Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
Online Community of Zenith Builders and Flyers
Polishing Your Airplane? Tell Us of All Your Procedures, Tricks, Tips and Photos
A few Zenith builders have chosen to polish their aircraft rather than paint (including me). Many have posted some photos along with some tips. These are very valuable to those that trying to decide whether to polish or not and to those that have just began to polish their airplane. It is difficult to find all the posts that include these procedures. Let's make this discussion thread all things polishing. If you find this thread and have already posted something relevant to polishing an aircraft else where, please copy your comments and photos and post them in this thread. If everyone brings their experiences here, it will be more valuable to those that follow later on. Thanks.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Samuel McNair on
-
IS there any alternative to having to repolish every year? for instance could you polish, clean and then spray clearcoat?
-
Permalink Reply by Gary Welch on
-
After about 80 hours of polishing I'll throw i my two cents.
First off - I got really sick of spending hours and hours doing this. Ok, I feel better now that I got a chance to whine.
Polishing can be quite frustrating for a number of reasons. The biggest frustration is that there never seems to be ONE technique, or method, that works consistently. On the same piece of metal, six inches apart, you can get completely different results using identical technique, polish quantity and pressure. This is not something you can do on auto-pilot. You constantly have to watch your results and adjust or re-polish areas as needed.
I used Nuvite F9, C and S as recommended by Radara at Nuvite. He was great at answering my questions and providing polishing recommendations for the 6061 T6 aluminum. radaram@universalphotonics.com
First off, I think the word "passes" when describing polishing can be confusing because I think it means different things to different people. For the purpose of my discussion a "pass" is covering a complete area of the skin with one complete grade of polish.
One complete area of the skin, per polish grade, consisted of the following:
Using a rough area of 20" x 20" (or area defined by a square of rivets) I would make "three cycles" with the polisher. After putting "thumbprints" of polish I would start at the corner of the square and move in the direction of the grain - back and forth, back and forth along the same line. Then I would over-lap 50% and repeat the same four movements. When complete I would repeat the process going across the grain. Lastly, I would go back again with the grain following the same method. This is what I would call "one pass". For one pass I will have gone over each section of the skin 12 times (4 with the grain, 4 against the grain and again 4 with the grain). This would be one "pass".
I did three general passes with F9, meaning each section of skin was gone over at least 36 times. Many areas needed some additional passes with the F9 as well.
I then did two passes with C grade polish using the same technique (24 more cycles of the polisher). This is the number of passes recommended by Radara at Nuvite. When I was done with the two passes I tried moving on the the S polish but saw no improvement.
So I went back and did one more pass with the Grade C which DID improve the finish considerably.
So, if you're doing the math you will have noticed I have gone over each section of skin 72 times to date (6 passes x 12 cycles).
I have tried using the Grade S with my 7" polisher but it doesn't seem to accomplish anything. I am going to buy a Cyclo polisher when I can afford it and finish the process.
Some other notes from my experience:
- I used a Harbor Freight polisher and the, $20 per pad, 3m wool pads. Cleaning them is fairly easy - wash in the sink with hot water and dish soap to get the thick stuff off, then soak in a bucket of water that is 1/4 full and add 3/4 cup of trisodium phosphate (the granular stuff, not the liquid "safety" equivalent). Leave in the bucket over-night and they are magically white the next morning. I dried mine with an old towel and then put inside one of those cloth grocery store bags and put in the dryer on high for two hours. Do NOT make the mistake I did by thinking the pad was completely clean and just throwing it directly into the dryer. When I opened the dryer the inside was grey and I had a panicked 20 minutes trying to clean the damn thing before the wife saw it and started screaming!
- If I had to do it again I would buy the Makita polisher as others have recommended. I think it might have made the job a little easier.
- The polisher WILL rip metal off of your plane! Watch the Sonex video on how to polish - it's on both the Sonex website and the EAA website. It talks about how to use the polisher as you approach any edge of metal. There is one way, and one way only, to do this. FYI - I ripped the rudder cable fairing almost completely off my plane. I also damaged another corner of the plane.
- Nuvite has printed instructions on how to use their product. Start with their recommendations and then adjust your process as necessary.
- If something isn't working, slow down. Nuvite recommends moving the polisher at one foot per 3 to 4 seconds. My experience suggests this is just about right. Trying to go faster just meant I was going to have to make another cycle, adding more work. Go slow.
- If something isn't working try using more polish. Or try using less polish. Try increasing the polisher speed. Try using more pressure. Try using less pressure. The metal isn't consistent and you will need to adjust your technique based on the results you are seeing.
- Cleaning the polish off - ARGGHHH!! Your arms are falling off from hours of polishing - but there is a ton of polish stuck on the rivets, seams and on the skin itself. Now you need to clean this off before it hardens and becomes even a bigger job. This is a giant PITA and the end of a long day. I tried different stuff including isopropyl alcohol but I found that lacquer thinner worked best. The alcohol leaves streaks that needs to be wiped off whereas the lacquer thinner seemed to dissolve the hard stuff much easier and did not leave the streaks. Although it works, 409 is apparently a no-no for our type of metal.
- Pressure: I found with the initial passes of F9 I had to use a LOT of pressure on the polisher. When I got to the last pass of C Grade, I was just letting the weight of the polisher itself do the work. In between it's a matter of seeing the results and adjusting pressure as needed.
- I experimented with some different waxes when I finished my last C pass but came back to Nuvite's recommendation. They say anything you put on the polished plane will just make it cloudy and harder to polish later. I tried Maquires, Mothers, lemon pledge - and came to their conclusion. They all made the finish look cloudy.
- Time: FYI it took my 5 hours to do one pass of each wing (top only). Since I did at least 6 passes, I spent over 30 hours polishing the top of EACH wing. I'm not sure how long the fuse took but it was at least the equivalent. This is a marathon job and not one that will be completed in a couple of weekends. If you are in the middle of your build start polishing as soon as you have an assembly complete. If you are waiting on parts or answers, use the time to polish, instead of doing nothing. This can minimize the effort required at the end of the build.
I love the results but certainly not the process - which also describes my feeling on building the 601 XL!
-
Permalink Reply by Joe Harrington on
-
This post needs to be recommended reading for all that are thinking of or are polishing their airplane. Great post Gary!
-
Permalink Reply by John M Greiner on
-
I got tired just reading this post. It looks so good, but I think I might paint.
-
Permalink Reply by Tom Lobdell on
-
My three rules of polishing:
1. Always know which way the buffer wheel or pad is spinning! No matter which way you are holding it, you must know this without thinking about it. If you don't know, you will damage parts when it grabs an edge.
2. The compound does the work, not the wheel or pad. Apply compound often.
3. Anyone who polishes their own plane will never be satisfied with the finish. When polishing, you get to see every scratch, dent, wrinkle and blemish. Once you start, it will never be enough.
Bonus: Polish is not weightless - Your arms and chest will gain 3-5 lbs of muscle before you are done.
-
Permalink Reply by Carl Orton on
-
Everything Gary says above is true. Especially the part about experimenting. Sometimes I'd use too little polish in an effort to get it to clear-off sooner, only to be disappointed. I had great results with the S grade of NuVite, but I have a Cyclo polisher.
There's an old saying that everyone wants a polished plane, but no one has more than one! I built a Sonex and polished the entire airframe. It's a real pain to maintain it - so much so that I frequently let it drop far below show-quality. Yet when it shines, hooo baby it SHINES! Of course, in sunny climes you could feel yourself starting to burn from the reflected sun.
I'm at the very early stages of building a Cruzer (as in, I only have the plans, but intend to order the kit). It will be painted.
-
Permalink Reply by Byers Coleman on
-
-
-
I decided to polish my 650 so took a short break from metal work to polish assemblies as I go. Will attempt to polish wing skins before assembly.
Found effortless way to clean compounding pads. Put in bucket. Cover with hot water, add two tablespoons of Oxi Clean powder,. Swish around, let stand overnight. Effortless!
-
-
What kind of polish are you using? I used Nuvite so I'm wondering if the Oxi will work for me.
TIA
-
-
I too using Nuvite. Worked like a champ. Also cleaned up microfiber towels lickey split.
Did rinse out pads in hot water and dish soap first and through rinse in clean water after soaking over nite.
-
-
I am going for a hybrid approach, but I picked some challenging parts.
I am going to accent my plane with polished pieces, ie chrome look.
The leading edge slats - probably a nightmare to do compared to most areas.
All flight controls, Elevator, Rudder, and Flaperons.
The idea is it will have chrome accents that complement the white, blue and black paint scheme, but more importantly, will give reflective properties for other traffic as I fly around, hopefully just drawing their attention, not blinding them.
-
Permalink Reply by Patrick Hoyt on
-
Good idea there. I have a polished airplane, and a lot of people say "we could tell it was you right away". It gets tons of attention.
If I were to do it again, I'd polish everything that isn't in line-of-sight of the cabin, and paint the leading edges of things like cowls & wings a bright color, and paint stuff black that is prone to reflecting in your eyes (like the area around the rivet line on the top spar cap of a 601).
Patrick Hoyt
N63PZ
New from Zenith:
Classified listing for buying or selling your Zenith building or flying related stuff...
Custom Instrument Panels
for your Zenith:
Custom instrument panels are now available directly from Zenith Aircraft Company exclusively for Zenith builders and owners. Pre-cut panel, Dynon and Garmin avionics, and more.
Zenith Homecoming Tee:
Flying On Your Own Wings:
A Complete Guide to Understanding Light Airplane Design, by Chris Heintz
Builder & Pilot Supplies:
Pro Builder Assistance:
Transition training:
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty for all your building and pilot supplies!
How to videos from HomebuiltHELP.com
Developed specifically for Zenith builders (by a builder) these videos on DVD are a great help in building your own kit plane by providing practical hands-on construction information. Visit HomebuiltHelp.com for the latest DVD titles.
© 2024 Created by Zenith.Aero.
Powered by
