Sanding and Buffing Acrylic

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Hey Mike. So this is the tank that you bought from Rich (AquArt in Plain City right?) I'm picking up a few fish from this this weekend. Anyway, thanks for posting this man. I didn't know that you're good with this acrylic buffing, or I'd just get a used 240 from a guy in Gahanna. I was chickened enough to back out from that great deal for 2 days and then decided to go forward but it was 1-day too late. I still regret letting it slip till this day. Can you please be my consultant in the future for this buffing task? :)

Again thanks for sharing your experience.
 
arodini;4909122; said:
Hey Mike. So this is the tank that you bought from Rich (AquArt in Plain City right?) I'm picking up a few fish from this this weekend. Anyway, thanks for posting this man. I didn't know that you're good with this acrylic buffing, or I'd just get a used 240 from a guy in Gahanna. I was chickened enough to back out from that great deal for 2 days and then decided to go forward but it was 1-day too late. I still regret letting it slip till this day. Can you please be my consultant in the future for this buffing task? :)

Again thanks for sharing your experience.
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Hey Nate, not a problem. I am actually going to start working with Rich to help restore tanks when people need it done. But that sucks about the tank. They dont take long to sell.
 
tellemuno;4931625; said:
i hope that im not asking a stupid question, but how do u clean the scratches on the nside or is it the same method?
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There's no stupid question. I did the same method on the inside. But then again my tank was empty. I have not done the inside of the tank while it was filled. I did a cylinder tank last night and a good size scratch that was about 10-12 inches long took me 30 minutes to sand with 4 different sized papers and buff down to not being able to see it at all.
 
I just recently buffed my 300 and it looked good in the garage and filled it with water and my bass and the outside of the tank looks terrible in the daylight there is a ton of swirl marks like on a black that has been neglected. Any advice?
 
I have a 125 gallon acrylic I purchased used as well. It looked in similar consider with the numerous scratches and nicks. I have all those sand papers, and the polish for acrylic and all in a kit the guy gave with me but I was worried to sand down to far and that it wouldn't un fog so I just stopped and buffed it a bit and set it up. The tank is in great working condition but it makes me sad that it's not crystal clear and every time I see a glass tank I want glass. :(
 
boosted03svt;5025505; said:
I just recently buffed my 300 and it looked good in the garage and filled it with water and my bass and the outside of the tank looks terrible in the daylight there is a ton of swirl marks like on a black that has been neglected. Any advice?
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The swirl marks happen. Just spend more time with the Novus #3 on them. I worked on a $15k tank this past week and had swirl marks so I spent an extra hour with the #3 and got them all out. Hope that helps.
 
jlcoop277;5025728; said:
Anyone ever used a torch on it? That's how they make acrylic really clear for speaker boxes and such.
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I have used it on acrylic as a test because I built a show case for a fish that I had replicated. I however would not want to do it on my tank itself because you run the risk of burn marks as well as melting the tank if you do not move quick enough. It does work very well for inexpensive things though.
 
Jon M;5025537; said:
I have a 125 gallon acrylic I purchased used as well. It looked in similar consider with the numerous scratches and nicks. I have all those sand papers, and the polish for acrylic and all in a kit the guy gave with me but I was worried to sand down to far and that it wouldn't un fog so I just stopped and buffed it a bit and set it up. The tank is in great working condition but it makes me sad that it's not crystal clear and every time I see a glass tank I want glass. :(
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Follow this thread and you should be fine. It will scare the hell out of you when you first start but it is worth the time and the work you put into it.
 
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