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Thanks for the reply. My novus 1-2-3 kit just showed up today. The numbering system must have changed since you used it.
1 Plastic Clean & Shine (antifog, antistatic, dust replellent)
2 Fine Scratch Remover (Removes fine scratches, Restores Original Apperance to Plastics)
3 Heavy Scratch Remover (Removes Heavy Scratches / Prepares Acrylic for No. 2 Polishing)
Few questions for ya:
1) When you say wet sand with 1000: are you using a spray bottle with water and sanding by hand (or a palm sander) with 1000 in circular motion?
2) Any recommendations on the buffing pads? I've read somewhere to use a buffing wheel for headlights?
Thanks!!!
Russ
2 is fine scratch remover and 3 is heavy (looking at the bottle right now).
Whoops, you are right; I mixed up the numbers. Sorry about that
To remove the deeper scratches, I used 1,000 grit wet (spray bottle would work) perpindicular to the scratch. I sanded by hand until the scratch disappeared. At this point it really looks like hell, but it's supposed to look worse, before it gets better.
Then I would change the direction I was sanding using the finer grit. If you are working on one area where there's a deep scratch, you kinda want to feather your sanding out away from the scratch so that you are not removing a lot of acrylic in one spot.
I'm sure you can use a power tool for the sandpaper, but I always felt I had more control sanding by hand when using the heavier grits.
I would typically apply the Novus #3 product with a power tool. I used a random orbit buffer (the kind for cars) on my 240G and I think it turned out great (see pic below...that tank was BEAT when I bought it and I think it turned out nice).
I've used Novus' buffing kit (
http://www.novuspolish.com/buffing_kit.html) and it worked well too.
I did notice that a final light buff by hand using Novus #2 would give the acrylic an extra crsipy brand new looking shine...I don't know if it was just in my head or if it really looked better, but I think a gentler "hand buffing" was worth the extra time.
BTW: the novus rep on the phone told me that if you finger nail doesn't catch on the scratches, you don't need #3. Thoughts?
I have heard this rule of thumb too, but if your nail really catches, I think you will be buffing forever to get down to the depth of that scratch using just the Novus #3. IMHO, if your nail is truly catching on a scratch, I would forget about using #3 and use sandpaper to remove material down to the depth of the scratch. Having said that, if it's a brutal scratch (>1MM deep) then I might not ever bother trying to remove it because you would have to remove so much material.
Yes I used a spray bottle. While sanding. I Don't recall where I heard it, and I could be wrong. But circular sanding is a no no. Maybe Al can confirm or rebutt this. And any buffing wheel will work. I used one for doing cars by hand. I didn't have deep scratches, but had a heavy haze after sanding. So I used it simply cause I had it. Figured I'd rather do each step once than have to go back and redo one or the other. With a tank your size I wouldn't take shortcuts.
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I have heard the same about not sanding in a circular motion with sandpaper. I have always heard that with each progressively finer grit of sandpaper, you want to change the direction that you are sanding by 90 degrees. In other words, If you start left to right with 1,000 grit, you should up down for 2,000 grit.
The last tank I buffed, I actually used this Micro-mesh set:
http://www.woodcraft.com/PRODUCT/20...ode=10INGOPB&gclid=CNW6jb3KibMCFcN_QgoddEEAHA
It worked well, but I think the Novus product gave the acrylic a more brilliant shine than just the micro-mesh.
Good Luck Russ! It's a slow/tedious process...but the results are worth all the time and effort.
