Novus polish damaging my acrylic

[el chupacabra]

I just used novus polish for the 1st time on my acrylic tank & it is damaging the acrylic. It leaves small wavy marks, a texture look similar to wall texture but much smaller like on the half millimeter scale. It causes blurriness. The camera wont detect it. I dont understand, novus is the go-to acrylic polish.

Has anyone ever encountered this? Able to explain it? Is there a fine paper sanding solution or polish substitute I can try?

 

[Daddi0]

Are you using an electric buffer and maybe getting the plastic hot?
Cheers! Mark

 

[mcgyvr]

Which Novus product?
What is the exact application method and material?

The texture it leaves is the pattern in which you applied it..

 

[Goober06]

Which novus are you using? Novus 3 will make it blurry, novus 2 clears it up, novus 1 polishes, just like a car or paint, if you stay in 1 area too long or put too much pressure on the site you're working with, itll scuff up and leave swirl marks

 

[mcgyvr]

Which novus are you using? Novus 3 will make it blurry, novus 2 clears it up, novus 1 polishes, just like a car or paint, if you stay in 1 area too long or put too much pressure on the site you're working with, itll scuff up and leave swirl marks

Yep..
Some basic directions on each step here..
http://www.delviesplastics.com/Novus_Directions.html

 

[el chupacabra]

Im using novus 2 then 1 (for cleaning off 2).
I tried 3 different methods of polishing to see if any 1 method would prevent the swirls.

At 1st I put a plastic bag over my hand & polished by hand, back & forth each direction, then circular motion. Then I tried hand polishing while wearing a glove, still permanent swirls. So I though maybe the plastic glove or bag was causing a chem reaction. So I tried polishing with a paper towel ( yes I know paper towel is too abrasive but this is just testing on the lid of my tank). I even tried starting with novus 3.

Each time the whole process to remove the fine scratches & heavy haze, took about 2 minutes of rubbing by hand. And the results were exactly the same no matter how it was applied, micro swirls.

I decided to inspect the tank more carefully to see if previous owner used novus. Yup he did. I can now see where the previous owner used novus around the tank by looking for the same swirl spots. Perhaps Tenecor acrylic is incompatible w novus?

 

[Goober06]

Novis 3 and 2 are abrasives. Any rubbing of it onto any surface will cause abrasions. To prevent that, you'll need a high quality soft pad to use best with a buffer. That's why the "acrylic pros" get paid to do what they do, it takes practice and patience

 

[zachfishman]

I can't comment on Novus, but if you're doing small areas I like the aquarium resurfacing kit by MicroSurface: http://micro-surface.com/index.php/...re/kits/acrylic-aquarium-restoration-kit.html

You have to be very thorough with each step though or you will end up with an imperfect result. Acrylic resurfacing is a painstaking process.