Acrylic Haze

[Anonymous]

I've been sanding these tanks down for a while. I have been able to get all of the really deep scratches out, but it's still looking pretty hazy, with a lot of really fine scratches, even after using all of the different micro mesh levels. Any suggestions? I'm having a difficult time being able to tell when to switch grades.

 

[mattboy]

Hi;

I assume you've got the full range of micromesh, up to 12,000 grit, and that you're wet sanding with all them, right? What I've found, and I've only used the stuff on black sheet and clear tubing, never clear sheet, is that once I get to about 8000 I'm basically ready to go to a buffing wheel. If you don't have access to a buffing wheel, or at least an arbor on a drill, I guess you could use a palm sander, wet sanding up to 12,000. I've gotten black sheet to look pretty good hand sanding with micromesh, but it always looks better after the buffing wheel. If you're not wet sanding that's the problem, but my guess is that you already know that. Whatever you do, you want to make sure you don't get the acrylic hot.

Oh yeah, I've only polished cast acrylic. If you're working on extruded, I don't know how it would polish, but it's a lot softer than cast.

Good luck. Polishing a whole tank by hand with micromesh could take a LONG time.

HTH
Matt

 

[Anonymous]

Both extruded and casted acrylic can be polished. For most commerical tank, you are most likely find those that built with cast acrylic.

I hate to say this, but a lot of polishing technique is from hand-on experience. After you do a few more tank, you will know exactly when to switch grit. The general rule is that you will continue to work on the grit until it got all the deeper scratches out. Basically you replace a deep scratch with several (or millions) shallower scratch. Progress it this way, until the scratch is so shallow that you can buff it out.

Easy to say than practice, but just like sharping a knife blade, you need lots of elbow grease and practice. Power tool will help you a lot, but you have to know to use it properly. I would suggest you practice it on a small piece of acrylic with your hand and then apply what you learnt with powertool on a real tank.

(Ask the admin to move your thread from the GRD forum here. I feel this is more appropriate forum, and you will get better exposure. Hopefully James can help you and explain it more intuitiverly....)

 

[Bishop1]

Novus 1,2, and 3 will remove most any fine scratch... micro-mesh's are available all the way to 20,000 grit
_________________
Ferrari 166 Inter

 

[Acrylics]

Hmm sorry I missed this one

The time to switch grades in Micro-Mesh is when you can't see the previous marks anymore...
the way to do MM is to start in one direction and on the next grade - sand perpendicular to the previous. Ie., if you start at 1200 sanding left - right, do 1500 going up - down. You'll know when to start using 1800 when you can no longer see the 1200 (up - down) sand marks. You will have to sand a slightly larger area with every new grade - just kinda the way it is. Some may argue with changing directions when sanding but this is the way Micro Surface recommends and actually one of the few mfr recommendations I actually follow
Always, always use plenty of water when doing MM and clean the area off frequently, at least after every grade. Use a cotton or old unprinted t-shirt for the cleaning to avoid any further scratching. After completing the 12,000 grit cloth, use Novus 2 or equivalent to get the final luster.
This can be a time consuming venture as I'm sure you know, but not all that bad if it's just a few small areas.

HTH,
James

 

[Anonymous]

James, do you have any hint for people who use a random-orbit sander? The up-down and sideway method I am aware of, but don't know any hint when powertool is used....

 

[Acrylics]

James, do you have any hint for people who use a random-orbit sander? The up-down and sideway method I am aware of, but don't know any hint when powertool is used....

I don't use power sanders w/ Micro-Mesh unless I'm deliberately trying to make a non-reflective finish so my advice would be to not use it with power sanders as the sanded area can get so large that it becomes difficult to know when everything is evenly sanded and exactly when to switch grades. There are those who have done it, and if the results are good, should be applauded. But for me, I haven't found the circumstances to warrant it - at least not yet.

Sorry I couldn't have been more helpful ,
James

 

[Anonymous]

There are those who have done it, and if the results are good, should be applauded.

Can I take that as compliment, then? Wow, you made my day!

 

[Acrylics]

There are those who have done it, and if the results are good, should be applauded.

Can I take that as compliment, then? Wow, you made my day!

You have a lot more patience than I do CK, I woulda just made a new tank

James