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Author Topic: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl  (Read 895 times)

Beamer

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Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« on: January 25, 2010, 02:40:20 PM »
Whats the best method to restore the original finish on a Gladiator pearl?

 

scotts33

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Re: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« Reply #1 on: January 25, 2010, 10:46:16 PM »
Jason W. has said in the past Storm Step #2.  That will be totally dependent on spinner speed and pressure.  

I've done some Visionary pearls that are/were 1500 polished and Storm Step #2 seems to do the best replication that I can get and I've tried lots of variables from abrasive polished to different steps of abralon and polish over.
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icewall

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Re: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2010, 07:39:38 AM »
two methods I know of:

storm step 2 (kind of hard to use)

or

lt grey scotchbrite which is around 1500-1600 grit
then apply a liberal coat of a non-abrasive polish
(it is the method I use on all my 1500 grit polished balls)
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A_P_K

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Re: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« Reply #3 on: January 26, 2010, 07:50:42 AM »
Gray scotchbrite should be 800 grit closer to 2000ab so I don't think that's correct.

You can use 1500 grit sandpaper and polish to achieve it as well.  My Crimson needs to be refreshed since half the shine was taken off when it was plugged and redrilled for me.
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charlest

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Re: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« Reply #4 on: January 26, 2010, 08:35:29 AM »
As far as I know, the light grey Scotch Brite pad is around 800 grit US/CAMI, which is the equivalent of P1600 grit FEPA, the Abralon and SiaAir scale.

I believe that when most manufacturers say "1500 grit polished", they mean 1500 grit US/CAMI, because they've been using the US/CAMI scale long before we even knew what Abralon was. If they mean FEPA (or Abralon or SiaAir), they should indicate that.

So far, when manufacturers use an Abralon pad or a SiaAir pad, they say "2000 grit Abralon" or "4000 grit SiaAir micro pad". When they they say "1500 grit polished", they don't specify the grade. So I assume they're using the CAMI scale.

1500 grit US/CAMI = approximately P3000 grit FEPA.

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scotts33

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Re: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« Reply #5 on: January 26, 2010, 09:37:33 AM »
Again Mr. Ball Surface has it correct. Visionary has always used US/CAMI on the 1500 polished designation.  They do use abralon designations on the newer stuff.

I recently purchased a AMB Bronze Centaur with an OOB 1500 polished I compared it to two balls that I had done Storm Step #2 and I'd say they compare favorably.  I'll also add, I've done it enough now and amount of compound and time/speed/pressure.
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Beamer

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Re: Restore OB finish on a Gladiator Pearl
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2010, 01:14:57 PM »
What surface do you recommend before polishing with the Storm Step 2?