5/5/2023 0 Comments Sanding blocksThat way you can use it to block something flat like a hood, then take out the rods and block the curved transition to the fender without changing tools. The cool thing about these is the stiffness of them is adjustable by inserting up to 3 steel rods in them. The long straight edge also is great for straightening out character lines stamped into the body work which can lose their focus under too much high build primer. By varying the thickness Dura-Block varies the stiffness and flexibility of the blocks too.Īs you can see there is still some give and flex to them, but they also have a nice sharp leading edge for better cutting. These blocks are made of a rubber similar to the earlier style “alligator” block, with some flex to it, but not a lot. There is also a long skinny block and a round tubular block for various areas and contours. The large sizes make short work of large flat panels, and the smaller sizes allow you to get into tighter spots and curves. There are even flexible blocks that can be molded to the curve of a body panel and stay that way until you form a different curve with them.Ī good place to start is with a kit with an assortment of rubber block in it like this one from Dura-Block. There are long blocks and short blocks, round blocks and square blocks, soft blocks and hard blocks. Sanding blocks have come a long way from the old piece of wood, or hard rubber 1/4 sheet style. You can see how the large red block will bridge the highs and lows, sanding into the primer until it is perfectly smooth. In order to get a smooth as glass top coat you need to solve this while you are still in the primer phase by blocking the entire car. The next coat will do the same, and so on, and so on, up to the final clear coat. Of course, if the substrate you apply primer to has waves in it, the primer will shrink and conform to them as it dries. Kevin drew this magnified cross section of a body panel (the lowest dark wavy line), covered with 2 coats of primer (the other 2 lines). These are typically high and low spots so small you really can’t feel them, but you will certainly see them in the wavy reflections of light in a glossy top coat. Now there are blocks of all shapes, sizes and materials, for use on panels of many different contours.īlocking is the way you smooth minor surface waves and imperfections, much smaller than dents and dings. Later, the heavy rubber style “alligator” or “vampire” sanding blocks were made with several teeth in them to grip a 1/4 strip of sand paper, but that is still dark ages technology compared to today. The hard, flat block allowed the paper to sand a flat panel to a much more uniform surface. The name blocking comes from the original way it was done – with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood. His excellent Paintucation series of DVDs covers many aspects of paint and body work, but last year he did a live video demonstration and Q & A all about blocking body panels to get them perfectly smooth before painting.īlocking – What does it mean and what is it? He is an expert on high quality finishes, and what you need to do before you start spraying paint in order to get them. Kevin Tetz has probably painted more cars than most of us will ever own, or even drive. Without proper blocking, no matter how good the painter is you are never going to get a perfect show car finish on your project. How to get Perfect Body Panels with Block Sanding:Įver wonder what it is that separates the mirror smooth bodies of show cars from the body filler fender bender repair you did in your driveway? Often times it all comes down to the important step between the first coat of primer and the first coat of paint, called blocking.
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