Cleaning Plexiglass?

[Flute Maker]

I found a heavy over 1/2 sheet of at least 3/4" (maybe thicker) plexiglass a guy threw away when he was cleaning out his shop.It could use a good cleaning and maybe polishing.I know I can use it when making some jigs or something in the shop.I was just wondering if there is a way to clean it up...Just looks like it has been laying under the shop table and gotten dirty , scraped up etc.The dirty part I can handle but is there a way to polish or getting it closer to how it once looked? Just curious...Its still usable regardless ...Thanks Guys!

 

[Gofor]

When I worked with aircraft, we used micro-mesh kits to polish out defects in aircraft canopies. It is primarily a succession of increasingly finer abrasive papers and polishing compounds. Various other companies now have similar items for restoring plastic headlight covers/lenses. Plexiglas (acrylic) is more brittle than Lexan (polycarbonate), but can be shinier. The micromesh kits should work on both but if you know which you have, it may help you in choosing what kit you want.

A search for either plexiglas or polycarbonate restoration kits (ex: on Amazon) should give you a good idea of what you want depending on the size of the sheet and its condition. The repairs we did were by hand, but the commercial kits now offer pads for drills or buffers to speed up the process.

Go

 

[RayH]

+1 on today's micro mesh. In earlier times it was something that looked like car polish and an old t-shirt. And, that took forever.

Good luck with your find.

Ray

 

[Jim M.]

3M has a head light kit for polishing cloudy lights, works well on plexiglass. We polished a pump panel cover with one and it did a great job.

 

[Gofor]

I have also seen very good results from someone using a welding torch to clarify the edges of a thick piece cut with a bandsaw. When he finished, the edges were as clear as the flat surfaces. Not sure you would want to try heat (i.e MAP gas torch, etc) on a large surface, but it may be an option if you are a gambler. It would probably be a lot less work.

Then comes the question of what you plan to do with it. This is where you need to determine if its acrylic or polycarbonate if you don't already know. Acrylic tends to crack when drilling, where polycarbonate is more forgiving. Here again, heat can help relieve some of the stresses in the acrylic. IIRC, they also use different "glues" to fuse pieces together. Lots of info on the web about this.

Polycarbonate can be cut on a table saw when using care not to bind it in the cut, where as acrylic is better done on a bandsaw.

Great find by the way

Go

 

[Flute Maker]

Im not sure what it is.I did cut a small piece off of it with a jigsaw.Naturally it would melt back together and I had to recut it but it work out then. Thanks guys...This will be one of those when " I get around tuit!"

 

[tri4sale]

Im not sure what it is.I did cut a small piece off of it with a jigsaw.Naturally it would melt back together and I had to recut it but it work out then. Thanks guys...This will be one of those when " I get around tuit!"

I've got a sheet of 1/2" thick, about 2 feet by 8 feet sitting in my shed with the same "I get around tuit!" plans.... and no idea what to use it for.

 

[POPpop214]

the product you need is NOVAS, it comes in different grits,and in kits. you can find it online, and from amazon

 

[Gofor]

Im not sure what it is.I did cut a small piece off of it with a jigsaw.Naturally it would melt back together and I had to recut it but it work out then. Thanks guys...This will be one of those when " I get around tuit!"

That sounds more like polycarbonate (lexan). Normally, acrylic will put off a bunch of little chips from the up and down movement of a jigsaw Not positive, but it is an indication.

Have fun with it when you get that round tuit.

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