I have polished scuffs out of clear plexiglas or Lexan aircraft windows using a polishing system (kit) that consists of a circular sponge-like pad that you chuck into a drill motor plus a set of three or four special polishing pastes. The pastes are similar to automotive rubbing compound (which restores the shine in an old car's dulled paint job, if you rub it long enough) in increasingly fine grits. You put the paste on the plastic and polish it awhile with the pad, wash it off, repeat with the next finer grit paste, etc. until finally the clear plastic is perfectly transparent again. It can take the better part of an hour, or more, if the original scratches and scuffs were deep. The drill motor just speeds the process up--you can also polish by hand if you have lots of time or masochism.
I remember another airplane pilot telling me that he polished the scratches and haze out of his airplane's clear plastic windows with toothpaste and wet rags. Toothpaste contains a very fine polishing grit also, which is how it whitens your teeth, and it's cheaper to buy than the buffing kit I used. Different brands of toothpaste have different amounts of grit. Those that specifically tout whitening have more, or coarser, grit. Thus, scratched and scuffed clear plastic it can be made perfectly transparent again, with enough work, but how much trouble and expense do you want to go to? Tom B. At 5:58 PM -0600 5/07/2004, Amanda Ward wrote: >I had some light scratches on the base of my studio display and on the >B&W. I used a nail buffer... kinda like a nail file, but a lot finer. t >has 3 grades of abrasive on it. The first (light grey) is the roughest >followed by a reddish grade for the second step and finally dark grey >for the finish. >The light grey pad was just right for the stand of the display and the >dark grey restored the shine to the Apple logo on the front of the B&W. > >If you have some deeper scratches, start with some really fine wet or >dry sand paper with a little water to soften the scratches and then use >the nail buffer. (I did that to restore the clear plastic face of the >Walkman that fell off my backpack and slid face down across a parking >lot.) > >Amanda > >On Friday, May 7, 2004, at 03:05 PM, Tom W. wrote: > >> I bought a B&W G3 from the swap list recently and the post office >> dingled the poor baby up a bit. I got the broken handle replaced, but >> there are some light scratches on the clear plastic side. Is there >> anyway of filling/painting these to make them disappear? >> Thanks >> Tom Art website at http://www.ThomasBakerPaintings.com Archaeology website at http://www.nmia.com/~jaybird/AANewsletter/ -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
