Wow, that's some detailed detail work. Which I am terrible at. I do about everything, except finish work. I paint things just to stop rust. Wifey wants to paint the inside of the house, I ask, why, is it rusting!
I got the first skimming of epoxy sanded and shaped. The area I had to build up left numerous pinholes, that's air I mixed in making the wet repair compound. Also removed the pliers, today a heating iron for welding plastic is supposed to be delivered. The tears will get a little welding attention this afternoon.
When working on plastic body parts I have found using very sharp sandpaper with less pressure does a better job cutting plastic. A slower speed helps too. I first went after the old License Plate mount holes with a grinding stone in my Dremel tool opening them up a bit. Then mixing the Bumper Repair Epoxy on a mixing pad a bondo spreader was used to apply the repair epoxy to the holes.
Going after the first sanding of epoxy with my favorite sandpaper I noticed when sanding the Drivers Side with the 180 grit a real uneven scratch pattern was revealed. You read the scratch patterns to know it you're cutting level, have high spots, low spots or waves developing. This odd scratch pattern told me to stop with the DA, the bi-directional radius of the panel was all bad for DA sanding. I pulled out my trusty rubber block (I've had it 45 years) and blocked the wave out before it got good and started.
With everything blocked I could move on the another skimming. Here the compound is just resin-fast hardener-410 Microlight. Since we have epoxy down I don't need to add the 406 Thickener. All we are filling here are 80 grit scratches, pinholes, and 2 Holidays. You work yourself out of a job quickly, this is part of the reason panel repair takes time. Curing Time.
S10CHEVY LIKED above post
Sanded the second skimming down, it took care of all the pinholes. The plastic repair welding kit arrived. 3 spots needed to be built back up past the original edge of the bumper so enough can be sanded down kinda straightening everything out. You can't see it unless you jack up the car, it sits that low in the front from the factory.
The areas needing plastic welding are buffed with a 2in surfacing pad and die grinder back to clean plastic. Reinforcement SS Screen is cut to fit the repair areas. The Welding Iron is then used to melt new plastic into those areas till a excess build up occurs. Then holding the reinforcement in place the Iron is used to melt the reinforcement in encapsulating the reinforcement.
Now from the outside the SEM Bumper Repair Epoxy can be used to finish filling and building out the rest of the bumper cover damage.
A final sanding to level and even out the edges. It's not a "Like New" repair but I'm saving over $700 fixing somewhere you can't see without a mirror.
Managed to sand the Bumper cover and found it needed a few spots glazed so while that is curing I installed a new Radiator Fan (Not Shown), new Hood Ornament and new Headlights. Still waiting on the new Fog Light fixtures. I opened the Hood one day and the Ornament just fell off.
BuckeyeCrappie, S10CHEVY LIKED above post
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heavenornot.netRojo LIKED above post
I fooled around in body shops in my late teens and into my early twenties. The only work they wanted me to do was tape and remove tape that had gotten wet with dew and didn’t want to come off. Grunt work. Some of what they were working on rubbed off on me and came back around when I built boats for correct craft, the ski nautique people and now bass cat also. I learned that I knew more than I was told I did. Overbuilding and grinding and sanding is tedious but not as hard as some folks think with the right materials and techniques. Materials have changed greatly since my day. That’s a neat project and some nice work you’re doing. Satisfies that inside urge to keep the hands and the brain busy.
Since the rest of the small stuff primer would fill I brought the Bumper Cover out to my "Backyard Body Shop Spray Booth" LOL. I had a spray booth inside here till I added the Metal Building addition. Now its wait for a hot humid day and spray before the bugs wake up. Isocyanate cured 2K Urethanes love the heat and moisture. I keep all open catalyst can in the fridge.
After a good wipedown with Acrylaclean and tacking I mixed up some PPG Refinish Shopline JP375 Epoxy Primer. Usually this is just used as a adhesion coat or millage for corrosion but here I'm using to fill too. After mixing you let the paint sit for 15 minutes Induction Time then it's spray time. After the first coat I let it sit for 15 minutes and you could see it soaking or burning into the Epoxy repair work. second coat to 4th coat each time increasing drying time 15 minutes. With the heat we had that was plenty.
I allowed it to sit outside covered for 3 days for the Epoxy to really harden then sprayed "Guide Coat" sanding guide coat to all work. This makes it very easy to see any imperfections while sanding. Since this is Basecoat/Clearcoat I will sand with a 500 grit.
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