Planing the resin flat left deep gashes in the surface from the CNC. The goal of this step of the project was to polish the surface to a mirror surface. The first attempt at polishing was through sanding. Sanding the resin with progressively higher grits, finishing in wet sanding and polishing, is a good way to create a clear surface with resin. However, the gashes were very deep, and because the resin layer was very thin, in some places the resin was sanded through and revealed the paper and wood underneath (as seen below)

  

Since sanding was not a viable option, another way to deal with deep scratches is to clear coat. In theory, the clear coat will fill the scratches and leave a clear, shiny finish. To this end, I used a wipe on, self leveling clear coat to try and fill the scratches. The clear coat did remove the scratches and left a good finish. However, the clear coat did not level itself well, and the surface was uneven.

On the other guitar, the clear coat had a strange effect. Although applied the same way as the first, the clear coat didn't spread everywhere, and left patches where there was no clear coat. This left a lot of divots, holes, and overall a terrible finish.

Because planing, sanding, polishing, and clear coat, did not work well, I decided that ultimately, the best solution for these guitars would be to not face them on the CNC at all. The initial resin pour left an excellent surface, and with care during the pour, the surface could be perfectly level. I do not think that these guitars currently are very salvageable. I don't believe there is any good way to remove the botched surface without also removing the washi paper. Hopefully these can be salvaged into a different project, however, to make this project a reality, the guitars will need to be rebuilt from scratch, with the new knowledge of how to proceed.

Made at and funded by the Georgia Tech Invention Studio