Polishing acrylic..anyone suggest anybody that can do it Glasgow area?

[Gazjam]

Preamp off to Scandinavia-shire for service and recapping, and was advised to remove control knobs and acrylic front panel for shipping.

Front panel in great nick considering its age, but usual swirl marks and a couple of deeper scratches.
Looking to get it polished back to perfect for the amp coming back from its service.

Anyone know of any guys that can do one off jobs like this in the Glasgow area?
Even willing to post it further afield if need be.

My Google-fu is usually strong but all I seem to get is acrylic nail polish and beautician sites! :)


Cheers!

[struth]

you could get a new one laser cut.

[struth]

a sign company might do it. the bigger ones usually have laser cutters....or ynwan might do it for you..he does a grand job.

[YNWaN]

You can buy a host of polishes intended for acrylic on eBay. However, if it has any printing on it this will also be polished off (unless laser etched) post a picture of it as there is a very good chance I could laser cut a new one.

[Gordon Steadman]

Try and find a local woodturner. We have polishing mops for wood but the fine abrasives work very well on the turntable covers that I have done. My Dual had quite deep scratches but looks pristine now.

[YNWaN]

As I said, any polishing will remove any printing that is on the front panel.

[Gazjam]

No printing on it, just jet black acrylic
Did a drawing in case I needed to send it for a quote:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/Front.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/Front.jpg.html)

[Gazjam]

a sign company might do it. the bigger ones usually have laser cutters....or ynwan might do it for you..he does a grand job.

Theres a signmakers down the road, will phone 'em on Monday.

[struth]

should polish up if the marks aint deep...inch thick is impressive

[YNWaN]

25mm is pretty thick for a piece of acrylic - neither of the laser cutters I have access to would cut that thick.

You should be able to polish that up yourself quite easily.

[struth]

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Xerapol-Plastic-Acrylic-Perspex-Screen-Polish-Scratch-Removal-Restoration-Kit-/181543137247?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a44d06fdf

[Gazjam]

Mark,
Just the usual 600grit wet n dry then on to maybe 1200?

After that, can use the stuff Grant linked to as a polishing compound or maybe even use the Autosol metal polish I have?
That work as good you think?

Will have a play see what the Autosol does.

[mikmas]

Used to do a lot of acrylic polishing for my job...

Easiest and for the hand is Brasso - works wonders believe me.

Professionally we used polishing drums filled with small wooden cubes impregnated with a mix of beeswax and finely ground cuttlefish.

Avoid any abrasive papers unless you have really deep scratches and want to put an awful lot of time and effort into it. Also needs a very secure working method if you want to avoid rounding off the edges and ending up with something that looks worse that when you started.

[mikmas]

Incidentally - if you try a search with 'perspex polishing' rather than acrylic - you should get a lot more tips and possibly local polishing services

[struth]

there was good one the gpo used on their phone boxes etc that you could get on ebay. alas ive forgot its name for now. meant to be the best you can get although not tried it. someone on here did a link. it was on a tt lid thread either istari or jandel i think.

[Gazjam]

Cheers guys, looking into this early in the week.

[Valvebloke]

Try not to work too hard on it. With black the reflections can be very prominent and if you polish any deep dimples into it they will, of course, distort the reflections in the same sort of way that the fairground 'Hall of Mirrors' ones do. That said, it will still look a lot better than a scratch.

VB

[Gazjam]

Well, finally done and wrist cramp notwithstanding, (steady...) extremely happy with the result.
Was quoted £75 to get it flame polished, which would probably be 5 mins work for someone so thought naa, I'll do it myself.

Spent a big chunk of Sunday on it, bloody hard work, monotonous and time consuming but results are worth it.
Black mirror finish with only some very slight feint marks which can't be seen unless in bright light and viewed up real close.
Looks perfect.

But I'll tell you, it was hard work!
Started off with 800 grit wet and dry, up to 1200, then 1500, 2000, 2500 then finally a 3000 grit polishing cloth.
Spent about an hour on each step, hard work but worth it.

Then away with sandpaper, on with the polish.
Repeated applications of Autosol metal polish slowly in one direction for about an hour got the finish to almost a brushed metal look - cool.
Finally, Brasso really made the mirror finish come out.
...but only after about an hour of "pour onto cloth, spread, rub hard and wipe off"!

A lot of hard monotonous work, but really glad I did it. :)
Acrylic panel looks like brand new, no scratches, dings swirl marks...none.
Had the two big gold knobs on the front re-plated too, so when the amp comes back from Densen after full service and re-capping it'll practically be a new amp, in looks and performance.
And they don't make 'em like this anymore.

So that and my new power amp which is coming will be a good upgrade to my system, so happy days.
Amplification...done. :)
Post some pics when it's all in place, been meaning to start up a system thread in the gallery for a while.

Thanks for the help and advice in the thread here.

[walpurgis]

Hurry up! :D

:worthless:

[struth]

We want them now....:eyebrows:

[karma67]

Try searching under perspex.

[Gazjam]

Took some photos today.

Before
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/060058b4d145e8b6ca08f48d70f90fef.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/060058b4d145e8b6ca08f48d70f90fef.jpg.html)
After
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/24213b1bcd359392baef3bc45e7b5b91.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/24213b1bcd359392baef3bc45e7b5b91.jpg.html)

Before
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/20150317_091601.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/20150317_091601.jpg.html)
After
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/20150317_091735.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/20150317_091735.jpg.html)
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/20150317_092324.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/20150317_092324.jpg.html)
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/20150317_090643.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/20150317_090643.jpg.html)

In place (knobs will stick out a lot more)
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/af6c88b9cc5583a82c530a1a26b62b25.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/af6c88b9cc5583a82c530a1a26b62b25.jpg.html)
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/20150317_092623.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/20150317_092623.jpg.html)...

Amp as i got it (dull dull dull...and broken)
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq61/gazjamster/Kit%20pics/c4cd9f547bf9a4af693b717cbb7a4d40.jpg (http://s434.photobucket.com/user/gazjamster/media/Kit%20pics/c4cd9f547bf9a4af693b717cbb7a4d40.jpg.html)
Happy with the result, helluva hard work but well worth it.
Just waiting on the amp coming back from Densen and I can bolt it all back together again. :)

[struth]

ahhh...zip up:lol: lovely job Gary...thatll build up the muscles.

[walpurgis]

That looks great! :)

[Gazjam]

Yeah, turned out not too bad?
More like piano black wood than slightly reflective scuffed plastic.

All I need is the amp back to put it back together. :)

[orbscure]

Good job Gaz! [Tongue in cheek mode on] fancy doing mine for me?[Tongue in cheek mode off] :ner::eyebrows:

[Audio Advent]

Great result!

Now, can you please make a promise to the world? If you ever sell it on, can you make sure you take the photos fully clothed?

[sq225917]

Cracking result that Gaz, nice work fella.

[Reffc]

+1

Great result. The way you did it is exactly how I do it when working with Acrylic. Lots of elbow grease. Flame finishing is quicker and easier but needs the knack (I usually over do it and melt the surface too much...fire/flames/alarms going off, that sort of thing :doh:)

[Ali Tait]

Good job mate.

[Andrei]

Great result!

Now, can you please make a promise to the world? If you ever sell it on, can you make sure you take the photos fully clothed?

:rfl:
Right you are there. We all like shiny knobs, but only on the equipment.

[Gazjam]

Great result!

Now, can you please make a promise to the world? If you ever sell it on, can you make sure you take the photos fully clothed?

:lol:
I'll leave the coffee and cream Y-Fronts for another day then...

Thanks for the nice words all, hard blommin' work but only need to do it once then its done.
Well worth it.
I'll post up some new pics...fully dressed... once the amps back from HQ and its back together.

[Gazjam]

Good job Gaz! [Tongue in cheek mode on] fancy doing mine for me?[Tongue in cheek mode off] :ner::eyebrows:

heh.

[Firebottle]

Fantastic job Gaz, you've more patience than me that's for sure.

Enjoy when it's back, love to hear it.

:cool: Alan