Scratch Free Polish on Alumilite Blanks, Epoxy Acrylics, PR and Plastic

Finally have my polishing method honed down to 6 steps, so I thought I'd share how I'm doing it. This is also an update on the Beall Buffing System I'm using, still gives me the perfect finish every time!
Make sure to check out the show notes on my website for links to Abranet sandpaper and 3M Polishing paper: nvwoodwerks.com...
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[@DKWalser]

Zac -- Thanks for sharing your process with us. Mine is fairly similar and works well for me. I suggest you try a couple of things: 1. When starting with 220 grit sandpaper, you might want to use 320 grit as your next step instead of jumping all the way up to 400 grit. It takes a long time for 400 grit sandpaper to remove 220 grit scratches. 2. Try wet sanding acrylic blanks. Wet sanding keeps the blanks cool, allowing the abrasive to cut cleanly rather than cutting/melting its way through the blank. Besides, if you wet sand, you can step your lathe speed back up. I think you'll like the result. Thanks for the info on the 3M polishing paper. I've been wet sanding with micromesh sheets (clipped together so I can keep the order straight). The sheets seem to last forever when wet sanding. But, when they do wear out, I'll check out the 3m polishing paper. It's always nice to have options. Thanks for your videos. You do a great job.

[@ZacHiggins]

Glad to hear that you have a similar process, and it's working great. I have been really happy with this process, at this point I'm getting perfect results every time. Thank you for the suggestions. Always good to share different methods. At this point, I'm completely satisfied with the results I am getting and don't think I'll change anything. If it ain't broke, don't fix it :-)

[@alisonmary1443]

Thanks so much, and the sandpaper part was really very helpful. The piece that I made was the centre bit for my sons garden table, the mushroom shaped thing with a hole in the middle that keeps the sunshade steady. Sadly It has dulled greatly due to the Scottish weather. I was looking for a quick permanent fix but I would be best to do it right and rebuff. Videos are so interesting. Thanks again.

[@John-of5sh]

Thank you Sir for pointing this video out to me! Getting the pressure pot welded up and as soon as it gets back I will be putting these tips to the test. I still have one major problem to overcome. My stand alone buffer runs almost 3500 RPM. I have a friend that is an electrician and I am pretty sure he will be able to help me get that down to a reasonable level. Worse comes to worse I will spring for a buffing system I can use on my Jet. Thanks so much for all your help! Really looking forward to the 6 step process!!!

[@ZacHiggins]

My pleasure John, hope it helps out. I've been doing pens this way for quite a while now, I hope that it works great for you. Great to hear you're about to jump into casting, I think you're going to have fun with it!!

[@robertevans6481]

Great information there Zac...see your coming up on 6000 subscribers...congrats

[@ZacHiggins]

Yeah, it's just about there!! It's pretty unbelievable!! I never would have guessed my little channel would come this far. Luckily, there are a whole lot of really supportive folks out here on KZbin!!

[@scottie1769]

Good info Zac. Speed kills lol especially when sanding. I'm back from some time away. Have Alumilite coming tomorrow and look forward to catching up on all the vids you have out now. Thanks for sharing Scott

[@ZacHiggins]

Hey Scott, glad you're back :) I'm doing live streaming too on Twitch every Wednesday at 2PM PST. I do Dunkin Junk live. I turn what we cast the week before, then we cast a random material that the audience chooses. Hope you can drop in, it's a hoot! www.twitch.tv/nvwoodwerks

[@scottie1769]

Zac Higgins I will certainly be tuning in for that. Thanks for letting me know Zac. Scott

[@TonatiuhMellado]

Thanks a lot for the info Zac, your very kind for share your knowledge. One cuestion, RPMs on the buffing system? Thanks again

[@Hoosierchef70]

Great video, Zac. A lot of wonderful information. ~Scott

[@ZacHiggins]

Thanks Scott!

[@Xyienced]

Awesome how you described why for everything!

[@ZacHiggins]

Thanks! I tried to share all the little discoveries I learned over the years, often times the 'why' is more important than the 'how'!

[@datelessconcepts1243]

Great tips on sanding!

[@topflight2358]

Zac, there is a crevice on the end of this piece of wood with stabilized cactus juice does that have to be cleaned out somehow before I can put it in the mold and pour colored resin in it.

[@bhalbert7271]

Thanks for the info can I finish sanding at 1200 with 3m wet/dry and use your method with buffing wheel followed by lathe and a finishing polish? I have yet to get a perfect finish using micro mesh and waisted months 😫 also have a stand alone buffing wheel but not sure if rpms are to much thanks for the videos

[@bradleyheathhaysable]

Hey Zac have you heard that cactus juice will damage the acrylic top of a vacuum chamber to the point where it’s not usable?

[@joeynuggetz]

I agree with slow speed. If lathe is spinning too fast then you can easily make circle marks in the blanks with the sandpaper. Usually people sand side to side and if the lathe is spinning slower its more effective. Too fast and the blank has already gone around multiple times unless you're moving your hand side to side just is fast. I'd like to see someone try that at 2000 RPM :-)

[@christinapiacenza7244]

Wow! Great video! You don’t wet sand? I leave 240 and start wet sanding at 400-2000 Man, it takes a long time for me to complete a piece and I’m doing small jewelry pieces. After I’m don’t with a batch I go back through with a light and magnifier and boom there’s scratches! Deep..I have to go all the way back through……🤯

[@terimorris9156]

Thanks for the tip on Abranet! Wow, that stuff is great and works well for me both dry and wet. One small piece lasts a long time. I found it in 800 and 1000 grit .... disk shaped, but who cares?

[@ZacHiggins]

Glad I could introduce you to it Teri, it's a game changer for sure! I buy it in rolls on Amazon, and I have links to it on my website: nvwoodwerks.com/tools/ Might come in handy next time you need to stock up

[@kandiecandelaria1423]

Good info

[@carlosberrios1021]

Nice video and thanks for the tips......I'm a beginner on this and I just want to ask...can I get away with out buffing? and just use all the steps of the 3m system....I don't have the buffing equipment yet. Thanks again.

[@ZacHiggins]

Hey Carlos, yeah you could do that or even try using a plastic polish as a last step. I find buffing gives me the most consistent results, but I've gone with those other methods before I found buffing wheels

[@carlosberrios1021]

@@ZacHiggins Thank you I'll do that and thanks for the swift respond.

[@Lostfriar1]

Cool video, lots of really good info!

[@ZacHiggins]

Thanks Tarry! I'm really glad that it was helpful :-)

[@pegcityn33chi3]

The sandpaper that you reversed direction on is call a draw polish at least that’s what we call it in the tool & Die world.

[@patricklorne1407]

Haven't missed a video yet.. they keep getting better..When beall buffing what is your speed? - Pat

[@ZacHiggins]

Hey Pat, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I never got a notice that you left a comment :( I am usually running the lathe at around 1000-1200 or so. You can play with that a little bit to find what speeds work best

[@mikehenry2596]

what spindle gauge do you turn with?

[@kandiecandelaria1423]

On the paper micro mesh do 1000 and the 2000 wet or dry?

[@sapphodesigns2377]

Great tips Zac.. thanks

[@ZacHiggins]

Hope it helps out. This method has been working really good for me for a while. I do a few different things on larger pieces, but this has been pretty fool proof for smaller things like pens, stoppers and such. Technically, it works fine for larger pieces too, but it takes longer by hand since you have more area to cover. I'm looking into starting to use power sanders on larger pieces, hoping it will make things go a little easier and maybe faster. Overall though, it will be a similar process. Just a matter of getting the surface totally flat, then go up through the grits till it's sparkling =D

[@jerryrussell9337]

Looking at getting a bench buffer and was wondering if you could tell me what rpm machine I need to be looking at. Thank you

[@jpilone]

How long do you wait to sand alumilite? I’m using clear slow. Demons after 4 hrs. Should I wait a full 24 hours before sanding?

[@BobAmarant]

Zac, Joel Taylor turned me into your channel. Great work here. I'm not clear if you wet or dry sand with your Zona paper? The Amazon sites say they both work.

[@ZacHiggins]

Hey Bob, glad you found my channel =D I wet sand with the Zona papers, you can wet sand with the Abranet too if you like, but I definitely would use water with the Zona papers

[@jaybird8621]

Hey Zac, thanks again for all your awesome videos. I dont know how many times Ive paused my work in the garage “to see if Zac addresses this screwup of mine” on my iPad. XD. Im one that got the MM set to 12000. So if I went all the way to 12000 and my blanks were reasonably clear of scratches, would then moving to a Beall buffing system wih Tripoli and White undo what I just did? Trying to figure out how to add that final “pop” after the 12000 MM? FWIW im mostly doing slow setting epoxy and a little Alumilite when I go enough change. No polyester Satanic stuff here as we discussed before

[@ZacHiggins]

The Tripoly wheel will be lower than the 12000 grit for sure, you could just buff with the White Diamond to get rid of any remaining hairline scratches. I basically stop using the polishing papers at around 1150 grit and then start with Tripoly. I prefer using the buffing wheels over wet sanding, just enjoy the buffing process more than sanding personally

[@donnymcarter]

Thanks for all the info!

[@ZacHiggins]

Glad to be able to share it Donny. I'm really happy with this method, so I was pretty excited to share the steps and thoughts I have on the process. Let me know if you try it out

[@bubbagant1]

Great video!

[@ZacHiggins]

Thanks Bubba! Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@blackemmons]

Hey Zac, when you master that skew chisel perfect finish thing, do a video. I need a lot of practice or a great teacher. :-) Thanks. JimE

[@ZacHiggins]

LOL Yeah, I still need a little more practice with the skew. I can get it to cut fairly well, but I just don't have the skill to leave a perfect cut for a finish pass! We'll have to work on it together and share notes :D

[@ronaldainaire7086]

Is there a video showing how to get a solid thin line while casting?

[@ZacHiggins]

No, closest thing I have is my ribbon video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6mTqpdsjLOXqcU

[@aberrant_one6651]

hi zac great video once again, was wondering if this process would work the same with a square blank and a nornal polishing mop attached to a drill or would i need to use ca glue on a sqaure piece then finish with something like renaisance wax, thanks

[@ZacHiggins]

Thanks! Yeah it should work for flat surfaces too. As long as you sand thoroughly and take out all the previous grit scratches with each successive grit, it shouldn't make any difference how you sand it

[@aberrant_one6651]

Zac Higgins ok thanks for the reply, will give it a go

[@Allannvsj]

Beautiful pen blank :)

[@ZacHiggins]

Yes it is!! I need to put together a video showcasing them soon!!

[@georgebrill3072]

Good information. Do you ever use CA to finish any of your pens. Thanks.

[@ZacHiggins]

Thanks George! Glad it was helpful for you. Yeah, I do use CA on pens when I want to seal material. For full acrylic blanks with nothing embedded in them, I just polish them up

[@georgebrill3072]

Thanks.

[@rjford]

Hi Zac, Great video. I have been looking for a better method yours may be it. Could you just confirm the 3M grits you use after the 240 and 400 Abernet I think you say you only use 2 but don't mention which grits they are. Thanks, Richard....

[@ZacHiggins]

I hope it works for you too Richard, it's really made life a lot easier for me once I started doing it this way. I use the first two grits, they are about 750 grit and 1150 grit. Green and Grey are the colors. I've found that as long as I can get it polished up to 1150 grit, buffing takes care of the rest

[@rjford]

Thanks Sac, I tried today using 240, 400,800,1000 3M Wet and Dry automotive paper. (because I had some) I wet sanded with soapy water at 750 to 1000 rpm and it worked like a charm I think I will try one more grit 2000 when I get some. Thanks again for sharing. Richard....

[@ZacHiggins]

That's great to hear Richard! I'm glad it worked for you too, and thanks for letting me know how it went

[@topflight2358]

Well don't see how to leave a picture

[@imaginegrove]

excellent-e'

[@ZacHiggins]

You'll have to let me know how it goes for you =D

[@55known]

Suggestion...don't play music while you're talking.

[@jpilone]

How long do you wait to sand alumilite? I’m using clear slow. Demons after 4 hrs. Should I wait a full 24 hours before sanding?