What am I doing wrong ?

So started turning an acrylic this afternoon with a pre made carbon fibre centre.
All has gone normal turning but now trying to polish it bright I can’t get it to shine.

It’s my 6th pen ever so be gentle.
I’ve used 400 800 and 2000 paper wet
And acrylic buffing pads.
Please help. Making it for myself so want it nice as .

Try some burnishing cream if you don't have any then T cut for cars works well. You do need to get rid of as many radial sanding marks as you can first

Ya I have T-cut

The radial marks on this blank have been a sod to remove.
It isn’t a cheap blank, was hard to round off.

Hi Graham, I would try using a heavier grit and work along the blank to start with. Then up through the grits, hopefully you will see a difference.

Leave the blank on the lathe and turn on apply the t cut with a soft cloth (don't wrap it around your finger) keep it moving along the blank. Stop the lathe regular and check you may need to wipe it off to check

You need to have the shine before you remove it from the lathe. Buffing won't create a shine, it will only enhance one that is already there. Buffing is however, capable of removing a shine if the piece is allowed to get too hot whilst doing it, or if the piece us dug in to the wheel too firmly.

The radial marks can be dealt with by stopping the lathe and sanding parallel to the bed bars with each grit before moving on to the next.

2000 grit is more than fine enough in my book, in fact I normally only go to about 1200 for most synthetics, but I do then use 0000 wire wool (lathe stopped) and then a burnishing cream as my final process.

Graham W said:

So started turning an acrylic this afternoon with a pre made carbon fibre centre.
All has gone normal turning but now trying to polish it bright I can’t get it to shine.

It’s my 6th pen ever so be gentle.
I’ve used 400 800 and 2000 paper wet
And acrylic buffing pads.
Please help. Making it for myself so want it nice as .

Click to expand...

Do you think you have gone through the acrylic to the carbon? What do they use? Real carbon fibre or a fake paper print?

It’s real carbon, but no I’ve not gone into it

If it is the softer Alumilite or Royal Palm Resin it will not polish up as well as
the harder Polyester Resin.
This process works for me.

Les