Thread: Scales cleaning

I was just dealing with some old celluloid/bakelite/plastic scuffed and scratched scales and I wonder how can I clean them properly.
Should I sand them with 1500+ papers? can I run them under buffing wheel or will it melt them?
Usually I just clean them with a cloth and a bit of METAL GLO paste. I find it cleans it very well and its doing wonders to those metal inlays on the scales.

Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks!

Originally Posted by ORSHIT

I was just dealing with some old celluloid/bakelite/plastic scuffed and scratched scales and I wonder how can I clean them properly.
Should I sand them with 1500+ papers? can I run them under buffing wheel or will it melt them?
Usually I just clean them with a cloth and a bit of METAL GLO paste. I find it cleans it very well and its doing wonders to those metal inlays on the scales.


Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks!

You can get vented buffing wheels that don't get as hot, and then there are stringy ones that are made for plastic, there is also a polishing compound made for plastics. caswellplating has it i'm pretty sure. I saw it on the australian site but the american one always seems to have more and better stuff (formax compounds!!! GRrrrr why doesnt aus stock it!!!)

NOTE: I have yet to use a buffing wheel myself I am just slowly setting up my buffing kit I have the bench grinder and the spindles and I'm researching which wheels to buy etc. that's why I know about these products however I have not had experience using them, maybe one of the guru's on here who have real exp can shed some light on this matter... anyone?

I regularly use 'Plastex' for scales.

It is designed to remove the scratches from headlight covers etc. and works great.

Brasso is good too.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by saitou

NOTE: I have yet to use a buffing wheel myself I am just slowly setting up my buffing kit I have the bench grinder and the spindles and I'm researching which wheels to buy etc. that's why I know about these products however I have not had experience using them, maybe one of the guru's on here who have real exp can shed some light on this matter... anyone?

Super Cheap has buffing kits with three compounds and three x 4" buffing wheels - worth a look, I reckon - I use them and they work a treat (just watch the heat)

It depends on how deep the scratches are. If they are very deep you could have to start sanding from 320 grit

+1 on the Plast-X I use it as a final polish on just about all Synthetic scales, works great

Where you have to start however, is determined on what the Scales tell you to do as mentioned above

Thank you all for the tips! What about natural material scales? Should I send them first and then polish them with the buffing wheel? Can horn scales get curved or get defect by the buffing wheel's heat?

I have a Polishing Compound Set of 1 pound bars. The Blue color is for plastics. Haven't used it yet (planning on using it) but just throwing it out there !
Maybe someone else has and can shed some light.