Assuming that the product (with which I am not familiar) is sufficiently
fine (on the order of one micron particle size) you should be able to polish
to a specular finish with no visible haze or scratches, but technique does
matter. Just as for the "color sanding" of the painted finish, optical
polishing requires random motion such as you get when using an orbital
sander. The other important technique is to apply pressure with an orbital
sander or manual pad according to the "Goldilocks Rule" (not too much, not
too little) which unfortunately is something to be determined by trial and
error.
There is also a possibility that you generated enough heat from friction to
soften the plastic material, and if so try again with less pressure and
allow time to cool after polishing for a short time. Check the temperature
by feel - if it is too hot to touch it is just too hot.
You should also expect to have an optical flaw in the polished area, because
as you remove the scratches you will in effect distort the surface by
changing its shape (after all, you are removing the material that surrounds
the scratches in order to remove the scratches themselves). This
unfortunately can not be avoided, and it is something I demonstrated in my
own living room when I locally polished the surface of a glass coffee table
for the same reason you are polishing your windscreen. The human eye is
extremely unforgiving when it comes to optical defects.
Best regards,
Rob Housman
Europa XS Tri-Gear A070
Airframe complete
Irvine, CA
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com
[mailto:owner-europa-list-server@matronics.com]On Behalf Of Alan Stewart
Subject: Europa-List: Micro-mesh treatment of windscreen scratches
<alan.stewart@blueyonder.co.uk>
Hi Guys,
I had a few nasty scratches on the passenger side windshield on my
classic Europa from hurried panel removal.
Micro mesh seemed the obvious solution, and I'd been pre-warned it need
a fair amount of time and elbow grease to obtain a desirable outcome.
Well, after about 3 hours, and two or three attempts, the original
scratches are nowhere to be seen !
In their place is the faint 'misting affect' of thousands of tiny
scratches from the Micro mesh itself. Perhaps part of the problem is the
curved shape of the affected area, and the difficulty of maintaining
direction when polishing.
Now, perhaps we just weren't determined enough, but we did try damn hard
and its very frustrating.
Does anyone have advice as to how to remove this affect ? It would've
been great had we succeeded, and I'd have probably carried on to do the
whole windshield.
How do you get that finally sheen ? Is it worthwhile using another
product to finish the job ?
Would some mechanical device be more effective at keeping to a straight
line ?
Alan. D. Stewart
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