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Technics SL-D2, polystyrene or acrylic?

william13 said:
Guys: Was there ever a consensus on what product worked best on D2 scratches?
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Going to start an SL-Q2 dustcover today so this is pretty relevant personally.

The readily available Novus products work fine. It's just that it's fairly slow going. For deeply scratched dustcovers, starting with increasingly finer grits of wet or dry sandpaper, starting with 240 and ending with 1200 or 1500, and then Novus is what has worked well for me.

I'm still mourning the loss of the original Brasso in the screw top tin*. That was THE BEST stuff I ever used! Cut like a knife and produced a terrific shine.

John

*Correction: I think the last of the original formula had a plastic cap that needed to be snapped on or off. It probably had a screw cap the first time I used it, back in my Army daze.
 
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boreas said:
Going to start an SL-Q2 dustcover today so this is pretty relevant personally.

The readily available Novus products work fine. It's just that it's fairly slow going. For deeply scratched dustcovers, starting with increasingly finder grits of wet or dry sandpaper, starting with 240 and ending with 1200 or 1500, and then Novus is what has worked well for me.

I'm still mourning the loss of the original Brasso in the screw top tin. That was THE BEST stuff I ever used! Cut like a knife and produced a terrific shine.

John
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I have polished many a dustcover with Novus #2, and find that it works great. However, I have found that if you have deep scratches, it is best to wet sand them out first. Personally, I start with 600 grit wet, and once all the visible scratches are out, I go over it thoroughly with 1200 grit wet. I then machine polish with Novus #2 to get out the haze, and follow up with a final hand polish. This process works great, but you need to go with the 2 stage wet sanding process. The Novus #2 easily takes out 1200 grit scratches, but it will take a lot more work to take out 600 grit scratches. Or you can substitute the Novus #3 for the 1200 grit wet sanding step, but I personally find it works faster when using the two stage wet sanding procedure.
 
I would like to ask a hard question: How does a newbee access the severity of scratches. My D2 dust cover is loaded with them (and by the way has a broken tab so its in rough shape.) But no cracks. I can feel the scratches but my nails to not get caught in them. Some are thin and some are thick scratches. So: given this: what approach?
 
william13 said:
I would like to ask a hard question: How does a newbee access the severity of scratches. My D2 dust cover is loaded with them (and by the way has a broken tab so its in rough shape.) But no cracks. I can feel the scratches but my nails to not get caught in them. Some are thin and some are thick scratches. So: given this: what approach?
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It is really a question of depth with scratches, not so much width. A wide but shallow scratch is pretty easy to remove, while a narrow deep one will take wet sanding to get out. I use a fingernail to assess the severity of a scratch. If my fingernail readily hangs up in the scratch, it is usually pretty deep. Also, look closely at the edges of the scratch. If pieces of plastic are missing and flaked out along the edge, it is deep.

Also, until you have done a few and get comfortable with analyzing the scratches, I would suggest polishing first with the Novus #2 plastic polish and seeing how it looks. If you have deep scratches left over after your initial polishing attempt, you can always go back and wet sand out the heavier scratches and polish a second time. It takes more time this way, but you will also get a better feel over time as to what scratches need wet sanding and which do not. I feel it is best to try the least damaging procedure first, and save the big guns (the sand paper) for only when they are needed.
 
That sounds like logical approach: After all buffer equiptment is kind of expensive and then you wonder....should I just get a new cover
 
Treker said:
It is really a question of depth with scratches, not so much width. A wide but shallow scratch is pretty easy to remove, while a narrow deep one will take wet sanding to get out. I use a fingernail to assess the severity of a scratch. If my fingernail readily hangs up in the scratch, it is usually pretty deep. Also, look closely at the edges of the scratch. If pieces of plastic are missing and flaked out along the edge, it is deep.

Also, until you have done a few and get comfortable with analyzing the scratches, I would suggest polishing first with the Novus #2 plastic polish and seeing how it looks. If you have deep scratches left over after your initial polishing attempt, you can always go back and wet sand out the heavier scratches and polish a second time. It takes more time this way, but you will also get a better feel over time as to what scratches need wet sanding and which do not. I feel it is best to try the least damaging procedure first, and save the big guns (the sand paper) for only when they are needed.
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I was going to say something similar. However if you don't have the Novus yet and have the sandpaper all it will cost you is elbow grease. I have started to use my Dewalt rotary sander for the first stages because I have one and I have worked on lots of lids lately. However I have worked on a lot by hand, such as the Marantz 6300 in this thread. I was able to nearly get the DEEP gouges to disappear. It took no brain power just time, sort of like watching TV, which I could do while sanding by hand.

Oh, and when I do sand I rarely start coarser than 800 though I think I am going to get some 400 or similar.
 
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1,2,3 or 2

Treker said:
I have polished many a dustcover with Novus #2, and find that it works great. However, I have found that if you have deep scratches, it is best to wet sand them out first. Personally, I start with 600 grit wet, and once all the visible scratches are out, I go over it thoroughly with 1200 grit wet. I then machine polish with Novus #2 to get out the haze, and follow up with a final hand polish. This process works great, but you need to go with the 2 stage wet sanding process. The Novus #2 easily takes out 1200 grit scratches, but it will take a lot more work to take out 600 grit scratches. Or you can substitute the Novus #3 for the 1200 grit wet sanding step, but I personally find it works faster when using the two stage wet sanding procedure.
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I understand on the styrene only use #2 but why? I am trying to figure out if I should buy the novus kit or just #2.
 
william13 said:
I understand on the styrene only use #2 but why? I am trying to figure out if I should buy the novus kit or just #2.
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Basically, the idea of polishing out scratches in a clear material like plastic dust covers is just to progressively make the scratches finer and finer until you can't see them any longer. If you need to wet sand out your scratches, then you can follow one of two regimens. You can start with say 600 grit sandpaper wet, then move to 1200 grit wet, and finish off with Novus #2, or you can go 600 grit wet, Novus #3, and then Novus #2. You end up at the same place either way you go.

One use I can see for Novus #3 is if you have some deeper scratches and you don't want to wet sand. You can see if the Novus #3 will take them out first, and then follow that up with Novus #2. If it doesn't take them out, you are still stuck with wet sanding though.

With regards to a polisher, yeah, I know they are expensive, I just happen to have a small handheld one that I have for polishing tight spots on my car. But if you have an electric drill you can do basically the same thing. Novus makes a buffing kit that includes a chuck to fit a drill and a couple of polishing bonnets. Just search for "Novus Plastic Acrylic Polish Polish Buffing Kit" over on that auction site, and it should come up. I'm not sure if there are any other retailers that sell the same kit or not, but I did find it listed on the Novus Plastic Polish web site as well:

http://www.novuspolish.com/buffing_kit.html

Good luck with your dustcover. It really amazes me how good they can come out after putting a little work into them.
 
I don't know of any videos either, but it's not really all that hard. The techniques are very similar to polishing paint on a car, but you don't have to be quite as careful on the edges for fear of burning through since the plastic is much thicker than the paint clear coat on a car. I use a foam polishing pad, not that it makes all that much of a difference. Wool bonnets work fine too.

I start by applying a little of the Novus #2 to the dustcover, and then I spread it around with the polishing pad before turning on the buffer. This helps to minimize splatter. Next turn on the buffer/drill motor and go over the surface with back and forth cross-hatch motions, trying to keep the polishing pad as flat as possible. (You will need to turn it up on a slight edge, but do try to keep it as flat as you can.) Apply a little pressure to the polishing pad as you do this, but not too much. Let the polisher do the work.

Keep the polishing pad moving at all times, and don't stay in any one spot for very long as this can lead to heat build up and possible burning of the plastic. Don't worry about it if you do create a little "burn" spot though, as you can remove the "burn" mark with a little 1200 grit sandpaper used wet, and then just polish over that spot again taking care not to linger there too long this time.

The polish works best as it starts to dry out, so keep polishing a little past the point where you no longer have liquid polish on the surface. It will probably take more than one application, so just repeat the above steps a second and/or third time as necessary until all the scratches are gone.

If using a wool bonnet, you may want to clean the polishing pad if it becomes kinda caked with polish. I just apply a screwdriver or other relatively sharp object to the polishing pad while it is spinning to break up the caked polish. (There is no need to do this with a foam polishing pad.) When done, clean the polishing pad with plain water and let dry. No soap is necessary.

I hope this helps.
 
You painted a good descriptive. Do you use the sides of the polishing pad or the top to contact the plastic and does novus make a pad?
 
If you do use a power buffer may I suggest that you place the dustcover on something like that rubbery waffle-weave shelf liner first. It will prevent the cover from moving around while you buff. I'll bet you didn't know that dustcovers can fly (and smash), did you? Thank you for not asking how I know.
 
william13 said:
I believe these are the wool ones I was wondering if they made the sponge pad type?
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I don't see a foam pad listed on their web site, but that doesn't mean that they don't know where you might be able to purchase one. I'd give them a call. The number listed on their web site is 800-548-6872.
 
william13 said:
You painted a good descriptive. Do you use the sides of the polishing pad or the top to contact the plastic and does novus make a pad?
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I use the bottom of the polishing pad to contact the plastic. I have personally used the Griot's Garage 3" Orbital with one of their foam pads, (I have one for detailing my car) as well as a Makita angle drill with wool bonnets that look just like the ones Novus has on their web site. Both work well.

Here is a link to a Griot's Garage car polishing video I came across on Youtube. I basically use the same technique, but on a smaller scale on the dustcover. It should give you a good idea as to the cross hatch polishing technique though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAWQdqNJS18&feature=relmfu
 
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