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Acrylic polish

Bigblackdog

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I am relatively new to turning acrylic and ebonite. The few that I have done, I have wet sanded with micro meshed through the grits to 12000. I have, in general got a good finish, and on those that I haven't, it is my error rather than the process.

I am looking at alternative options, to speed the task up a bit, and have seen mentions of using a plastic polish. Some people seem to use it after 12000 grit, but some manufacturers claim that you can sand to 600 and apply the polish to receive a flawless finish. Does anybody find this to be the case, or is it a pipe dream?

There seem to be several out there, both marketed at pen turners, and more generalised.

Any particular recommendations for the brands? I would have bought the Hut and though no more about it, but Turners Workshop are out of stock and have been for some time.
 

chas_41_uk

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You can't speed up quality if your doing it by hand!
If you want to sand to 600 grit and then polish, I would advise doing an experiment first, using two identical acrylic blank.

  1. sand one blank to 600 grit and then polish
  2. sand the other blank to 12000 grit and then polish
  3. Compare the difference
Personally I think the difference will be obvious :thumbs:
 

Bigblackdog

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You can't speed up quality if your doing it by hand!
If you want to sand to 600 grit and then polish, I would advise doing an experiment first, using two identical acrylic blank.

  1. sand one blank to 600 grit and then polish
  2. sand the other blank to 12000 grit and then polish
  3. Compare the difference
Personally I think the difference will be obvious :thumbs:

point taken.

i will try the following when i get some polish, but ask the question anyway...

doing the same- 2 identical blanks, both sanded to 12000, one with polish on afterwards. Do you see a noticeable difference between the two?
 

Grump

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Some people will swear by Farecla 300 and 500, it seems trendy at the moment until someone comes along with another mustav.
I'll stick to me vim and toothpaste, it all depends on what finish you want to achieve and what time / effort you want to put into it.
I certainly won't put a lot of money into it but that's only my take on the subject init?
 

Moondoggy

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Some people will swear by Farecla 300 and 500, it seems trendy at the moment until someone comes along with another mustav.
I'll stick to me vim and toothpaste, it all depends on what finish you want to achieve and what time / effort you want to put into it.
I certainly won't put a lot of money into it but that's only my take on the subject init?

And that's just his teeth! :funny:
 

Buckeye

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point taken.

i will try the following when i get some polish, but ask the question anyway...

doing the same- 2 identical blanks, both sanded to 12000, one with polish on afterwards. Do you see a noticeable difference between the two?

After wet MM I use Silvo and it lifts the gloss higher Poundland's scratch polish does the same.

Peter
 

Penpal

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I like all the replies recently on my Ink Holder I finished to 600 grit the timber it finished like glass almost impossible to photograph. Everything is relative with some experts they never sand down further than 400 and certainly using acrylic and some of the polishes spoken of so far flawless finishes result. In future I am going to stop at a great finish taking it too far is pointless as you lose the feel of reality.

Peter.
 

Pierre

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I just dry sand down to 12000 grit micromesh and its normally good. I did stick an acrylic pen under the carnauba wax buffing wheel by mistake the other day and it looked better but that could also have been me cleaning my glasses as well:goesred:

PG
 

Bill Mooney

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I dry sand to 1200 grit then polish with Tcut followed by Farecla profile 300 then 500. It gives me a fine finish. What I like about Farecla is it cut scratches & polishes at the same time leaving a flawless finish.
 

wm460

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Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, Australia.
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You can't speed up quality if your doing it by hand!
If you want to sand to 600 grit and then polish, I would advise doing an experiment first, using two identical acrylic blank.

  1. sand one blank to 600 grit and then polish
  2. sand the other blank to 12000 grit and then polish
  3. Compare the difference
Personally I think the difference will be obvious :thumbs:

This might surprise you, Les I believe only sands to 600 grit.:thinks:
 

Bob Ellis

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I usually finish acrylics by polishing through to 12000 grit Micromesh and a final coat of Hut Ultra Gloss Plastic Polish, but since several people on this thread have extolled the superior virtues of Frécla, I thought I would try it. I ordered some Farécla 300 and 500, which arrived yesterday. The 300 seems to be the right stuff - it says Farécla Profile 300 Rapid Cut on the bottle - but I'm not sure about the 500. Although it said 500 on the website, there is no mention of 500 on the bottle, which is labelled Farécla G10 Finishing Compound. Is this the right stuff?

There are no directions on either bottle about how to use it, so any tips would be much appreciated.
 

bigbob

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Oct 31, 2014
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Inverness
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Hi Bob,

Should say "Profile 500 Light Cut Liquid compound" I think they have sent you the wrong stuff the instructions should say shake bottle or mix product well apply a small quantity of the product to the surface spread and compound at 1500-1800 rpm then clean and polish with clean cloth.
 

Penpal

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Beware of Witches brews all of the above have worked for me one of the best used to be before they discontued was Brasso cream in a tube. Tripple E will amaze you.

Peter.
 

Bob Ellis

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Hi Bob,

Should say "Profile 500 Light Cut Liquid compound" I think they have sent you the wrong stuff the instructions should say shake bottle or mix product well apply a small quantity of the product to the surface spread and compound at 1500-1800 rpm then clean and polish with clean cloth.

Thanks for that, Bob. I've sent the bottle back to Amazon and ordered the right stuff from eBay. I'll be interested to compare it with the Hut Plastic Polish finish when it arrives.
 
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