Novus left a haze that I can’t sand out

[Austin Thornton]

I picked up a 125 clear for life acrylic uniquarium had lots of scratches I used 800 grit and 3000 grit sand paper and wet sanded the majority on the scratches out I was feeling happy with the progress then I proceeded too use novus number 2 too buff the rest of the fine scratches when I started buffing I noticed a haze starting too appear I tried too wipe this haze off with a micro fiber rag and it Didn’t do anything it was like the haze was in the glass I tried sanding the haze off…. Nothing I proceeded too try baking soda,vinegar,alcohol,Pam and more and more sanding nothing i scrub this thing for 5 hours and it is still hazed I’ve debated on firing up the truck and tying a chain too the tank and dragging it threw my city…. Please help

 

[KrisReef]

Sounds like you have overheated the surface and crazed it.
don’t get arrested dragging it around town, but what other options do you have?

 

[Austin Thornton]

Sounds like you have overheated the surface and crazed it.
don’t get arrested dragging it around town, but what other options do you have?

It was 50 degrees out side I don’t think I over heated it plus the drill was just a small 12volt I moved it inside and worked it with novus for another 5 hours last night and this is what I have It’s gonna drive me crazy I spent 12 hours on this thing yesterday

 

[LARedstickreefer]

You need to use more than just 800 and 3000 grit. You need to start out lower and work your way up through many grit sizes (400,600,800,1000,1200,1500,2000,3000) Each grit size up removes the scratches from the previous grit size. 3000 grit won’t remove the scratches from 800 grit.

Same principle applies to rock tumbling.

Edit: Also use a sanding block so you keep things nice and flat (even).

 

[Rookums Reef]

Takes a hot minute, and go through all the grits as mentioned above. Rinse after every sanding and be patient!

 

[Austin Thornton]

Takes a hot minute, and go through all the grits as mentioned above. Rinse after every sanding and be patient!

I’ll take this into consideration but I think I have bigger problems why is this haze being left when I sand

 

[Austin Thornton]

Takes a hot minute, and go through all the grits as mentioned above. Rinse after every sanding and be patient!

What would you do with this

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Looks a lot like what happens when you don’t remove the previous grits scratches. Proper scratch removal is alot harder than it sounds, especially when the scratches are in easily visible areas.

You’ll have to start back over with 400 grit and then very slowly work your way up. YouTube should have countless tutorials on the sanding motion that you need to use.
-Matt

 

[((FORDTECH))]

What would you do with this

Just an fyi you cannot go from 800 to 3,000!!!! When I did this went from 500 to 800 to 1000 to 2000 to 3000 to 5000 then to 7000 to finish was so much work I will never ever do it again will always buy glass but it did come out great after 3-4 days of work and soar muscles for week after that

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Just an fyi you cannot go from 800 to 3,000!!!! When I did this went from 500 to 800 to 1000 to 2000 to 3000 to 5000 then to 7000 to finish was so much work I will never ever do it again will always buy glass but it did come out great after 3-4 days of work and soar muscles for week after that

I was going to add that it’s probably not worth the man hours and cost of quality sanding paper/blocks to remove scratches.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I was going to add that it’s probably not worth the man hours and cost of quality sanding paper/blocks to remove scratches.

Yep I will never do this again my time alone is worth more then the tank. Not to mention was so soar after that it affected my job for the week

 

[((FORDTECH))]

But I neglected to mention my tank was a 300 gallon

 

[FSP]

Any amount of machine polishing stresses acrylic to some degree. Buffing alone usually isn't enough to craze it, but chemically stressing it with alcohol and vinegar after is a huge no no. I'm with KrisReef on this

 

[Austin Thornton]

I appreciate all of your replies I will use this as something other than a show tank possibly a sump in the future. but for now it will sit in storage and I’ll go get a glass 125

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

You need to use more than just 800 and 3000 grit. You need to start out lower and work your way up through many grit sizes (400,600,800,1000,1200,1500,2000,3000) Each grit size up removes the scratches from the previous grit size. 3000 grit won’t remove the scratches from 800 grit.

Same principle applies to rock tumbling.

Edit: Also use a sanding block so you keep things nice and flat (even).

^^^^ this.

And I go from 3000, 3600, 4000, 6000, and finish with 8000. That progression plus Novus 2 then polish makes it look close enough to new for me.