Sealer or no sealer

[chips1144]

Originally Posted by Brent Deines

It was a pleasure to meet you as well. Did you see any ghosts at the hotel?

I agree with everything you said, but like you I am still confused about the sealers, mainly because the reps from 3M and Micro-Mesh both said that a solvent based sealer should not be used, but that seems to be what most of the others do use.

After talking to a number of body shops and seeing the results at the MTE, a good DA sander makes the most sense to me for fast high quality sanding. I sold air tools in a previous life so I am fond of Chicago Pneumatic (CP) and Ingiersall Rand (IR) products, but I'm sure many brands work just fine.

I didn't see the demo on the Jag, but some of the headlights in the Headlight Doctor's booth were pretty bad before he started, and I did watch him do one in his booth. It took about 15 minutes and looked pretty good, especially for a hand sanding job. I would love to see a good sealer on the light that 3M sanded.

Wow Brent I cant believe I missed these two posts of yours, I thought I kept my eyes on this Forum... Sorry...

Ghosts at the Hotel?
No Brent we didn't see any Ghost's I'm happy to say, My wife was spooked by this place as soon as we got out of the elevator on the 2nd floor, If felt strange to me too, it was like The Shining, the hallways are so big you could drive a large car down them, That Hotel took over our weekend, we couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks, I know we told you that it was soon to be remodeled, truth is we got home and found out that wont happen till April of 2009 at the earliest, it will take two years.
We also read some interesting reviews about the place, people spooked leaving at 3am, termites in the bed etc.
Saturday night we returned to the hotel and saw a red light burning in the end room on the fifth floor, the only trouble with that is we had been told NOBODY was on the fifth floor as it was unfit for use since a hurricane in 2004.
The Hotel will be featured again on The Ghost hunters TV show around June July, the place really is Haunted.
In 28 years of marriage we've never slept with the lights on, but we had the lights and TV on the whole time, My Wife wouldn't have slept otherwise, Some people seem to be fascinated by Ghosts, not us, I must admit we've had lots of laughs since returning...

Power tools... The 3M kit included 2 Chicago Pneumatic tools, they are great, I used to have a CP air buffer, the only problem for me being mobile is air consumption and noise, I don't have room for a large compressor and I don't think my dealers would appreciate the loud noise of air tools, I like air tools because of the light weight and controllability in tight spaces.

The Headlight doctor results were good on what I saw him do, he was fast by hand but the Jags lights were not that bad to begin with...

I'm sure 3M's sealed would look just as good as Dvelup's, My problem with 3M was it was finished off with plastic polish and I doubt it would hold up over the long run...
Chips1144

[Brent Deines]

Chips1141,

Your stories about the hotel are too funny!

I think you and I are on the same page. I too like air tools, but I'm not sure they are practical for most windshield repair technicians. I used to sell tools for one of the major tool manufacturers, you know, one of those trucks that hits all the mechanic and body shops, and I found that a few tools we sold were no better in quality than those at Harbor Freight, but for the most part I could not agree with you more; you typically get what you pay for. I bought a couple of cordless drills at Harbor Freight and they were complete junk. On the other hand, I found out that many power tools are made by the same company, and in some cases in the same mold, so buying a tool with a blue case rather than a red case sometimes gets you the same tool for less money. I have also found that just because one company makes the best drill, that does not mean they make the best saw, polisher, or grinder. I have a Porter Cable 7424 random orbital polisher that I really like, but it takes 6" pads and I have not tried it on headlights yet.

I have to admit I didn't look too carefully at Dvelup's tools, but they certainly did the job. I'll have to check into that a bit more.

[chips1144]

Brent...

Thanks for the info on tools, Id never considered the same tools could be in different cases, with different names except in the case of Craftsman, I suppose its just like the old VCR and DVD Machines.

I'm not a guy with a garage full of tools but I usually buy something that will last, I've bought off those tool trucks before so I know what you mean about some of their tools being on the cheap side.

Ben told me that Dvelup buy their DA sander and modify it to be a DA, adding the offset, maybe it is a good tool with quality parts inside...

The Porter Cable 7424 is a terrific machine for polishing cars, but I doubt you'd get much success with that 6 inch head on headlights, too big and difficult to get in small spaces, I know their are smaller heads available for the 7424 at some detailing companies on the net but I hear it makes the PC vibrate, and yes Id bet there are counterweights available, still the machine was designed to use a 5'' and 6'' pad.

We need something with a small offset so the tool doesn't bounce around if it should catch on the bumper or other car body parts, of course everything would be masked, still we don't need to damage anyone's car or our tools, The Metabo looks good... The Grex air sander has a 2 inch head that's why I was interested in that tool at one time.

[gt_repair]

I posted on an other post that DVELP will be looking at the metabo 400 also and modifying it to there needs. I say just down size the disc from a 3 1/4 to a 3" should be all the need to do...

[GlassStarz]

I use the Headliht Doctor system but as I have said in other posts use the 3m hook it system to sand and just finish with a light hand sand did 8 pairs today (5 real bad) took a little under 2 hrs look awesome. I have seen many that I have done a year ago and they still look good even with a winters worth of Vermont sand and salt. The sealer goes on easy and is self leveling. It makes sense to use a petroleum /solvent based sealer on a solvent based product like acrylic or plastics

[chips1144]

GT, are you sure Dvelup will be modifying the 400SXE...

Glasstarz, Its nice to hear a shout out for the headlight doctor system, you are the first Ive heard of on this forum that uses that system. 8 pairs in one day is GREAT. Good for you.

[gt_repair]

Chips
I was talking with Mini about a week ago and we started to talk about the metoba 400 being it had the verable speed and she said they talked to the company and was seeing what can come out of it. At this time it is not a sure thing but if they do get a deal they will mod it to what they need it to do...
Personaly, lessoning to you that have it, it may not need to be mod.

I hope it does better than the one they sell now because if you put any angle to it, it just vibeate with out orbiting if I am trying to get it to work a spot. I hope that is not like all orbital sanders. It has been a long while sence I used my DEWALT orbit sander so forgot. I will have to pull it out to see if it acts that way...

Maybe the DVELP has is not a tru orbit grinder. Any input on that one?

[chips1144]

The Dvelup sander is modified by them, they add the orbital part from what I understand, Vibration could be due to no counterbalance im not sure, but then again you are always supposed to hold it flat to the surface, holding most Da's to an angle will cause it to dig in and bounce a little.

[gt_repair]

On the vibrate, I mean, I would put a little more presure on the side I need to remove. a little "wrist action". That is when the sander stops spinning and just sits them and you can here it wants to spin but does not. That could be the modied part they had done....
The disc is still flat on the lens when I am doing the grinding.

Does that sound right to you. Typing and walking is not the same to me...

[chips1144]

From your description thats sounds about right for a da sander.