Thread: Working with Acrylic

When working with acrylic, how do you prevent or take out the "waves" on the edges of the scales? What I'm talking about is the uneven feel the the edge from the sanding. I'm guessing it's just about using a light touch. I've gotten to "unnoticeable by eye" but "obvious to the touch." It's not rough, it's uneven.

I've been working on a dremel not a belt sander, which is probably making it harder. So my first fix is probably switch tools, but is there a way around this on a dremel?

Use a slower speed and larger drum. That will help eliminate the "waves"

I would use a sanding block of sorts to prevent waves. I like a pink pearl eraser for the edges of scales. it has enough flex to do both the edges.

Charlie

I use a 1x30 belt sander and then smooth by hand. a sanding block is great for this. My one came with a micromesh kit. about 4x2x.5 inches of a dense foam material. love it

Maybe try solid surface material (like Corian). It is basically decorative acrylic. It is about 1/2 inch thick. The top and bottom of Corian scraps should already be smooth as glass. Just cut your scale pattern, then cut in half and sand or plane from the inside and leave the outside untouched. Polish to a glass finish and your done.

I wrote-up this walk through a week or so ago:

Restore Start to Finish

I would make the final sanding (and polishing) by hand, not electric tools.
You can sand the scales until they are 'almost finished', but you'll get the better feel of the material you are finishing when doing the last touch by hands. At least i'm doing so.

a nice half round file with ~1/2" diameter works wonders.You need a vise too obviously.