Acrylic Swirls After Buffing?

Dustin1300 · Jan 14, 2013

I'm about to the point of plumbing my 600 gallon in and before doing so wanted to go ahead and polish out any scratches that were on the tank. Tank was "new" but had sat in storage for years before I bought it so got scratches along the way.

That being said, I was successful at taking all of the scratches out with wet sanding and then Novus 2/3. Now that I've completed the Novus 2 buffing with the Novus polishing kit with a drill I'm still seeing swirls if I look at the acrylic at an angle. Is this expected or is my OCDness ok? I'd like it to look as perfect as possible before moving to next step so curious what others have done as I don't like the Swirls. :tsk:

Yesterday I got a Porter Cable 7424xp dual action polisher with a and set it on 3 and used the Novus 2. It helped some but I still see the swirl marks using the polisher and a "Pro" polishing foam pad I picked up from AutoZone. Should I use something less abrasive than the Novus 2 as what I've read it's comparable to 1200 grit. What's acrylic safe that I could use to make it really SHINE!?:wink:

Bootstrap · Jan 14, 2013

A rotary will leave swirls. Your da pc is what you need. The pc can take a while, make sure the pad can turn, but not fast.... I use that pc on my truck

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD

Dustin1300 · Jan 14, 2013

PC meaning portal cable I assume?

I've used it on half of a four foot section and would say it improved 30%. Do I just need to go another round or two of the Novus 2 or should I use a polisher with even higher "grit number"?

Jlobes · Jan 14, 2013

Nano Reef Aquarium Part I: Acrylic Tank Preparation and Setup - YouTube

didn't see or hear any mention of a drill/rotary here. Pretty sure the swirls are a by-product of the tool. I have never used the novus but I was about to look into it. Is the drill recommended??

Bootstrap · Jan 14, 2013

Jlobes said:
Nano Reef Aquarium Part I: Acrylic Tank Preparation and Setup - YouTube

didn't see or hear any mention of a drill/rotary here. Pretty sure the swirls are a by-product of the tool. I have never used the novus but I was about to look into it. Is the drill recommended??

A drill is a rotary action tool is what i meant. Are you saying a drill wasn't meant for the product he used? If so then we could be looking at s different scenario

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD

Jlobes · Jan 14, 2013

no...I think a drill can be used. But, in the video, seems they did not use one at all. Just saying that maybe the drill is what is leaving the swirls. And perhaps, the final pass/finish needs to be done without the drill.

Like I said, I havent actually used the Novus line. But, I have polished things.

And Than(in the video), seems to get a nice finish without the drill. just my .02

grumpy-crab · Jan 14, 2013

Go to Walmart or a auto parts store and get Plastic X Ive used it on everything from CD/DVD to head lights and acrylics like storm windows and boat wind shields... it also leaves a water proof protective covering what will help protect it from further swirl marks... i plan on using it to clean my new 93g acrylic cube tank is starting.

Dustin1300 · Jan 14, 2013

grumpy-crab said:
Go to Walmart or a auto parts store and get Plastic X Ive used it on everything from CD/DVD to head lights and acrylics like storm windows and boat wind shields... it also leaves a water proof protective covering what will help protect it from further swirl marks... i plan on using it to clean my new 93g acrylic cube tank is starting.

Is that safe to do within the inside of the tank then?

Dustin1300 · Jan 14, 2013

As far as the polishing kit I used on Drill, it's actually recommended/sold by Novus:

My reasoning to move from drill to polisher due to this reason.

Dustin1300 · Jan 14, 2013

From what I've found the Novus 2 is a 1200 grit. Any idea what the PlastX grit is comparable to? I dropped by auto zone on way home to see the selection and ones that made most sense were PlastX as well as the Meguiars Mirror Glaze?

Dustin1300 · Jan 14, 2013

From lots of looking around seems that Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Swirl Free polish is in the 3000-4000 grit range and use a fine cut polisher on DA. As long as none of my other research proves differently plan on picking that up tomorrow night.

grumpy-crab · Jan 14, 2013

Dustin1300 said:
Is that safe to do within the inside of the tank then?

Hmmm idk about using it on the inside of the tank... i would look at the compounds that its made of and see if any could potentially be harmful to fish or reed system... and sorry it took.a lil wile to get back to you.

Dustin1300 · Jan 15, 2013

Don't worry about any delay, patience is the best tool of a true Reefer...Seven years into the hobby wish I would have had the same mindset when I first started!

The solution to pollution is dilution and with the a water change and curing the marco rock and running on closed loop of RO/DI with some water changes don't see a problem. I've researched this some and seems to be a non issue.