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Barry, no need to withdraw. Sorry if my questions seemed overly negative. I was not meaning to be negative. I haven't even used it yet (on a body). I did turn it on. I was just wondering if there was a risk of rubbing through the finish (nitro). I bought that 3M Swirl Remover someone (I think Brad) recommended. I had a hand held buffer do that once, though I never ascertained that actual root cause.

I'll try it. Best I was hoping for was some usage advice. Best practices. Things to be aware of.

Mike

From my limited experience with it, you've got to be careful in the same places you would with any buffer--bindings, any sharp edge, etc. Especially with the coarser grit polishes. Cut grade polish and higher speed--yep, you can buff through. The variable speed does let you dial in how aggressive you want it to be, and as was mentioned before, the 4 inch pads work out very nicely and seem to be a little easier for me to control. Overall for me, I prefer the hand held buffer/stationary guitar over the stationary buffer/hand held guitar.

Dave

Mike, main thing is keep the buffing pad moving. Don't let it sit in one place.

By the way, swirl remover may not be enough cut for the first step of removing sanding scratches. Swirl remover is normally used to remove the marks made by a cutting compound.

My sanding schedule is 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, then 14" cotton wheels, medium cut, fine cut, possibly ultra-fine cut, then I was going to try the adams with swirl remover. Good?

Excessive. I would eliminate almost half of those steps. Starting with 400 grit is WAY too coarse. That just makes extra work for yourself. Start with as fine of a grit as possible to minimize the depth of the sanding scratches.

I start final coat sanding with 1000 grit. I can start this fine because I completely level my finish and then spray two thin coats to give a good base to start from. After the 1000 grit paper I go to 1500, 2000, and then 4000. Then Meguiars 105 Ultra Cut Compound on a very firm foam pad, then 3M Perfect-It Ultrafine Polish on a very soft pad.

Why do you feel the need to use the swirl remover after going through three compounds on the cotton wheel? It sounds like the cotton wheel is not giving you a good finish. That was my problem too. But if that is the case, have you thought about completely eliminating the cotton wheel? Once you get the Adams polisher, you could do that if you just add in the step of using the polisher with a cutting compound.

Barry, is that for Nitro? I would suspect this varies on the materials used. If I started at 1000 with UV poly it would take forever to get level. That stuff is tough as nails.

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I will start with 400 grit to knock off the high spots if the orange peel is significant. I usually shoot the finish right from the can - unthinned - and depending on the weather and the gun (a cheap $15 HF jamb gun) it doesn't always flow out perfectly. I don't stay with 400 too long, and don't try to level the finish with it, just knock off the high spots. Even with 600 there are still shiny spots in the finish. By 1000 the finish is level. If you try to get things perfectly level with the coarser grits you may not have enough finish left to work through the high ones.
But I generally use micron and trizact films now, because they give a more uniform scratch pattern than cami or P graded papers. Too often when I've gone from one grit to the next I find a couple of deep scratches from poorly graded papers that take a lot more sanding to remove. The mylar discs cost more, but last much longer so the cost is about the same.

Brad, yes this is only for nitro. I am using Cardinal which is the best sanding and leveling nitro that I have ever used, and I have used a few. I have no experience with UV poly.

Getting the finish completely leveled with 400 grit paper and then spraying 2 thin coats, which just fill in the 400 grit scratches, leaves me a surface that is relatively quickly, fully sanded with 1000 CAMI grit wet or dry paper.

To hold the guitar while buffing the top and back, I resurrected an old, almost forgotten item in my shop: A Jim Williams/Charles Fox adjustable mold. I cut the dowels from the waist up to the neck block to be below the rim; the rest already were. I put a towel in the mold, the guitar in the towel, moved the dowels to fit snugly, and Bob's your uncle! It works great. My fear of losing control of the body while buffing with the Adams might be an unreasonable fear, but this has calmed it. Photo of progress so far:

Very clever Don. I've got a request. Come up with a way to hold the body when you buff the sides. That is where I struggle a little bit.

Barry—

That’s next! My plan is to see how my Veritas twin screw vise does. That’s what I use to hold the body during construction. I use it like a Troji. Here is what I think will make the difference from what you tried with your Troji (If I remember correctly from your prior posts): stiffer foam, cut into an arch that is a tighter radius than either the top or back. A normal Troji uses pretty soft foam. That soft foam will have a tough time gripping the guitar the way it needs to be gripped for this task. I use very stiff foam. With a tight arch, it only grips the edges. I plan to use the towel as a bit of cushion. I’ll report back after I experiment.

Was it Andy Bounsall who made a fixture to hold a guitar out of foam and plywood and used a workmate to act as the vise? That might work to work the sides.

The problem with my body clamp is that there is nothing to keep the body from slipping down due to the vibration and pressure of the buffer. I need a strap or something as a bottom support.

My review: it works great! It’s a bit heavy, but I found that holding the main buffer body with one hand, some towels, I could do entire body sans the neck with no problem. I tested on an a guitar I had in for rework. Enduro-Var. really worked out the small swirls. I think the motor is top notch. This is a great tool. Thanks for promoting it Barry.

Can you put a stool under the body clamp? I have a step stool that I keep under my twin screw vise when the stool is not in use. When holding a body vertically, in order to work on ether end, I stand the body on the stool and clamp it in the vise. The stool is not tall enough to do that when the body is in "landscape" mode, but I could probably stack some wood on the stool to make it work. Just an idea.

That's where a vacuum clamp really shines (no pun intended)! I've tried various holding thingamajigs for sanding/scraping/buffing sides, and although they have worked, the vacuum clamp is just miles ahead...

I do use the cradle from my binding jig to hold the body for buffing the top and back--a lot like the Fox mold. It works great, though my vacuum clamp would work well too. I buff these last so that I don't take a chance on the finish being a little soft yet and having the vacuum clamp mar the newly polished surface.

Dave

For the next one I polish, I plan to make another one of these vacuum clamps on a el so that I can clamp it to the table. The guitar will then sit on its side on the carpet piece on the table while the vacuum clamp on the back of the guitar keeps it from scooting away while I’m working.

The clamp pictured sucks on both sides and attaches the guitar horizontally to the table. It worked very well when I polished the plates on the last guitar.

Edit: For some reason, I can’t upload the pictures. My vacuum clamp is a piece of plywood drilled to the center from the edge with a 1/4” hose to the pump in that hole, and a hole at right angles at the center through the hole from the edge. Rubber weatherstripping on both sides if the plywood provides the vacuum seal. One side goes to the table, one to the back or front of the guitar. It holds my guitar very securely. For doing the sides, I plan to repeat this design but with a right angle edge to C-clamp to the table so it will hold the guitar in place while the down side is resting on the table. I hope that makes sense.

I have the perfect size stool for that. Great idea. Thanks Don!

I made a quick sketch of what I believe Andy made using a workmate and some padded plywood "Ls". The workmate provided the (light) clamping pressure and also the bottom support so the body wouldn't slip down. The "Ls" if in the dog holes and can be installed and removed in seconds.
Workmates are the handiest things!
I found the original discussion - here is a link:
https://www.mimf.com//phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6139

I thought most troji's have some sort of piece that prevents the body from falling down the bottomless pit?

Yes, just another piece of plywood "ell'd" off of one side with foam on it.

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Clay i built that out of ply and foam and fixed to the workmate with carraige bolts,works great for a lot of uses.

Hi Robin,
Andy mentioned he got the idea from someone else - perhaps it was you?

No wasnt me i cant remember where i got the idea from.

I guess we will have to stay with Anonymous (he is such a renaissance man! )