Buffing acrylic with Novus 3, 2, 1. Orbital polisher/buffer or drill?

cvrle1

Member
Hello everyone, I am in the process of refinishing acrylic tank and have a question about what tool to use for buffing/polishing step. I have wet sanded whole tank, inside and outside with sandpaper, going from 400-2000 grit. I have Novus kit (Novus 3, 2 and 1) ready to go for buffing. Since it is 110 gallon, I wont do it by hand, but not sure which tool to use for this. Should I get a orbital polisher like WEN 6010 or should I use my drill with drill adapter for buffing? It's not something I plan on doing all the time, so I would rather not spend a lot of money on tool I will use once, and then have it collect dust.

Also, which type of pads should I get, regardless on tool? Wool, foam, microfiber, something else?

Thanks for the help.
 
Hello. The polisher is used to polish wooden, metal, stone and varnished car bodies. An innovative orbital polisher, unlike a rotary polisher, an orbital polisher not only rotates, but also oscillates.
 
I used a drill attachment when I did a 375 gallon tank (almost 34 square feet of viewable window! bleh!)

I think it was called the Mother powerball, or Mother is the brand, either way, if you already went through the grits you don't need to go crazy with a specialty buffer.

That said, if you wet sand it and it looks good no need to use the Novus kit, I typically will only wet sand extreme scratches/gouges, minor stuff I simply used Novus with the power ball, got as comfortable as I could inside the tank, and went to work doing a little bit at a time until the entire pane was done, rinse well, then go to the next pane, etc. Repeat with Novus 2 after washing the power ball thoroughly and after a few weeks I was happy with the result
 
Thanks for the info everyone. I actually ended up getting a really good deal on dual action orbital polisher. I ordered some pads that should be here tomorrow, so we'll see how things go in a day or 2.
 
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