Plexi scratches

demogo

Well-known member

Donor 14 years: 2012-2025
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Messages
14,951
Reaction score
2,102
Location
Texas
Quick question for everyone.

The Star Trek game that I recently purchased has some scratches in the plexi. I have the full complement of Novus here but the guy who sold it to me said he went after it aggressively with Novus and it helped but definitely did not get all the scratches out.

I believe him. And it isn't good enough -- the scratches are annoying.

I can easily and cheaply get a new sheet of plexi cut to replace the original but that brings up 2 questions:

1) Novus failed. Is there a reasonable way of removing the scratches or is it pretty much game over?

2) The only thing keeping me from going and getting a new piece of plexi is that the current plexi has the cool "Authentic Sega" holographic sticker on it. I assume this could not be transplanted to the new plexi? Has anyone tried this?

Thanks in advance for any comments.
 
You can sand it and repolish to get rid of the scratches..
 
Thanks Prok.

Based on your info I searched around and found earlier threads talking about sanding the plexi.

Sounds like it boils down to weighing hours of sanding with progressively finer sandpaper and polishing with Novus vs not having the Sega sticker on new plexi and spending about $15 with essentially no effort.

It'd be a no-brainer if that sticker wasn't on the plexi. I'm in a lazy mood; maybe I can live w/o the sticker...
 
I've been thinking about getting some 2000grit sandpaper and hitting up my Tron shroud because the plexi is hella scratched, but I just don't have the guts to do it yet.

I've done it with DVDs and CDs, but instead of novus I've just used cars wax. But a little $5 DVD is different than my shroud... Meh, maybe I'll grow a pair one of these days.
 
Put the plexi on a flat table where you can leave it set up for a while. Get one of the inexpensive buffers, for example the Ryobi ZRRB101 on Amazon, factory reconditioned for $29.99. Then, whenever you are bored and not doing anything, work on polishing out the scratches. You can sand the really bad ones but probably will end up with a noticable valley. If you take the time to buff them out with the Novus it should be less noticable.

If you're like me, you'll get bored/annoyed after working on it for an hour or two so stop for the day and continue next time you have some time and feel like it. The plexi you have is basically free, and although you had to invest a little in a buffer and the Novus, now you know you can fix any scratches you come across, given a little time. It's a useful skill to know, and there is some satisfaction in bring back something you thought was trashed.
 
yeah i usually buff my plexi too.. but if you go too fast youll burn swirl marks into the plexi ruining it..

ive also heard of people sanding the scratches out and then "flame polishing" the plexi...

I have never tried it personally but if you have the touch it would be a quick way to make old plexi look like new.

I have some old bezels,i need to try the flame polishing and see how it goes... mabye ill put it on my to do list heh
 
Back
Top Bottom