how do you finish acrylics

[Califo]

Today I did a Sierra and went through the sanding process, dry sanded up until 600 grit and then started with the wet micro mesh to 12000. After I started doing the wet sanding, I noticed that some of the water from the sandpaper had seeped under the acrylic. This caused a darker spot around the edges of the finished blank between the tube and the acrylic. Has anyone experienced this? Should I be wet sanding the acrylic? The only possibility i could think of was that maybe there wasn't enough apoxy and caused a void between the tube and the acrylic for water to seep under it.

• Could that be the cause?
  • Can you think of anything else, maybe use wax between the blank and the bushing to fix this issue?
    
    Thanks in advance for any input/ideas.
    
    MARCO

 

[Jim Burr]

You can...and should, as with wood blanks, seal the ends with CA. But this is indicative of a different issue...proper gluing of the tube into the blank. If the ends are coated with CA, nothing will enter. Take a look at your prep and see if there is somewhere to improve.

 

[wyone]

Well all I can say is you must have a really nice light touch if there was enough room around the ends to allow water to enter and yet didn't blow out the blank. Every time I have had any gap that I did not discover, I had a blow out. I have since started to make sure I dribble a little extra of whatever glue I am using around the ends of the tube

 

[Jim Smith]

To add on to what Jim mentioned, I always sand acrylics wet even when I start with 240 grit all the way through 12000 Micromesh. I use Abranet for 99% of my rough sanding up through 600 grit as it lasts much longer and because of the open mesh, it does not heat up nearly as much as traditional sand paper. Depending on the acrylic, I may or may not use a finishing polish like one stop and I add a coat of Ren Wax to minimize finger prints.

Jim Smith

 

[raar25]

You may want to reverse paint the inside of your blank so even if water gets into a void between the tube and blank you can not see it. I paint my acrylics silver or a complimentary color so it brings out the sparkle of whatever color the blank is.

 

[Califo]

You may want to reverse paint the inside of your blank so even if water gets into a void between the tube and blank you can not see it. I paint my acrylics silver or a complimentary color so it brings out the sparkle of whatever color the blank is.

This is a good idea. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[randyrls]

Marco; I tend to agreed with others. With CA, the glue should be forced out all around the far end of the tube. If it isn't, you didn't use enough CA. You should also paint the inside of the drill blank to hide the tube.

 

[butchf18a]

Agree that certain(many) acryllic blanks benefit from painting tubes and/or inside of blank. Regardless, improper glue is the issue. Whether using epoxy or ca don't skimp on your adhesive.

Jmoicbw-bidi