SonexBuilders.net

Sorry if this is a repeat question - I looked but could not find. I am running low on F9. How much will I need? How about the other grades?

All I know is at least 1lb of F9 at a minimum. The aft fuselage sides, turtledeck, stabilators and rudder used about 80% of my 1/2lb jar. I have a 1/2lb of C but haven't used any yet.

I must be wildly inefficient. Stabilators and one pass on the tailcone sides and I have used 90% of my 1/2 lb of F9.

How much shine are you trying to get with F9? I'm mostly concentrating on rivet holes and harder to reach edges before riveting. I expect to do another F9 pass on the riveted parts before moving on to C grade. The more I think about it, I should have just bought 2 lbs and had some to spare. Buying 1/2lb cans piecemeal is already adding up in cost. Not sure what all sizes you can find it.

Bryan,

Have you watched Kerry Fores's video about Nuvite polishing on the factory website? It helped me a lot when I first started polishing. I believe the basic recommendation would be one light "fingerprint" of polish for every 6" X 6" area to start. If you've used 1/2 lb already you may be using too much (the stuff really seems to work well on a "less is more" approach). I use the Harbor Freight el-cheapo orbital polisher, and 1400-1500 rpm seems to be a good speed with light to medium pressure on the skins. I tried running it a lot faster but I don't think it works as well.

Of course, this also depends on how many passes you're doing per area. I just started polishing the tops of my new wing skins and after 3 passes of F9 things are looking good, but I may do 1 or 2 more passes before going onto the C grade.



It's just my opinion but to really get a nice, highly polished finish, expect 4-6 passes of F9, 2-3 of C, and 1-2 of S.

For someone starting off and wanting to polish the whole airplane, I recommend 2 lbs F9, 1 lb C, and 1/2 lb S. Just my two cents though!!

Bryan Cotton wrote:I must be wildly inefficient. Stabilators and one pass on the tailcone sides and I have used 90% of my 1/2 lb of F9.

Bryan
It sounds like you're putting too much on. I was using too much initially and ran out of my first 1/2 lb tub in no time.

All up I did 7 passes of F9, from memory I think I used about 2lbs of F9 and 1/2 lb of C grade. It wasn't till I bought a cyclo last year that I started bothering with the S grade

Two problems with applying too much. One is it cuts better with less polish rather than too much, and two it tends to get thrown all over the place. I think half of my first tub of polish was getting flung off the plane and onto the floor and myself.

In addition to Kerry Fores video, check out a video of polishing an Airstream using Nuvite on the Perfect Polish website.
http://www.perfectpolish.com/index.html

Steve 892

Thanks guys! We will try less Nuvite.