Sanding acrylic

[tory990]

Ok guys I know this has been done to death and I apologize. But I'm about to start sanding my acrylic tank. The Novus helped but didn't do a lot for a lot of the scratches and haze. Im gonna have to sand it. I know the how and the why. I cannot find information on what grit to start with. It has a lot of minor scratches and several deeper scratches. In the pics the original owner had you couldn't see them with water in it at least not far away anyway. They're better but not great. I used a drill buffer for the Novus. So my question is should I go ahead and start with 400 grit and work my way up? Or should I start with a higher grit since it's not horribly bad and I could see inside the tank with water in it even as is? I just don't want to start with an aggressive grit and pay the price because I didn't need to start with that. Thanks for your help guys and gals.

 

[Justanano]

Any sandpaper is to aggressive in my book.. did you use all 3 steps of the polish?

 

[tory990]

Any sandpaper is to aggressive in my book.. did you use all 3 steps of the polish?

Yes I did. I really don't wanna sand it. Bf insists this is the way to go.

 

[Justanano]

Good luck is all I can say....I never sanded and had it not show where I sanded it

 

[Fishnut]

I would start with 1000 then 2000 next 3000. Then the novus creams

 

[tory990]

Good luck is all I can say....I never sanded and had it not show where I sanded it

Lol thanks? Like I said I really don't want to sand. I see lots of videos where people sand and it looks great but I'm still so terrified lol. I quit on the Polishing about halfway through the front. I may try it some more. My drill is cordless though so it dies quickly that may be the issue. I may try to go for a corded drill or even a car polisher instead may make a difference.

 

[tory990]

I would start with 1000 then 2000 next 3000. Then the novus creams

Thanks. I didn't think I needed to start so aggressively. I told him if I do it'll be a small area not seen first and see how it goes. If I'm not happy I'm not doing the rest.

 

[fuelman]

if it's at the point where you can barely see them when it has water in it you should be able to remove them with 1000 grit only really bad scratches should need heavy grit paper. then go 2000 & then 3000. to remove the sand marks & redo the novus 3 step. always wet sand, never sand acrylic dry. you might be tempted to dig into the scratches while sanding to remove them but it's best to do a larger area than the scratch & keep the paper flat on the tank to prevent distortion in the panel.

 

[Fishnut]

It is a scary at first so only do a side at a time working through all stages. After finishing the one side hopefully it will give you confidence to tackle the rest of the tank

 

[tory990]

if it's at the point where you can barely see them when it has water in it you should be able to remove them with 1000 grit only really bad scratches should need heavy grit paper. then go 2000 & then 3000. to remove the sand marks & redo the nous 3 step. always wet sand, never sand acrylic dry. you might be tempted to dig into the scratches while sanding to remove them but it's best to do a larger area than the scratch & keep the paper flat on the tank to prevent distortion in the panel.

Thanks for your help. I used to work in a cabinet factory where I sanded doors. I have a lot of experience sanding and stuff on wood though. Never done acrylic. I probably will go at it by hand. I don't want to take a chance on really messing it up with a sander. Id planned to get a sanding block and use the paper on it. Some of the scratches are deep. Novus did help them. There's only a few of the deep deep ones. The others I can't feel are many and many. Also I have no idea how old the pics were the owner had. When I got it it had been sitting outside in their driveway long enough that it had earthworms crawling in it. I'll add some pics of it then they sent. And take some pics now as it sits.

 

[tory990]

It is a scary at first so only do a side at a time working through all stages. After finishing the one side hopefully it will give you confidence to tackle the rest of the tank

Thanks thats what I had planned. Hopefully it doesn't totally screw it up. But really it's my first acrylic and saltwater. Ill likely upgrade or change later so of there are some scratches left as long as it's inhabitants are visible im okay with it.

 

[Fishnut]

I found this helpful

 

[tory990]

Here's the pics the original owner sent.

 

[tory990]

I found this helpful

Yes exactly something like that!

 

[tory990]

Here's some pics as it sits. It's hard to see it kind of blends in but you can see the haze in it.

 

[fuelman]

Thanks for your help. I used to work in a cabinet factory where I sanded doors. I have a lot of experience sanding and stuff on wood though. Never done acrylic. I probably will go at it by hand. I don't want to take a chance on really messing it up with a sander. Id planned to get a sanding block and use the paper on it. Some of the scratches are deep. Novus did help them. There's only a few of the deep deep ones. The others I can't feel are many and many. Also I have no idea how old the pics were the owner had. When I got it it had been sitting outside in their driveway long enough that it had earthworms crawling in it. I'll add some pics of it then they sent. And take some pics now as it sits.

sounds like you know what your doing with how to sand by hand with lots of experience, i would hand sand a spot you can see well & get a feel for what your in for, it's a lot of work depending on the size of the tank. but i have brought some pretty beat up acrylic tanks back to life so you can definitely do it if you want to invest the time.

 

[tory990]

sounds like you know what your doing with how to sand by hand with lots of experience, i would hand sand a spot you can see well & get a feel for what your in for, it's a lot of work depending on the size of the tank. but i have brought some pretty beat up acrylic tanks back to life so you can definitely do it if you want to invest the time.

Time I have. I'm in no hurry to get it up. I want it right first. I have to paint the stand as well. The sump came today. Were just taking it bit by bit and going from there. We work during the week so we go at it on weekends.

 

[tory990]

Incidentally anybody have any idea what brand it may be? I feel like it's probably ancient lol. Almost looks like it's a pet store tank at one time. It's 112 gallon. 72 w x 20 h x 18 d.

 

[fuelman]

just to give you a idea here is my 180 after sanding the inside with 1000 grit, still had to do the outside to remove a few scratches & then a few days after being set up.

 

[tory990]

just to give you a idea here is my 180 after sanding the inside with 1000 grit, still had to do the outside to remove a few scratches & then a few days after being set up.

Whoa that's pretty bad. Mine isn't near as bad as that one was. Looks really good now. I just have to suck it up and do it lol.