Polishing the edges of acrylic

[letterworks]

Buffing wheel on an electric motor with compound brick.
Just polished some edges today. Hard to take a good pick with IPhone.

This is the best way actually just takes longer. But no issues with solvents and such then.

 

[letterworks]

Just try to put glue on mated edge. We did it on thick led signs and panels that need to look extremely good (L’Oreal, etc.). Be careful not to drip and do not touch until cured.

Yes, a solvent wipe can work (and is about the only way to polish lexan edges somewhat.

Some shops will vaporize the solvent and polish complex machined parts in a tank of solvent vapor. Pretty old school tho. I know one shop that merged with another. The younger owner threw out all the equipment for that.....

 

[johnnysigns]

We use an oxygen and hydrogen bottle setup. I can look up the kit we bought for the regulators and torch setup. It's something we use sparingly, but I know as soon as I return the bottles of gas, we'll land a big job that required heaps of edge polishing. Flame polishing can and will craze if exposed to alcohol, but a low rpm buffing wheel setup will not.

 

[sbergman]

I realize this is probably way more throughput than most people need, but good to know it exists. We have had several projects with 300+ pieces of 24x36 and much larger to polish. We didn't put a lot of effort into learning the flame polish method.

Here's a link below:

EF-200 Edge Finisher

Edge Finisher EF-200 - table-top plastic edge finishing machine for creating a smooth, clear finish on the edge of a saw-cut plastic material.

www.edgefinisher.com

 

[letterworks]

I realize this is probably way more throughput than most people need, but good to know it exists. We have had several projects with 300+ pieces of 24x36 and much larger to polish. We didn't put a lot of effort into learning the flame polish method.

Here's a link below:

EF-200 Edge Finisher

Edge Finisher EF-200 - table-top plastic edge finishing machine for creating a smooth, clear finish on the edge of a saw-cut plastic material.

www.edgefinisher.com

But the first job with rounded corners after buying that would be a let down.

I bought the bigger version at auction years ago and never got it dialed in....but it had it's uses even then.

 

[johnnysigns]

We definitely get much better/less bubbly glued joints with diamond edge polished edges. Our plastics distributors can provide parts already DEP'd to us. The EF-200 and blackstone in general has really nice equipment.

 

[Vassago]

Tbh for sign use.. Use a laser to cut the plastic.. Nice polished edges from the start..