We like to use vinyl sealer for some of our finishing procedures. Our finishers complain about it being hard to sand and gumming up the sandpaper,etc. I seem to remember hearing about a type of sandpaper that will help with this from a Mirka rep once. I seem to remember that it was kind of like a perforated screen or mesh type of material. Does anybody out there have any insight into this problem or product? FYI we use a couple of Festool sanders with the dust extractor for most things as well as hand sanding. We typically use 320 grit. Thanks in advance!
From contributor Jo
I have never used a vinyl sealer, but until recently, I was constantly complaining about buildup and gumming when scuff sanding between coats. (I tried a lot of different papers and I too have an assortment of Festool sanders.)
I looked into the surface Prep. Bought one and I was amazed how clean the pads stayed with out dust collection..
I used it on the sander and by hand. Both work great. It has cut a great deal of time in my between coat sanding. I just did over 100 ft of crown that I cut for a job. I used it to sand the raw wood then 320 between coats. Great finish and all I needed to do was blow off the pad occasionally. I used 1 5mm and 1 10mm pad for each grit and they are sill worth keeping. I am very pleased.
What really amazed me was I had almost no sand through. Where I did, it was most likely because I still wasn't used to the sander and the way it works with the pads.
From contributor Jo
Edit to above: SurfPrep not SurfacePrep.
From contributor Ad
Mirka Abarnet sanding discs look like drywall sanding screens. They work great on clogging materials and you get the most dust extraction of any disc.
From contributor Ma
I have found that some manufacturer's make better sanding vinyl sealers than others. I would try some different products, you will likely find one that you like.I have tried some in the past that I threw out before I finished the can.
From contributor Da
I watched every video from SurfPrepSanding. They advertise on this page. I was impressed and I don't see any "hype" or salesman's fluff. I think that the products offered as system is a different aninmal than what most of us are used to using.
From contributor Ad
Our surfprep line of sponge abrasives are very different compared to most products. The pads are extremely flexible so the dust has a hard time sticking. It is only possible to load our pads with very sticky or green material. On the 3x4 machine the pads move in 3 dimensions as they sand. This keeps the swarth loose and not build up.
They last 20 times longer than conventional sand paper.
If you have issues with curing we can't sand uncured but most finishes won't load or sponges.
From contributor Ho
We use Becker acroma's vinyl sealer and love it most of the time. If it's really humid it takes a bit longer to dry which is when see gumming but that's the only time. We find it thicker than the valspar vinyl we were using and get way less burn through. If we are in a hurry we put fans on the pieces for half an hour. Also we use 400 grit instead of the 320 you're using but don't know if that has anything to do with it. Good luck!
From contributor ro
I have used a new vinyl sealer by KCI and it really works great. The cost was $27.75 a gallon.
From contributor Ri
I don't know what specific brand of vinyl sealer you're using but I thought this was solved years ago by adding a small amount of catalyst to the sealer. I haven't used vinyl in years so I'm not sure about the products available now.
From contributor St
I actually have the Mirka rep coming to my shop today to show me their Abranet sandpaper. He says it has great non-clogging properties on vinyl sealer and latex paints. I'll post back after my visit. BTW. We are using Sherwin Williams vinyl sealer.
From contributor Mi
Defintely differences in paper, and we love the surfprep sander and the pads. The biggest thing that helped us when we were spraying vinyl was to let it dry longer. Humidity played a big role in it as well. We could tell a big difference when it sat overnight and dried.
