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Plexiglas / Acrylic polishing

mulde35d

Well Known Member
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I have been reading up on Plexiglas / acrylic since I am about to cut the landing and taxi light acrylic pieces. In doing so I am thinking forward to the canopy and window which I intend to install using the sika flex adhesive method. I read that polishing the edges is critical to prevent cracking and saw one of the ways is to "glaze" them using MAP fuel in a torch. However, it also states not to apply adhesive if using this method since it causes crazing of the acrylic.

Has anyone use MAP fuel to polish the canopy?

What method of polish would anyone recommend if planning to use Sika Flex for an adhesive?
 
Polishing edges for stress avoidance is a mechanical thing. 220, 400, 600 grit will do it along with a little rounding of the edge.

Flame treatment is done for adhesion after the mechanical abrasion(sanding) and isopropyl alcohol cleaning(91%, the last 9% is water) is done. The flame is waved over the surface for adhesion at a foot per second with just the tip of the flame. A MAP flame is likely too hot, a home propane torch is typically recommended. The surface should not get hot in the process. Don't touch it before application of adhesion promoter or adhesive.

The process was described to me as flame passivation of the surface by a chemist for non-metallics I once worked with. It works for many materials like HDPE that are hard to "glue".
 
Polishing Lexan and plastic

I wanted to chime in on how I polished my Lexan canopy. I had a couple of deep gouges that happened in the hanger And was afraid that I would never get rid of them. Someone recommended the Novus polish to me, and I used the number three polish for the deep gouges, the number two polish over the top of it, and then the number one polish for the final cleaning and shining. This stuff works great and I recommend it to anyone.
 
I wanted to chime in on how I polished my Lexan canopy. I had a couple of deep gouges that happened in the hanger And was afraid that I would never get rid of them. Someone recommended the Novus polish to me, and I used the number three polish for the deep gouges, the number two polish over the top of it, and then the number one polish for the final cleaning and shining. This stuff works great and I recommend it to anyone.

Same here! Novus works great for keeping your canopy looking new!
 
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