# Polishing epoxy



## marcdilnutt (Jul 10, 2006)

Is it possible to polish clear epoxy, and if so what should i use? I put a big tritium vial into the tailcap of my [email protected] but the acetate i was using as a form to hold the epoxy came off as it was bsetting, leaving me with a rough surface. I really want to polish it to a nice shine but am unsure whether this is possible. Can anyone help please? I used Araldite brand glass and ceramics epoxy, it sets in about half an hour or so.
marc


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## greenLED (Jul 10, 2006)

I've polished Luxeon optics and 5mm LEDs by using increasingly finer sandpaper. I used to finish the job with toothpaste and a soft cloth, but I discovered that Flitz and a soft polishing Dremel tip work much, much better (and is much, much faster). I don't know if other polishing compounds can be used on epoxy/acrylic materials.


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## marcdilnutt (Jul 10, 2006)

Thanks for the tip, but i cant buy Flitz over here. What sort of compound is it?
marc


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## greenLED (Jul 10, 2006)

It's a metal/fiberglass polishing compound. It's the best polishing compound I've found so far. 

Have you checked eBay?


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## altoon (Jul 12, 2006)

I've used jeweler's rouge to polish the edges of cut acrylic sheet for years, although I've never tried it on epoxy. Blue jeweler's rouge is recommended for plastic. Your local art or hobby store would be a good source.

And, as greenLED said, use increasingly finer sandpaper.


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## lukus (Jul 12, 2006)

I believe SemiChrome polish is equivalent to Flitz. 

You can, if you're real careful, use a flame to "polish" acrylic after the sandpaper steps. Use something clean burning like a small torch. It might work with the epoxy.


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## Silviron (Jul 12, 2006)

A white jewelers polish is preferable... They make some especially for plastics, but I can't think of the name(s) off hand, and the bar of it I have is missing that part of the label. The colored 'rouges' tend to stain, especially if you use mechanical buffing, the red ones are especially bad.

Epoxy requires a much lighter touch than acrylic. It really tends to 'smear' and burn if you get too vigorous. If using a mechanical buffer, a very slow speed and a loose cotton buff is best.... Avoid muslin or felt buffs.

Definitely practice on something 'throwaway' first . Safer to do it by hand on something important unless you have done a lot of practice first. It is really easy to mess it up completely if you use motorized buffers, especially with a Dremel or something similar. High RPM is a dangerous enemy, and one second of over-doing it can turn epoxy into a yellow, brown or even blackish disaster.

Simichrome is indeed very much the same as Flitz. I have both and the only way to tell them apart is by color. A little of either on a microfiber cloth and some 'elbow grease' is probably your best bet of doing this one thing. 

If , as you have indicated, the epoxy is rough or uneven, go with 320->600->1500 grit sandpaper first, to smooth it. Then do the polish

DON'T try flame polishing epoxy.

Toothpaste will do if you can't get anything better for polish, although there are a couple of toothpastes on your 'side of the pond' that have an abrasive that is actually coarser than 1500 grit sandpaper, and also some that have no 'polish' ingredients in them, so you might have to use a different one if you don't have luck the first time.

Novus, Meguiars and 3M make decent plastic polishes and you can usually find at least one of them (and/or Flitz or Simichrome) available through auto parts stores, at least in the USA.... If worse comes to worst, You can order Flitz from Texas Knifemakers Supply .

Also, a watchmaker / jewelery repair place will have some really good stuff made for polishing watch crystals (In fact, I think it is manufactured in the UK). It might be worth just having one of them do the job for you. I think the place I worked for would have done it for $15-$25 depending on what kind of mood the owner was in, and how busy we were at the time.


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## nemul (Jul 12, 2006)

www.flitz.com ships outside the USA... dont know how much though...


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## TENMMIKE (Jul 15, 2006)

this is what is used to bring back aircraft windows, it rather expensive but i know it works, and , and as you can see that several different specalty systems 
https://www.micro-surface.com/default.cfm?page_id=1


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