BillK wrote:What’s the best way to get rid of small scratches on the uncut part (faces) of the acrylic? I know some suppliers sell scratch repair products.
I've had no luck with scratch repair products, I know what you are talking about, Nouve or something like that. For me they were alot of labor, messy, ineffective and expensive. Also, I did alot of plexi and also needed something to make the edges clear, its not feasible to use this stuff for production.
My method is buffing, for light scratches like this buffing alone should work, I have a rough wheel and finish wheel and use buffing compound for both, a good buffing will obliterate these marks and you'll never be able to tell they were there. For heavier scratches [and for the freshly cut edges] I sand them out, can use an orbital or mouse sander, start at 120 grit then 240 or something like that, then buffing will smooth out everything to a factory finish. Some people might think OMG, can't sand plexiglas that will leave marks ! ,,, And that is exactly the case, the sanding gets rid of the scratch, the buffing gets rid of the scratches from the sanding.
Downside is, to do it properly and if you do it alot, an investment is needed. I spent around $600 to get a top of the line Baldor floor mounted buffer after trying cheaper handheld solutions that didn't work, very good investment. But for occasional light use, scratch repair product and/or small handheld buffer might do the trick, not everyone has the $$ or motivation to sink $100's into a dedicated buffer.
