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Acrylic for first time

Tyke121

Apprentice Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2019
Posts
11
Location
Selby ,North Yorkshire
First Name
Ian
Hi ,Going to give acrylic a go for the first time ,May be a silly question but how do you know when to change grades when sanding upto final grade ,When can you tell the grade your using Can’t get any better and you need to grade up ,Cheers all
 

flexi

Executive Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Posts
6,159
Location
Maidstone
First Name
mark
The simple answer is....when you don't see any further improvement.....there are as many ways to finish acrylics/ plastics as their are species of wood. Every one has their own views on the right approach....wet sand, dry sand, buffing wheel....as above what you are trying to do at every step is to remove the scratches from the previous grit.....what ever and how ever you achieve that, that's the goal....
Good practice is to start with the finest you can use to remove tool marks, with timber and a good skew you may not even need to sand, but this is acrylic....when you see no more improvement in the finish it's time to change grits.....but first wipe the blank to remove any trace of the current grit, then change. I always sand radially and laterally before I wipe the blank, I also use liquid polish when I get to the final stages as I have previously said we all use different methods.
Good luck......also some colours can be worse than others for showing scratches......black for one is a nightmare:rolling::rolling:
 

Dalboy

Executive Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2014
Posts
7,679
Location
Kent
First Name
Derek
Something I do is to sand with the piece revolving then stop the lathe and sand along the piece when all the radial lines disapear I move to the next grit and repeat this makes sure all the scratches from the previous grits have disappeared
 

jonesbones

Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2019
Posts
1
Location
eccles manchester m300dg
First Name
thomas
Hi just finding my way round the site ill get to introduce my self proper when I get it sorted out. I have made a quite a few acrylic pens wet sanding pads and finished of with hut ultra gloss plastic polish. bit dear but it dose a lot off pens good luck with with your polishing
 
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