Suppose you are willing to have a masterpiece of your epoxy resin casting and get stuck in the sanding process. Then luckily, you are at the right halt.
Sanding is a simple and effective technique to get a smoothie-shiny epoxy resin with the help of sandpaper.
This article will bring much information about sandpaper to make you choose the best sandpaper for your epoxy resin and answer your major concern about using 80-grit sandpaper.
Well, you are starting with the direct answer. You can sand your epoxy with 80 grit; to your surprise, it has some reasons and logic behind it.
So, let us begin our deep discussion over sanding and sandpaper.
Table of Contents
Sanding, Sandpaper, and their core concepts –
Before proceeding with the actual knowledge of sandpaper, let us know some basic essential concepts in a glimpse.
Sanding is the specific stage of the epoxy resin casting process that involves rubbing the epoxy resin’s surface with sandpaper’s help. Sandpaper is a special type with a textured surface known as ‘grits.’
The main purpose of grits is to give the epoxy resin coarseness and smooth its surface. Sandpaper has numerous sharp abrasive edges glued onto backing material with a bonding agent.
The edges work to cut down the irregularities of the surface. The larger the grit size, the more the edges will be rougher and sharper.
Can 80-grit sandpaper be used for sanding the epoxy resin –
Well, the grit size of the sandpaper for your epoxy resin depends on what type of project you are casting.
Although it is always advisable to start with the smaller grit size to sand epoxy resin and then increase the size gradually at regular intervals.
The main agenda behind this is to provide the epoxy resin the finished look stage by stage by removing the bigger irregularities and proceeding with the finer ones.
As you keep increasing the grit size of the sandpaper and use it on the surface of your epoxy resin, you attempt to remove the marks left by the previous grit size while sanding.
So, combining this all, Yes, you can sand your epoxy resin with 80-grit sandpaper. I will advise you to initiate with 80 grit only and then keep on jumping on bigger sizes.
Choosing the smaller grit size first will finely reduce the larger irregularities, clearing the way for you to get to the smaller ones.
You don’t have to forget to wait for the epoxy resin to get cured before proceeding with the sanding process, or else you will destroy your whole project.
Know how long to wait before sanding epoxy in detail.
When to use what size of the grit of the sandpaper –
As said, the size of the grit of the sandpaper for the epoxy resin will depend on your project.
Based on your preference for the project and purpose, you can track down the following list of suggestions for the grit size of the sandpaper:
1. You will need 40-60 grit coarse sandpaper for heavy sanding and stripping.
2. For smoothening surfaces and a finished touch, start within the range of 80-120 grit.
3. Opt for 360-600 grit for a regular, finished look.
4. For extra, super finer results, you can use the grit size of 600-1000 or 2500.
The idea behind this chart is simple. The bigger the size, the finest touch it will provide for your purpose. You can get these sandpapers at the local hardware shop, auto repair shop, or even online.
Make sure you don’t over-sand your epoxy resin in the will to get the finest touch. The range between 80-600n is almost fine for epoxy resin projects. You may check the best way to sand epoxy resin.
What are the types of Sandpaper grits –
Well, this is something more generic. On a broad note, four main types of sandpaper include aluminum oxide, garnet, silicon carbide, and ceramic.
Each of them serves itself according to its purpose of use and the type of project. For epoxy resin, if you are relying on wet sanding, then silicon carbide sandpaper which is generally waterproof sandpaper, is the best choice.
Read what type of sandpaper you should use to sand your epoxy resin.
What are the types of Sandpaper –
If you are looking for the types of sandpaper, put on your memory cap because I will tell you the dug information about the sandpaper. Sandpaper differs depending on its grit sizes, purpose, density, and quality.
Each of them should be considered when choosing sandpaper for your epoxy resin. There are even organic and inorganic types of sandpapers.
Broadly, from the perspective of sanding the epoxy resin casting, the types of sandpaper can be considered two types.
1. Regular sandpaper.
2. Waterproof sandpaper.
Both sandpapers are easily available in the market and the online store. You can get yours either way.
The sanding (of course, with the help of sandpaper) can be done in two ways: directly or by using water. They are termed dry and wet sanding techniques, respectively.
Both are good, but waterproof sandpaper has more advantages over regular ones. Despite many benefits, many people remain confused about whether to sand the epoxy resin.
But yes, it can be sanded, and you can rely on waterproof sandpaper. Both are useable and effective in their manner and provide the benefitted surface of shiny, glossy, and smooth surfaces.
You may check how to sand epoxy resin here.
FAQ’s –
1. For what range of grit sizes are the sandpapers available?
A wide range of sandpaper grit sizes is available from 60-7000. The most used sandpaper is of 60-80 grit size, which is coarse; 100-150 medium grit size; 180-220 good grit size.
And 320 grit which is ultra-fine in nature.
2. Is any smaller grit size of sandpaper less than 60 available?
Even though there is 20-grit sandpaper, the functionality moves from coarse to fine as the size increases. Therefore the 20-grit size sandpaper is more coarse and used for industrial purposes.
3. What are organic and inorganic sandpaper?
The organic type of sandpaper includes flint, garnet, and inexpensive papers with poor durability. Alternatively, the inorganic sandpaper comprises aluminum oxide and silicon carbide, which are synthetic and thus costly.
These last longer and are available in much finer grits comparatively.
Conclusion –
Sanding is one of the easiest stages of epoxy resin casting, and it, therefore, should be treated with some precautions to attain the most beautiful art piece of epoxy resin casting.
I hope this article answers your concern about the 80-grit sandpaper and related concepts.
Share this article if you found this helpful, and leave comments for us in the comment box to tell us how your experience went while sanding the epoxy resin. Happy Epoxy Resin Casting!