Person to buff out acrylic needed!!

[ducklabdad]

Anyone out there know of a person here locally that can buff out an Acrylic tank for someone that needs this done asap.

I know I have heard of a couple that had done that in the past.

CassHoward is in need, see her threads on this forum!! Surely someone can help her out with this!!

 

[casshoward]

Acrylic

Acrylic

Bill,

 

[casshoward]

Acrylic Buffering & Polishing

Acrylic Buffering & Polishing

Bill,

Thanks for the assistance. I shared with your yesterday that "Frankie" of the show TANKED returned my call yesterday to offer his assistance. He sounds like a really nice guy. He spent a lot of time on the phone offering me tank repair advice. I really appreciated it. He even did a few Google searches and called a local, Memphis company while on the phone with me. (Sorta wished I lived in Vegas yesterday, I would have hired him on the spot to fix my tank!)

I have since spent most of the morning calling various companies. Most did not offer this service but several referred me to someone who might. All of the "someones" said no. Here's who I've called:

Fargo Plastic Supply, Inc. of Tennessee (5625 East Shelby Drive
Memphis, TN 38141-6706, (901) 332-3331). Spoke with Jimmy who said No but recommended Plastic Creations & Sunset Fabrication companies.

Plastic Creations (901-354-2350) Vincent only buffs out small scratches.

Sunset Fabrication (901-458-4323) Spoke with Blaine who said No.

Aquarium Services (901-491-1410) Spoke with Tony who only builds a tanks.

Cofer's Body Shop And Garage, Inc (2769 Appling Center Cove, Memphis, TN 38133-5071, (901) 381-5144). Referred to Mr. Jimmy Cofer who used to buff tanks but his is now retired. Technician will call his cell phone and pass on my message. Will wait to see if he calls back.

Norrell Inc Plastics (3496 Winhoma Dr
, Memphis, TN 38118, 888-293-3496 = No.

ABRA (430 E. Winchester Blvd., Collierville, TN 38017, (901) 853-4440) = No.

Memphis Zoo (333-6500)
Aquarium: Chris Baker, Assistant Curator Central Zone = left message. I am awaiting a call back from the Zoo for a possible reference.

If no other leads materialize, I will officially become a DIYer! I saw an old post by one of our club members (?Marko) who mentioned using a "Micro-Surface" product in the past when he was a plastic tank guy. http://micro-surface.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=272_4_77 The kit cost $120. We have a sander/polisher to mount the kit discs to, as well a drill. How much more damage can I do?!!!! Yeah, Lots!

 

[reeffreak25]

There is a company called Glassical on Summer that might be willing to do it. Glass is obviously their specialty (they do some fancy stuff), but a phone call wouldn't hurt. I've seen them polish out some bad glass scratches. Personally, I'd go the DIY route.

 

[Inexplicable]

If you decide to do it yourself, it can be done without taking down your tank. I've helped a friend in the past restore his fully stocked tank using the micro mesh sanding sheets. You won't be able to use any power tools underwater, but I don't like using them anyways because it is too easy to take off too much and distort the viewing pane.

I bought a set of micro mesh sheets ranging from 600 grit up to 12000 grit (cost ~$30). You start with the roughest (lowest number) and sand the entire tank in one direction (up/down) until all of the coralline is removed and all of the scratches are gone. You then move up to the next grit and sand in the other direction (side to side) until all of the scratches from the first sanding are gone. Then move on to the next grit and repeat, always alternating directions until you get to 12000 grit, at which point the grit is so fine the scratches can't be seen. I'm using this method right now to clean up a 120 gallon half cylinder that I got from Jabo, and it is working great. It just takes time and your arm gets tired, especially reaching the bottom of a 30" tank. I don't know if this was info you're looking for, but for me it would be easier to do it myself over the course of a couple weeks than to take down my whole tank and hire someone to repair it.

If you do a search here on RC or on other forums, there have been lots of people to use this method to fix their tanks, even fully stocked reef tanks, without detriment to fish or corals. Some have even used mag floats to sandwich the sandpaper to the acrylic, and sanded it that way. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Reefdiver77]

Cass, I share your doubts!! I have a 60 corner bowfront with a few scratches but have been scared to death to try and get rid of them myself. Richard at Memfish suggested a bodyshop to me. I never called one. If you do it yourself, let me know how it goes and I may get my nerve up or you can help me. LOL. It is at my daughters in Memphis.

 

[jabo]

I helped my brother in law do his and it was simple. He ordered a kit off the internet and a little elbow grease and a few chemicals and it was perfect.

 

[Mako Shark II]

+ 1 for Inexplicable!

 

[casshoward]

Hope restored!

Hope restored!

Did any of you call my husband? :inlove: He has never taken an interest in my tank, doesn't even like feeding the fish! This morning he says, "Why don't you just do it yourself, I'll help!". I have all but decided to do so as the Zoo and Cofer never called me back.

I think I'll try the "Micropads & elbow grease" method before attempting to tear down the display and buffing with a power tool.

Question: For those that have manually buffed the tank while wet, how do you perform the polishing phase (? safe, underwater product?)? The power tool/dry method has a dry polishing disc as a final step.

Thanks for all who have offered support, advice, and stuff!
Cass

 

[Inexplicable]

how do you perform the polishing phase (? safe, underwater product?)?

In my experience the polishing compound is not needed for the inside of the tank, and the 12000 grit sanding pad is enough. The water in the tank helps fill in any fine polishing marks that are left, and I don't think I could tell if it was polished on the inside or not. If sanding the outside of the tank, I would buff it with an acrylic compound like Novus or something else, because the polishing marks will be more evident.

Congrats on your husband's support and hope it goes well. If you do this with your tank fully stocked you will cloud your water quite a bit with acrylic particles but this should settle out on its own or be filtered out. A small micron filter sock helps quite a bit, and keep an eye on your corals for stress if it gets too cloudy, but likely all will be fine, just like if you stirred up a fine sand substrate.

 

[casshoward]

Got a Plan!

Got a Plan!

Thank you to everyone for the support and advice. I will purchase my Micro-Mesh kit tonight and likely start my project in a week or so!

I think this will be my first, big, project to document. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thanks,
Cass

 

[Rudolph]

ops...

 

[Mako Shark II]

Micro-Mesh.

The stuff Works!

If you can buff out a 1/4"deep Birdstrike on a 1" thick clear acrylic windshield on a Lear 60 doing 400MPH through a gaggle of geese to an optical approved level, you can buff out a scratched tank!

 

[casshoward]

Thanks, I'm motivated even more. Can't start project for 2 weeks unfortunately.

 

[Rudolph]

Micro-Mesh.

If you can buff out a 1/4"deep Birdstrike on a 1" thick clear acrylic windshield on a Lear 60 doing 400MPH through a gaggle of geese to an optical approved level, you can buff out a scratched tank!

Wouldn't it be easier to buff it out when the plane gets on the ground and away from the geese....:lolspin: