Polishing Acrylic Plastic
This test had multiple objectives. When the part was made, it had sharp edges and a lightly scratched surface. The goals were to round the edges and leave the part with a clear, transparent finish.
In order to obtain the desired edge rounding and remove the scratches, the part was tumbled with Hardwood Media and the Dry Abrasive Finishing Cream. In this case, it took about 18 hours to get the desired results. After tumbling, the part had a smooth, uniform, opaque finish.
The next step was to get a crystal clear surface. Also using Hardwood Media but with the Microlyte Polishing Finishing Cream, the results were nearly perfect. While the part did have a significant amount of clarity, there were still very fine micro scratches visible under magnification.
This test required a third step also using dry tumbling. This final step used the Pegco™ HC-4 Fine Premium Treated tumbling Media for about 12 hours. This provided the transparency seen in the picture above.
It’s important to note that dry tumbling is often done best in a barrel tumbler versus a vibratory tumbler. Even better in a wood barrel tumbler. While tumbling, the media and parts load will generate some heat due to friction. Barrels will trap and hold much of these heat in the process. The heat helps to activate the Creams and polishing agents providing noticeably better results.