repair and maintenance

Deeper Scratches

3M has developed a complete restoration system for Akril Panel.

Repair Principles:
The principle involved in repairing and polishing surfaces is to progressively use finer and finer abrasives to flatten the previous step’s scratches. Initially using the least- abrasive disc to remove the scratch or scuff will minimise the number of steps to finish the job. Using a coarse abrasive to start with will mean extra work to finish and also may remove too much acrylic material causing a distorted, uneven surface.

Method:
The degree of damage to the acrylic sheet will dictate what grit size is used for initial removal of the scratch or scuff marks. The deeper the scratch the more aggressive or lower number grit size abrasive is required.

1. Set up dust extractor unit and attach DA sander 2. Attach back up pad and Interface pad on DA sander 3. Inspect the damage to the acrylic panel 4. Depending on the depth of scratch, select abrasive disc and attach to interface pad.
5. Sand damaged area of acrylic sheet to remove damage. Carefully wipe any dust from surface before starting next sanding step. Inspect for scratches. Continuesanding if previous step’s scratches have not been removed. 6. Repeat step 5 with progressively finer abrasives including P1500 – try not to over-sand damaged area. Feather edges beyond previous step.
7. Attach P3000 disc to the interface pad. Spray SMALL amount of water on the disc (this acts as a lubricant). Too much water and the disc will aqua-plane. Keep the disc moist. 8. Sand areas of no more than 400mm x 400mm. Any larger and the disc may dry out too quickly. Continue sanding until a greyish/white sludge is seen around the edge of the disc. 9. Carefully wipe sanded area.
10. Attach the adaptor to the polisher and attach the 5718 back-up pad to the adaptor. Place the foam pad on the back-up pad. 11. Apply about 20-25mm amount of 6070 Spot Finishing Material to the buff. Without starting the machine, spread the 6070 Spot Finishing Material over the area being refurbished. 12. With the polisher on a low speed, begin polishing using back and forth movements. If the Buff is new there may be a need for extra Spot Finishing Material. Increase the speed of the polisher to no more than 1800 rpm maintaining back and forth movement. 13. If there are any scratches visible there may be a need to go back to step 5, 7 or 11 depending on the amount and depth of scratch.