HELP Needed - 300 gallon Acrylic Scratch Removal/Buffing

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Sorry if I led you to believe the Novus buffing kit was to be used with an orbit sander. What I was trying to say is that I've used 3 methods to buff tanks:

1. Novus product with a random orbit buffer (the kind used to wax cars).
2. Novus product with the novus Drill buffing kit.
3. Micro-mesh pads with a random orbit sander.

I'm sure that drill will come in handy, but for buffing I would definitely use a standard corded drill...I'm not sure the charge on the battery powered drill will last as long as you will be buffing. I spent about 30 to 40 hours buffing my 240G tank, but I have OCD and am a psychotic perfectionist :)

Looking forward to seeing your progress. How about posting some "before" pictures?
 
aldiaz33 said:
Sorry if I led you to believe the Novus buffing kit was to be used with an orbit sander. What I was trying to say is that I've used 3 methods to buff tanks:

1. Novus product with a random orbit buffer (the kind used to wax cars).
2. Novus product with the novus Drill buffing kit.
3. Micro-mesh pads with a random orbit sander.

I'm sure that drill will come in handy, but for buffing I would definitely use a standard corded drill...I'm not sure the charge on the battery powered drill will last as long as you will be buffing. I spent about 30 to 40 hours buffing my 240G tank, but I have OCD and am a psychotic perfectionist :)

Looking forward to seeing your progress. How about posting some "before" pictures?
Click to expand...

Holy... 30 to 40 hours? Man.. I'd rather just pay someone to do it and work the 30 to 40 hours to pay for that. That blows my mind how long it takes.
 
I have been super busy and have not had much time to work on the tank. I did mess with it a little bit during this past week just trying to get some confidence in a procedure. I was able to spend some quality time on the project today. I did the inside of the front pane (8 x 2 section). I am pretty please so far. Here's what I did...

Wet sanded trouble spots with 1000 & 2000 grit sand paper (worked the trouble areas removing deeper scratches). Once the problem scratches had been removed, I lightly wet sand the entire pane (again with 1000 & 2000 grit). I then applied novus 2 and buffed with the novus buffing kit. I was very pleased with how it turned out!

BTW: that cordless drill worked great. It uses the newest style lithium ion batteries. With two batteries, battery life was not a problem. Such a light weight drill - I really like it.

BTW: I wasted half the bottle of novus-2 earlier in the week thinking it (and novus 3) would remove the deeper scratches. So, I ran out.

I need somebody to help me flip the tank so I can start sanding the front. I like the procedure that I ended up with and plan to use it on the front. I have some confidence now and am ready to roll J
1) Address deeper scratches by wet sanding first.
2) Then gently wet sand the entire surface.
3) Apply novus 2 & buff.

Question: after buffing with novus 2 (the surface looked great - except for some fuzzies from the buffing pad). I spray cleaned with novus 1 and the surface looked worse like I had just sanded it???? I was using it with a microfiber towel - maybe I need a microfiber cloth (i.e. a novus polishmate) vs the towel??? So, I re-buffed and just left it alone until I can figure out the problem.

Thanks,
Russ
 
Finally!!!! I finished the buffing & polishing tonight
th_ac15.gif


I filled it with tap for its first rinse and then, with a microfiber cloth, wiped the inside freeing all the air bubbles and lint from the buffing process. This is a crappy photo from my cell phone. Except for all the suspended debris NO SCRATCHES!!!!!

There is actually about two or three really small ones that I might touch up if they are on the outside. There was one really nasty deep scratch that I worked hard to remove. I think Freddy Krueger or Wolverine made it. Its was a really narley cluster of scratches. I wet sanded it with 400 grit sand paper and then with 1000 and then 2000 grit. There is a slight deformation to that part of the surface but I'll take that over wolverine marking his territory.

I'll get some better before & after pics and give my thoughts on what went well and what went not so well so others may benefit. I plan to fill and rinse and rub down and few more times before setting it up for my fronts.

I will say this,.. now that I have a system and know what I am doing and have some confidence, I will be on the look out for beat up acrylic tanks on CL.

Thanks for coming alonmg for the ride.

IMAG0424-1e.jpg
 
aldiaz33 said:
...I'm sure that drill will come in handy, but for buffing I would definitely use a standard corded drill...I'm not sure the charge on the battery powered drill will last as long as you will be buffing...
Click to expand...

I switched to a drill with a cord and it worked much better. You were right - Thanks.
 
aldiaz33 said:
Looks good! Looking forward to seeing those Fronts in there.

Out of curiosity, how long would you say you spent working on it?
Click to expand...

That is really hard to say as I couldn't spend much time on it until recently. I knida wasted time (and novus-2 & 3 not really knowing what I was doing). I finally felt comfortable and had some confidence that what I was doing would work. If I were to do it all over again with the knowledge and skills that I gained during this project, I could probably knock it out in a weekend??? That is a tough question.

Here's the before and after together

IMAG0365before-e.jpg


IMAG0424-1e.jpg
 
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