Polishing Epoxy with a Rotex

[TomInNC]

I recently picked up a Rotex 150, and I would like to use it to polish the epoxy portion of a river table that I am building. In the spirit of full disclosure, this will be my first attempt at any real polishing.

At this point I am confused about how to setup the Rotex for polishing. My understanding at this point is that I should use the StickFix polishing pad to prevent any compound from coming into the Rotex. Is that correct? What should I then attach to the polishing pad for applying the compound? I see several different polishing sponges as well as Vlies when I google "Rotex polishing", but I have no idea what would work best for my application. Are these sponges reusable, or should I plan on only getting one use per sponge.

For what it's worth, I was planning on using MicroGloss as the polishing compound.

 

[luvmytoolz]

It's actually a lot simpler than many expect, it's just a matter of working through the grits, and cleaning really well inbetween. This video might help somewhat:

 

[Crazyraceguy]

One sponge per "grit" level of polish, not per job. The sponges are very much reusable. No extraction, you don't want that drawn through the sponge, which would take it away from the point of contact, and coat the inside of the hose/bag too.
How far you go, depends on your requirements for gloss.
In general, I find it difficult to get to an even level of a "matt" (matte) or "semi-gloss" state without going past that, to a near full gloss, then backing up. This can be accomplished with a non-woven pad (Scotch-Brite or Vlees) after the gloss is achieved. Otherwise, it can appear blotchy, with places that are more shiny than others.

 

[TomInNC]

Possibly dumb question, but if I am using a Vlies pad to work in a finish, should I be using the polishing pad to prevent any of the finish from getting into the sander, or is it fine to just use the Vlies on the standard hard pad?

 

[sirhc]

You don't want any moist though the machine, it will trap and build up.

But maybe this is helpful, since I don't epoxy polish that often I wrote myself a simple step guide to remind me;

- Put on green pad
- Spray with water, sand with Platin pads from necessary 500, 1000, 2000 Rotex mode (first grid takes longer then the finer after)
- Paper rag, clean off
- Check if scratches are off, otherwise rougher grit
- Wool pad, apply orange polish, cover polish on surface with pad
- Spray a bit water on surface, slow down at first between speed 2-3 in Rotex mode
- Same cross motion, first horizontal then over vertical. Bump up the speed
- Spray some water, wipe off with microfibre cloth
- Go to finer polishes and combined pads, polish is always in Rotex mode