander.What is a da sander?My other concern is primeing the finshed areas.I understand the difference between primer and filling primer but am confussed abought the time frame between primeing and painting.How long can i go between primeing and putting on the topcoat.Is sanding and primeing a good barier for rust?Is primer good for seeing dents and high spots.Iwant to do things right the first time and apreciate the feedback from the expierienced members on this board.Thanks...Ron

After extensive research this is what I am about to do.

1. Sand down the vehicle a few panels at a time. At this time hammer the metal as straight as possible. Do only so many panels at one time so you can prime them within 2 days. Prime with EPOXY primer ONLY.

2. After the whole truck is done, scuff the areas that need filler with 80 grit. Fill these areas and level.

3. Skim coat where necessary with polyester filler.

4. Block sand and sand and sand and sand and sand whole surface. But, be careful that you never penetrate the expoxy primer. I plan to use a different color so I notice when I reached it.

5. Spray on 2K filling primer.

6. Block sand and sand and sand and sand. Use a guide coat of black to see what you are doing. Work down finer grits. Sand wet.

7. Take to painter for sealer and paint job.

A DA (dual action) sander is a sander with a round pad. The pad has two motions: rotary and orbital, hence dual action. It is probably the best tool for removing paint. Part of the idea of a DA sander is that it has a completely random motion, so it doesn't leave swirls.

Not excatly sure on the window between priming and topcoating, but I know lots of people wait a pretty long time.

Sanding and priming is a good barrier to rust assuming that you 1) remove all of the existing rust first, and 2) use an epoxy primer. Regular primers absorb water and will allow your metal to rust. I think there are some other primers that resist water, but I'm not sure which ones. Most people just use epoxy if they are not topcoating right away.

Generally when you are ready to do this, you spray a very light fog of contrasting primer on top of your existing primer. This is called a guide coat. You then take a long straight sanding block and drag it across your surface to find high spots. You fill the high spots and repeat and repeat and repeat until it is all smoothe.

Ed

Try the 3M guidecoat stuff. It looks like copy machine toner (probably is). You don't have to let it dry and you can cover 100% of the area you're sanding. Love this stuff--and no paint fumes.

What is the diference between a da sander and a random orbital sander?Got to thinking today and i do have a numatic sander.It needs a new rubber pad and ive never used it.By the looks of it i thought it was a random orbital but im not really sure now what it is. Thanks...Ron