What an incredible mess I've discovered!

[Matt Harwood]

Got some good results buffing my stainless Buick trim using black on a spiral wheel followed by green on a spiral and then green on a loose wheel. It's not perfect, but for a first run, I'm really happy with the results.

But holy cow what a mess! Dust everywhere, strings, clumps of dust-like fibers, etc. It took a half hour to clean my shop afterwords--the stuff was everywhere!

Is this normal? Will it get better as I use my wheels more? Or is this just the price of polishing? I can't imagine dealing with this every time I try to buff a part.

Thoughts? Thanks.

[tomg552001]

Welcome to the wonderful, extremley messy, world of polishing . Its a very very messy job, best bet is to dedicate a specific area to it that way you can keep the mess down.

yep.... my shop floor use to be red ... now it look's like some one smeared grease on it ... like tom said .. set up an area to do all your buffing in .. you can rig up a dust collector using a shop vac .. to help you cut down on the mess ....

[skiddz]

I just went through cleanup yesterday. I bet I swept up about 8 cubic feet of "fluff" and several metric tons of "dust". I followed up with a stiff broom and some Castrol Super Clean and a good rinse. Now the floor is spotless. (Well, it *WAS* - I've been polishing this morning.. heheh)

I had that epoxy coating put on the floor before I moved in here. The stuff makes cleanup a breeze 'cuz almost nothing sticks to it. Anything that does is an easy clean up with a rag and some 409.

Wish I could say the same for my polishing clothes.. Everything ends up black.. heeheh

[bhhodges]

i set up my buffer outside since my small shop is home based i do all the buffing outside, and stand upwind but still wear a 1/2 face mask and a pair of tyvex coveralls.


bill

[tomg552001]

But what if it rains? Polish under a umbrella?

[bhhodges]

i have a big giant umbrella and my wife holds it for me while i polish something.


bill

[polishinginc]

I have a portion of my shop dedicated to polishing alone. It's always dirty in there even after I clean up cause dust is still floating around and settles on everthing later on. My polishing clothes dont get dirty anymore I have a pair of thick coveralls that get dirty, and I have a resperatior, and a shower cap"keeps the compound and dust out of your hair"

The only places where I get filthy are my hands, neck, some of my face and my toes.

[skiddz]

I hit up the local surplus store for a couple sets of BDUs (Cammies) and I polish in those. I chuck 'em in the washer with some Castrol Super Clean and they come out relatively clean.

I *was* using Nomex gloves to polish, but those got ruined and they're too expensive to keep replacing. Now I hit up Harbor Freight and buy 6 pair of split leather work gloves for $10. They keep the heat off my hands pretty good and hold up pretty well to the occasional touch of the wheels. (I did wear a finger tip off one glove yesterday tho eheh)

Cleanup of dust, "spider webs" etc is still a broom and dustpan affair and just about every sunday, I pick up the **** off the floor and hose the garage out after a good sweep. The only really bad part is the dust that settles afterwards. It still gets tracked into the house no matter how much I clean. I had to go buy a cheap carpet runner for people to wipe their feet on if they entered the house.

Once I get my garage reorganized, I'm going to dedicate one bay (I've got a 3 car) to my polishing and keep the **** out of the rest of the thing with 4mil plastic and some sort of exhaust venting to the outside.

A deep-sink in the garage with some old towels is indespensible for personal cleanup. (The wife doesn't care if I leave this area all nasty. heheh)