How do you polish scratches out of plexiglass?

It all depends on how deep the scratches are, if they are very light like paint swirls, you can get by with Novus.

If on the other hand they are deep enough to catch a fingernail on, you've got your work cut out for you. For deep scratches like someone taking a pocket knife to an Asteroids bezel, I'll use 800 grit sandpaper, then follow that up with 1000 or 1200, then follow that up with Novus.

When you initially begin sanding it may seem a little scary as the plastic will look like frosted glass, keep going until all traces of the deep scratch are gone, then focus on polishing the plastic through progressive grits.

You can get those fine grit papers in the automotive dept. at Wal-Mart.
 
When I did my Turbo bezel, I even went as high as 2500 and 3000 in addition to Novus. No matter what you do, it will never be perfect, but you can make it better.
 
It all depends on how deep the scratches are, if they are very light like paint swirls, you can get by with Novus.

If on the other hand they are deep enough to catch a fingernail on, you've got your work cut out for you. For deep scratches like someone taking a pocket knife to an Asteroids bezel, I'll use 800 grit sandpaper, then follow that up with 1000 or 1200, then follow that up with Novus.

When you initially begin sanding it may seem a little scary as the plastic will look like frosted glass, keep going until all traces of the deep scratch are gone, then focus on polishing the plastic through progressive grits.

You can get those fine grit papers in the automotive dept. at Wal-Mart.

Yes, the technique Mike mentioned works really well!

SIScratchPre.jpg
SIScratchFix.jpg
 
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Yes, the technique Mike mentioned works really well!

The right side of the 2nd picture looks kind of blurry -- is that a focus issue with the picture or was the plexi no longer clear? Just curious.
 
The right side of the 2nd picture looks kind of blurry -- is that a focus issue with the picture or was the plexi no longer clear? Just curious.

Depth-of-field/focus issue. Also the purple blob is a reflection or something :)
 
I start with 600 grit, 1000, 2000, if you can find it 3000. Then polish it with Novus, or a similar plastic polish.

Works great on plastic headlights, dash intrument cluster lenses, tail lights, etc..
 
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