Scratches on perspex

[old man emu]

I'm slightly off topic here as I'm not dealing with planes, but ....

 

I've noticed a few fine scratches in the perspex of my bike's windshield. I suspect they have been caused by wiping wet dust over it when getting rid of dew. They are not deep gouges, and can't really be seen unless you get up close, but, to me, they detract from the appearance of the bike.

 

Can anyone suggest a method to polish out these small scratches?

 

OME

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

There are special polishes for acrylic, or you can make your own using rouge and a fine vegetable oil.

 

Alternatively Brasso works a treat on some plastics. Not sure what your windshield is made of so make sure you try it on a scrap piece first. Brasso contains ammonia which doesn't affect most plastics but start cautiously just in case.

 

 

[terryc]

brasso is the best I have found

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I used toothpaste and a little water to thin it out. Cornflour to buff it up. If you want to get fancy and professional like buy a Micromesh kit.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Maguires PlastX from my local car shop works well.

 

 

[Russ]

McQuires.........."Plastx"........ works a treat....supercheap sell it.

 

Plexus......marine grade...any good boat shop. This i use after, and as a cleaner often. in combination they do a great job.

 

 

[Russ]

Geez PM...we hit the send button same time

 

 

[fly_tornado]

swirl remover works well on polycarbonate, should work well on other plastics

 

 

[408059]

I've used Brasso to remove scratches on both windscreens for the Ducati's I own. Some scratches were deep. Works a treat.

 

Steve

 

 

[01rmb]

I have used Novus #2 on my windscreen to remove some small scratches with perfect results.

 

https://www.novuspolish.com/fine_scratch_remover.html

 

 

[dazza 38]

When I used to work in 501wing undercarriage work shop, I used to change out the F111 canopies . We also used to use a plastic polish. It was a white bottle but I cant remember the name if it. It was good stuff. Fast jets have their canopies made from an aircraft grade polycarbonate.

 

 

[old man emu]

Thanks a lot everyone. Being a tight ars e, I'll try the toothpaste.

 

Ipana, Pepsident, Colgate or Sensidyne?

 

OME

 

 

[dazza 38]

When I used to work in 501wing undercarriage work shop, I used to change out the F111 canopies . We also used to use a plastic polish. It was a white bottle but I cant remember the name if it. It was good stuff. Fast jets have their canopies made from an aircraft grade polycarbonate.

I have used Novus #2 on my windscreen to remove some small scratches with perfect results.https://www.novuspolish.com/fine_scratch_remover.html

Well bend me over and tar me with a feather, you typed this when I was typing my post and I think that was the stuff we used in the RAAF.

 

 

[DrZoos]

I though ammonia and perspex where fatal enemies. I worked today at a place that has perspex lockers and they have a sticker on them that say, no amonia based cleaning products.

 

 

[Stewy]

Novus polish works well can use with a electric buff if you want make sure it variable speed though and start slow

 

If it is polycarbonate like head lights are made of you can use wet and dry starting at 600 and work your way to 2000 and then use fine polish to finish

 

Stewy

 

 

[DrZoos]

Another set of plex lockers a different sticker. Window cleaning fluids tend to be ammonia

 

 

 

[Dieselten]

Novus No. 1, Novus No. 2, Novus No. 3, or Craftex Plasti-Polish, or Meguiars No 17 Plastic Cleaner.

 

Brasso is good but contains ammonia which can adversely affect some plastics. Test an inconspicuous area first if you are going to try using it. All the others are perfectly safe on pretty much all plastics. They contain finely-divided Diatatomaceous Earth in a light hydrocarbon carrier with waxes.

 

Clean the scratched area well before applying polishes etc.

 

 

[Guernsey]

Plexus definitely works and will not damage any type of plastic.

 

Alan.

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

Thanks a lot everyone. Being a tight ars e, I'll try the toothpaste.Ipana, Pepsident, Colgate or Sensidyne?

 

OME

Geez mate it's a bike, surely an old geezer like you has some Brasso hanging around somewhere!

 

[old man emu]

I used all the Brasso on my chrome nuts.

 

OME

 

 

[dazza 38]

I used all the Brasso on my chrome nuts.OME

We used Brasso on our belt buckles when in the RAAF at rookies.

 

 

[Graham Pukallus]

I was recommended years ago from a veteran driver of convertible cars who swore by Kitten no 1 car polish to restore the rear windows made with polycarbonate and Perspex.

 

Used it on drifter windscreens, Mazda MX5 windows and all aircraft windscreens, bike visors etc works a treat.

 

Use a soft piece of flannelette to smear on and polish off.

 

 

[Russ]

I used all the Brasso on my chrome nuts.OME

nothing like a good set of sparkling nuts to "show off"

 

 

[pmccarthy]

Do they itch after polishing?

 

 

[old man emu]

Had intended to go on a Pink Ribbon Charity ride with my son today on our bikes, but mine ceased to function while I was puttering along the Freeway. After doing all the usual checks for dumb-arsed mistakes, and then checking spark and fuel, I concluded that I couldn't get back going from where I was, so called for a recovery vehicle.

 

Got the bike back home and started digging in. Cleaned and gapped the plugs and that didn't do any good. So I started in on the carby. Pulled the air filter off and immediately saw the problem. The choke plate was closed over the intake port. Further investigation found that a the grub screw which secures the choke plate shaft to the choke lever had gone walkabout, so the job wasn't being done. No chance of locating one anywhere handy (QED Hardware is closed on the weekends), so out with the baling wire. A few deft twists later and the lever was on the shaft as tight as a bogan at Octoberfest. Hooked a nice thick rubber band around the end of the lever and secured it so now the lever swings back to the fully open position when I want to ride.

 

Luckily, while I was messing about with the carby, I discovered that the two big nuts that secure the intake manifold to the heads were loose. So out with the Yankee spanner and cold chisel and after a few healthy blows the manifold is nice and tight. Started the bike and all was well. Even managed to adjust the idle speed, so now I can sit at the lights and the bike will pop away like an old Lister shearing shed engine.

 

The lesson to be learned here is that vibration will cause more annoying problems than catastrophic failures of major components. If you own your own plane, you owe it to yourself to frequently spend an hour or two with a handful of spanners and a few screwdrivers making sure your nuts are tight and you've given everything else a good screw.

 

OME