Scratches in Plexiglass

[DanB]

Reading the bling thread about polishing got me to wonderin if anyone has had success @ polishing/buffing out scratches in their windscreens? I know the process is working from fine grit to insainly fine grit...just curious if anyone tried it and was happy w/results? Or is it more of a pain to mess with? Yes, I got a few sratches dang it...worse than getting that first ding in a new car.

[kmach]

Hi, I have used a product Micro-surface on scratches with good success, it starts with courser grains and you work your way to real fine followed by a polish.

i had some deep scratches in the doors, caused by the door rubbing on the bottom of the wing when open taxiing. Initially when you start out you are working on a small area, but by the time you finish it is just about the whole door you are rubbing on !

I also have had good success with using a car buffer with just the polish ,depends on how deep the scratch. mirror glaze and a buffer will take out lighter scratches easily. hope this helps

[jdmcbean]

Dan,
Be careful.. the bubble doors are acrylic and the pre-formed windshields are acrylic.. acrylic is more scratch resistant and with some work you can buff the scratches out. I have not tried that with Lexan. I'm not sure you'll have the same success.. I would try a scrap piece first.

[DanB]

Dan,
Be careful.. the bubble doors are acrylic and the pre-formed windshields are acrylic.. acrylic is more scratch resistant and with some work you can buff the scratches out. I have not tried that with Lexan. I'm not sure you'll have the same success.. I would try a scrap piece first.

Thanks John,
I currently have the Lexan (Polly Carb) for both. Was thinking the same thing about trying a scrap piece. I'm sure if done wrong it could make worse.
Dan

[HighWing]

Dan,
Lexan cannot be polished to perfection. If it was something just to look at, it might work. Our problem is that it has to be looked through. There will alwalys be a haze in the polished area. Acrylic can be polished, but I think it would require a power buffer. With polishing Acryic, don't start with a very fine glazing type compound, all it will do is polish the edges of the scratches. First start with a coarse compound or something like 1200 or 1500 wet dry sand paper to remove the scratch, then progressively remove the ever finer scratches progressively finer compounds. I would suggest different bonnets for each grade of polish. You don't want to use a polish bonnet with the ultra fine compound that has also been used with a coarser compound. Keep them separately in zip bags. This from the old old days when we were learning to polish dental appliances.
Lowell

[DanB]

Dan,
Lexan cannot be polished to perfection. If it was something just to look at, it might work. Our problem is that it has to be looked through. There will alwalys be a haze in the polished area. Acrylic can be polished, but I think it would require a power buffer. With polishing Acryic, don't start with a very fine glazing type compound, all it will do is polish the edges of the scratches. First start with a coarse compound or something like 1200 or 1500 wet dry sand paper to remove the scratch, then progressively remove the ever finer scratches progressively finer compounds. I would suggest different bonnets for each grade of polish. You don't want to use a polish bonnet with the ultra fine compound that has also been used with a coarser compound. Keep them separately in zip bags. This from the old old days when we were learning to polish dental appliances.
Lowell

Thanks Lowell,
That will save me some time trying.
Dan