mm finishing

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I sand with sandpaper to 400 then do the first 6 grades of MM. After I put on my CA/BLO finish, I wipe it down to remove excess BLO and dry polish it with the last three grades of MM. I turn and finish at 2400 rpm.

Sharon
 
sgimbel said:
What speed do you run your lathe and what grit do most of you start at?
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I slow the lathe down for sanding to about 500 RPM. Running too fast can generate heat that will discolour the wood or melt the MM pads.
I sand first with regular sandpaper starting at 240 grit. On open pore woods I sometimes sand with the grain with 150 first. I sand 240, 320, 400 lathe on slow then stop and sand with-the-grain for each grit. I will clear the sanding grit with a dry dish scrub pad before moving onto the next grit.
After the sandpaper I work through all the MM grits 1500-12000 just with the lathe on. I keep the MM clean by wiping each pad on a denim rag. Next I finish with 3 to 5 coats CA and accelerator or CA-BLO, let sit a few hours for the CA to harden and go back to MM, starting usually at about 3200 pressing very lightly with the coarser grits so to not sand thru the CA. I continue to 12000MM, pop out the mandrel and then buff with Meguires at the buffing station.
I believe in quickly cycling thru each grit, not running too fast or pressing very hard. Total sand-finish-resand-buff time is about 5-7 minutes not including hardening wait time.
 
If you want to run at higher speeds and not melt your MM, use CA accelerator as a lubricant. Works great.
 
I run at 1250 normally when doing MM with CA finish and keep them wet. I also stop and sand the length of the blank too. For anything not requiring I do a CA finish, acrylic & PR for example, I MM at 3950 or whatever the top speed is, again keeping them wet with ICE cold water and again stopping the lathe and sanding the length of the blank. For CA finishes I skip the first two grits, for PR and acrylic I use all the grits.
 
If you get any blooming or hazy spots using water Todd, give the accelerator a try instead. Never know.
 
Skye said:
If you get any blooming or hazy spots using water Todd, give the accelerator a try instead. Never know.
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I don't sand until the last coat is set. Sorry I should have mentioned that. :smile: I don't sand between layers of CA. I use accelerator on approx. every other coat.
 
*GASP* You don't' sand between layers of CA? I swear that's never worked for me for some reason. I may need to revisit that method.
 
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