SonexBuilders.net

LarryEWaiex121 wrote:Waiex 121YX is now 5 yrs old effectively.
The initial polish was work. Real work. Spent about 135 hrs for a fuselage/tail polish job. Wings and bottom of fuselage are painted.
Worked my buns off and pushed it out into the sun and about sat down and cried big boy tears. Swirls from hell!
Pulled out the credit card in a fit of rage and ordered the Cyclo with polishing towels from Toms Polish.
That put the shine on and has kept the shine on for 5 yrs. Needs a spring touch up but that's after the engine break in on the new Camit. One war at a time.

Larry
Waiex 121YX

What's the benefit of the Cyclo, out of curiosity? I have swirls after F9 but assumed other grades would take care of them. For the time I'm putting in to this polish job, I want to make sure I'm doing it right!

samiam wrote:What's the benefit of the Cyclo, out of curiosity? I have swirls after F9 but assumed other grades would take care of them. For the time I'm putting in to this polish job, I want to make sure I'm doing it right!

I dont think you need to worry about the swirls while compounding with F9. a rotary polisher is the best way to compound. It also doesnt matter what grade of polish your using. A rotary polisher will make swirls.
The random orbit on the cyclo apparently has the same effect as polishing by hand. Which is another way to remove the swirlmarks.
I flew mine around for a couple of seasons with swirlmarks before splurging on a cyclo. Glad I bought it, but when doing the annual polish I wish it was painted.
Steve
Sonex 892

Bryan,

Can't help with most of your complaints, but cheap 1/2" brushes with the round metal handles, sometimes called acid brushes, are great for applying the compound saving you finger. Store each brush for a particular grade in zip lock bag along with its compound. Also use magic marker to write the grade each pad is used for on back side of the pad, and store those in individual plastic bags as well.

Just keep polishing until the hazy image of Joe Cool pilot becomes sharp clear image of a tired and dirty looking old guy. You and the plane will both look better the next day.

Cyclo polishers are expensive, heavy, and the loose polishing cloths a bit of a P.I.A. but great for the last stage with the S grade and annual cleanup. Stick with the cheap rotary polishers for all the coarser grades. I did have to revert to the C grade and rotary polisher for cleanup after the first year, but have not needed that for last three years. While in the hangar, I keep a simple cover made from Wal-Mart picnic table covers with soft fuzzy backing, held together with duct tape, over fuselage, wings and horizontal tail to keep condensation from forming. Moisture plus dust will dull the polish.

David A.

Thanks to all the help and support of my Sonex family it looks like I am going to recover from my "Metal Illness". For this year anyway. Next year I fully expect it to return. My wife always told me I was attracted to shiny things. This may be the reason I have a 20 X 30 photo of the Kerry (Sonex Doctor) Fores "Metal Illness" hanging in my garage. This photo was taken while I was in Oshosh one year when I was still dreaming about building a Sonex. It turned out to be great inspiration to me during the build. One of the many things I've learned while building the Sonex is to never loose sight of the vision of what you are trying to create. That photo helped me when I would start to question why I was doing this. I am glad I stuck it out. It has been worth every bit of the effort and then some.

This was my third year annual polishing of my Sonex.
1. Tried to do the polish job in one day to minimize the dirty cloths and hands.
2. Found these great black skin tight rubber gloves at HF. Really kept hands clean.
3. Did one pass with each grade F7 and C with standard HF buffer. Did the final pass of S with the new HF 6 inch random orbital that looks like buffer with wool cover covered again with the terry cloth bonnet. Worth every bit of the $54 spent. This guy took all the swirls out very easily.
4. Did not clean between passes. Tried using less polish so there was less residue. Mainly what was left was around rivets.
5. Ended up waiting to clean the entire plane the next morning. I used mineral spirits on one supper soft terry cloth from Walmart to wipe one section down. When the mineral sports dried to light haze I followed with a fresh clean super soft terry cloth and buffed residue off.

Looks better than it ever has and it will be good enough for this year. That is one nice thing about a polished plane it gets better looking every year we take the time to endure a case of "Metal Illness".

Remember Paint chips and polish doesn't.

The cyclo does indeed provide a great finish, and is just the ticket to de-swirl the final finish. It works so well that I have two!.

Now for the shameless plug.... I'm scaling back to just one, so the other complete kit is for sale. It's the kit listed here with "Pad Kit 2".

http://www.perfectpolish.com/cyclo_poli ... minum.html

Send me an email if you're interested. $250 - SOLD

Jeff

Did somebody mention black hands?


Here is pass 1, F9, bottom skin. With trick photography you can see the beam on the ceiling.

Bryan try a pair of these gloves. The ones I got were Black and they worked great! Hands were still clean when I finished. Except for the times I didn't wear them when did my final cleaning. Get two pair it will save your hands.

http://t.harborfreight.com/coated-rubber-grip-gloves-medium-90909.html

sonex1374 wrote:The cyclo does indeed provide a great finish, and is just the ticket to de-swirl the final finish. It works so well that I have two!.

Now for the shameless plug.... I'm scaling back to just one, so the other complete kit is for sale. It's the kit listed here with "Pad Kit 2".

http://www.perfectpolish.com/cyclo_poli ... minum.html

Send me an email if you're interested. $250

Jeff

Ill take it if you still have it Jeff