Hey everyone,

I'm trying to refinish a 4004 I'm going to sell.  Right now I'm working on refinishing the lid.  The order of polishing I'm doing is:

Wet sand 1000, then 1500, then 2000, then 2500.

Novus Plastic Polish level 3 heavy scratch remover, then level 2 fine scratch remover, and finally level 1 cleaner.

I can still see tons of ultra-ultra-fine scratches in the lid though.  I have a feeling I'm missing something in the 2500 wet sand to level 3 polish.  When I use the 2500 paper,  I can see the ultra fine scratches left by it.  Then when I use the level 3 polish, I get that uniform haze to the plastic and can no longer see any scratching.  Level 2 takes away the haze, but then leaves the ultra fine markings/scratches.

Suggestions or advice?

Thanks,
Austin

A light wax such as Novus #1 Clean & Shine should hide them.  I use Johnson Wax's  Klean 'n Shine but that's not available any more.

Thanks mediabobny, when I said "Novus level 3 cleaner" I actually meant the level 1 you mentioned, I edited it.  I was going to just try several more rounds of level 3 and 2, but had wanted to make sure going from wet 2500 to level 3 wasn't too abrupt of a change.

Austin

Hi Austin,

The way to go is using the Micro Mesh kit. It has sandpaper running from 1500 to 12,000.

I managed to perform an amazing restoration on my Beogram 4000, 4002, and 8000.

The key is to not give up, keep working on it until it is “right.”

Jeff

Hey,

I used Brasso on my 6006 and ten car paint wax polish. Looks like new (well almost). But I'd never use sandpaper!

I have heard abuot someone using tooth paste for fine polishing ,but i have never tested it myself

Jon

Brasso and toothpaste can work, but not to the high degree of Micro Mesh.

I achieved very, very respectable results, but my only regret is that I rushed the process…. It really takes time.

To achieve “perfection” you need to work each successively fine sandpaper until you have really removed ALL the scratches from the previous coarser sandpaper.

Also another BIG tip, brace the dustcover so that the sanding process does not cause stress marks…. as did mine.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff.  Looks like you've confirmed my thought that 2500 to novus 3 was too big a jump.  I hate spending $20 more on sanding stuff just to sell it though.  Ugh, decisions.

Thanks guys,

Austin

Austin,

Your fears have been confirmed.

The same sort of thing happened to me, when wet sanding, it may appear (often did) that all the scratches were removed and uniformly smooth, but go to the next higher grade of sandpaper, and all remaining scratches show up glaringly.

The only option is to go back to the previous sandpaper and start over.

For the final touch I used the Griot’s auto polisher, which is truly amazing and their wonderful polish and wax. Made an incredible difference…. with the exception that you can’t get into the corners on the inside.

Jeff

Austin,

Nice to see you back! You went dormant for a while!

All good advice here, so just my .02 cents!

I just (about 2 weeks ago) finished a way too long similar project on a CDX. Now, mind you, the plexi panel on the CDX is maybe a 1/4 of the size of BG lid, if that, but man, what a struggle!

I too just couldn't make satifactory leaps using all the same products mentions as well as some 3M glazing compound. No matter what I tried, after two "sessions" I was about to throw in the towel, when I decided to try something that I considered radical.

Rather than rotating the polish, I actually tried running horizontal, and the micro-scratches faded out (at least the light reflection was in a more uniform single plane). I was then able to very quickly finish it up an the results were fantastic. Next time I will start straight out that way and save myself a lot of aggravation... You might want to try on a practice piece.

I use a Micro-Mesh kit bought on eBay

Full instructions provided and they work!

The Micro-Mesh kit is available from the company itself, you don't have to buy it on eBay.

Jeff

Yes, Jaff, I did go dormant for awhile!  I'm applying to dental school now and was looking for jobs to hold me over in the mean time.  Unfortunately I'm in one of those stages of my life where b&o is taking a back seat.  I had this turntable sitting in my basement ready to go except for the cover so I just wanted to finally finish it.  I started working at one of the physics labs at upenn again and to my luck they actually already have a micromesh kit for polishing acrylic.

Thanks again guys,

Austin

Good luck with your application Austin! I started back at medical school last year, and though I know the whole dental/medical training system is much different to that in the UK, I'm sure it's as fraught with as many pitfalls as it is here - not least if you're trying to get finance together. I applied for my place in 2005 to commence in 2006, but had to defer for two years in a row, simply because it was HARD trying to get all aspects of my personal and financial life to line up.

Best of luck with it :)

John

joeyboygolf:

I use a Micro-Mesh kit bought on eBay

Full instructions provided and they work!

Will that also restore the lid to complete clarity?

I tried a polish attempt at my 2000 lid, first with a very llight, but course sanding at 240 grit (to remove some deep surface scratches), and progressively working my way up from 800 to 1500 grit with wet sandpaper. I used an acrylic polish afterwards.

When done (cleaning the lid between each step), the lid shows a mirror finish, it's not 100% clear when compared to the 'original'. I can look through it, but it looks a little frosted when viewed through a light source.

Lastly, I did notice that my toothpaste had just a bit finer grain than my polishing agent. It did turn it into a nice mirror, but it's still not 100% clear.

Stoney3K:

joeyboygolf:

I use a Micro-Mesh kit bought on eBay

Full instructions provided and they work!

Will that also restore the lid to complete clarity? 

With patience and effort, yes!

Hello,

Well I'm not too sure about that.

I've got two Beogram 6006/8000 (same lid then) and using the same method, one came out crystal clear and the other one, no matter what, came out nicely polished too but not completely clear. I made sure the underside was clean and shiny as well of course! Different batches? 

chartz:

Hello,

Well I'm not too sure about that.

I've got two Beogram 6006/8000 (same lid then) and using the same method, one came out crystal clear and the other one, no matter what, came out nicely polished too but not completely clear. I made sure the underside was clean and shiny as well of course! Different batches?

The properties of the acrylic on different lids may be a little different. Even Micro-Mesh says on its website that it can completely restore acrylic (Plexiglass) windows to complete clarity, it can't do so for polycarbonate (Lexan) windows, because it is softer. (Huh? I always thought Lexan was tougher...)

I'm pretty sure my problem is that I didn't take enough time and didn't use a fine enough sandpaper before starting on the polishing agent. A Micro-Mesh kit will surely make a difference.