Jestersix

Repairing scratched acrylic?

Mr. Ugly

Mr. Ugly

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What's the dealio on doing this?

I remember Marc Daniels had a process. What have people tried that worked for them?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm setting up a "junk" tank that isn't too badly scratched. If I can make it look good, I might use it for my main tank.

Thanks!
 
Junk tank?? I thought I'm the only one who like to keep junk stuff ;D ..

Post detail how you do it man. I have a lot of scratch in my tank too. I will try to remove them all before selling it.
 
I bought the kit from Marc Daniels, which is basically a rig that you attach to your cleaning magnet. Been trying to get out a big nasty scratch I put in my front viewing pane. I've done two passes so far, but the scratch is still there - I think it'll probably take multiple passes, and I could probably use a stronger magnet than the one I have. It seems like it would work pretty well on light scratches though.
 
Marc's starts with 9mm, then 3mm, 2mm, and 1mm, if I remember right. I'll have to check my kit when I get home tonight. The instructions are a bit involved, but the main gist is that you go horizontal across the entire face for 5 minutes, then switch to vertical. For focusing on scratches, you work in all directions, and feather it out so that you're covering a large area (to avoid concentrating the removal of acrylic in one small spot).
 
Norm, if your tank is sitting dry, get your self a buffer and Novus 3 (if badly scratched) and work your way up to 1. Buffing acrylic by hand is a PITA...!
 
In order to remove scratches it's best to go perpendicular to the scratch with a heavy grit, keep going until you can't see the scratch at all, then drop a level of grit, and go perpendicular to the first ones until you can't see those, continue until you get a crystal clear mess :)
 
Ok, sounds good. I had wondered what abrasive product that Marc had been using. And I understand that there's one that he uses for everyday cleaning which actually is a fine abrasive material that will polish the acrylic even more?

I picked up some 2000 and 2500 wet dry from TAP. Also got some Novus 3 and 2. Didn't know if I really needed the 1.

Eileen, I think I'll take you up on that Porter Cable loan.

thanks!
 
Eileen, would you be able to meet at Ocean Treasures this Saturday? I'm going to be there around early afternoon, I believe. Gotta double check the time.

Phong, light swirly scratches and some deeper ones down at the sandbed level and elsewhere. Kind of a haze on it also, but hard to tell. Haven't filled it all the way with water yet. I just cleaned it up some more, and cut it down to 16" tall. I'm keeping the external overflow sans teeth.

"Junk" was probably too harsh a term :D It's not all that bad. I'd been planning to use it as a frag tank, but after working on it a bit, I'm thinking about trying to get it polished up nice to be a combination frag/display tank. You know how Ocean Treasures has their corals displayed? I'd like to do something like that. Very open with flat surfaces partway up for corals to sit on. I'll do a pseudo gyre set up for a bunch of flow.

Anyway, the plan is eventually to swap the "junk" tank in place of my 72 bowfront. As an intermediate step before the Truvu prop tank arrives, I'll use this to replace my 40 breeder which I've already outgrown, haha.

Have you seen pics of this type of stuff before?

http://www.adana-usa.com/index.php?main_page=afa_portfolio

I'd like to have that kind of an aesthetic but with a rock and corals. TFP's tank is kind of that way.
 
Thanks Bonnie.

So what product is that sheet? I'm not familiar with it.

It's not a wet/dry type abrasive paper? I'd not heard of a "mm" grading system before.
 
Getting a 24x48 like the one I didn't win at the Feb. swap, haha :D

Actually I'd have even more lust for a custom built 30x60, but don't want to drop a ton of money.

Supposed to be ready in 3-4 weeks.
 
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