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So far the best way I have found to wet sand for resin parts has been to cut up a fine grit wet sanding sponge into smaller more easy to use bits.


But I'm curious if anyone eals have found a better way, or know of any specality tools to do this with.

I may be reading this wrong, but i have no clue what this means?

nurglespuss wrote:
I may be reading this wrong, but i have no clue what this means?

Using sandpaper to smooth down the surface of a resin bit or model, but doing it with water on the model so as to give it a polished look. They do this often with car detailing.

Ahh now see, that makes sense.

Not often.. its an essential part of car detailing

Its gonna be incredibly fiddly at our scale :? cant think of a better way than getting some precision sanding blocks and cutting up paper.

Generally why files are used instead because they can fit into the thin areas... Actually that gives an idea, why not something like an emery board?

Wet sanding in regards toresin modles is to keep dust down. But everytime i see it done it's people holding the sand paper in their fingers. Their must be a better way.

 n0t_u wrote:
Generally why files are used instead because they can fit into the thin areas... Actually that gives an idea, why not something like an emery board?

Wouldn't the files rust?

Normally I dont bother with wet sanding. It is a bit of a mess, and rather annoying on small items.

You can use Flexi files and sanding sticks to get in tight areas. If you plan on using metal files rinse them with alcohol, it will displace the water to prevent rusting. Little wipe down with cutting oil afterwards is also a good idea for long term care of files.

You can also get finger files. Little bits that you where on your finger tips that have sand paper on the outside.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:
Normally I dont bother with wet sanding. It is a bit of a mess, and rather annoying on small items.

You can use Flexi files and sanding sticks to get in tight areas. If you plan on using metal files rinse them with alcohol, it will displace the water to prevent rusting. Little wipe down with cutting oil afterwards is also a good idea for long term care of files.

You can also get finger files. Little bits that you where on your finger tips that have sand paper on the outside.

thanks for the heads up. I find the wet fileing easier to clean up from, then dry fileing. I find the dust get's everywear, and would rather minamise my exposure to it, since I have asthma. I try to minamise ANY dust in general. Not just resin dust, even thow it's the worst.



With how much the industry has been moveing towords resin modles, I've been trying to expirment with diffrent ways to work of resin conviently and easily well still doing so safely. I want to eventually put together a article with what i've found worked the best.

I came across the idea of makeing your own sanding sticks from small bits of wooden dowl and wet/dry sanding paper. I will be trying this soon along with emery boards.

Keep in mind that many (most as far as I have seen) emery boards are wood/cardboard based. They do not like to be wet.

Flex-I-file products are plastic backed, so they should hold up fine to long term moisture exposure and be reusable:

http://www.flex-i-file.com/flex-i-file.php

The aluminum holder and tape work quite well for most small areas. They make plastic backed and foam backed sandpaper as well which will also stand up to water well.

Alpha Abrasives makes the sanding sticks I use.

http://www.alphaabrasives.com/alpha/sanding-files.php

Bit more expensive than your run of the mill emery boards, but they are already trimmed down and come in identifiable grits which makes it easier to finish to a uniform surface (less important on miniatures - more so on larger figures and vehicles where the big patches of paint come into play).

Alpha also make the plastic backed sand paper too.

The finger tip sanders I have left are not marked and I have long since tossed the package they came in. A quick google search drew a blank, so they may not even be in production anymore.

So the Alpha sanding stick are plastic backed/Good for wet sanding? Because that is bassicly what i have been looking for!

Right now i cut up sanding sponge into smaller useable parts, and work with a small shallow dish of water on my work bench. It works alright, but all i have been stuck with. These look like a huge step up!

They do a rigid plastic and a flexible foam. The flexible ones are stiffer than what you find on sanding pads (more like those foam sanding blocks).

Depending on the size of the piece in question, I use a big ol' tub of water and do the actual sanding inside of the bowl.