plexi edge finishing

[rwarre]

Just made the big cut on my 7A slider. I would like to hear what works best for finishing the edges of the plexi. Some have said use a small belt sander. What is considered a small belt sander. I have a sander with a 21" belt and that is a little heavy in my opinon. Some have used a die grinder with a flat sanding disc. How are the results with that tool? Thanks

 

[Brantel]

I used a palm sander "jitterbug" or whatever you want to call it with progressively finer and finer grit paper. Worked like a charm. You can use a file to get the rough shape then switch to the sander. For making longer lines straight, the belt sander would be good or use some 40-60 grit glued to a long straight board or sanding bar.

 

[Greg Arehart]

Once I had the appropriate shape, I used a wood block with 80 grit (or something like that) to knock off any of the really rough stuff, then went to 120 or 150 on a block. Final sand was using strips of 150 like the shoe-shine guy does on shoes but over the edges of the cuts to round them off slightly (took a lot of strips as the 150 grit tends to clog up pretty fast and becomes ineffective).

Congratulations on no cracks...

greg

 

[g zero]

plexi edge finish

can use a torch (propane ,map,o2/acedalene.etc..) just move flame over edge at an even pace and it gives a polished look .

 

[noelf]

I cracked my first canopy (tip-up) with only 4 screw holes to go, so on the second canopy I got real A... ah picky. For all edge finishing, I started with 80 grit, and progressively used finer and finer grits, finishing with 2000 grit. In effect, I polished the edges. The end result was an edge finish that I allowed me look from the top edge of the tip-up, through the edge cut and see my fingers at the very front edge of the plexi. I'm not talk'n looking through the glass as if you were looking outside and seeing something inside, I'm talking about looking into the edge and seeing objects on the far side of the canopy, at the edge thickness. Kind of like a fiber optic bore scope.

Once the bulk of the edge roughness was removed with the 80 grit, I used the canopy-scraper-bevel-tool from Avery (I believe it was Avery). This rounded the edges nicely and uniformly and prepaired the edges for the finer grit sanding. Start to finish took about 4 hours.

 

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Just use a palm sander (I used the random-orbit variety). It's a little easier to control and safer than a belt sander.

Also, there's absolutely no reason to sand with anything finer than 400 grit, unless you just like the look of a more polished edge.

Congrats on getting that cut out of the way.

 

[rwarre]

thanks for the info

I did the cut in about 85 degree temp. Used a dremel with metal cutting disc. Did it slow like everyone suggested. Great website. Thanks

 

[sprucemoose]

can use a torch (propane ,map,o2/acedalene.etc..) just move flame over edge at an even pace and it gives a polished look .

Yikes! Don't do this! Flaming the edges has a seductive, easy appeal to it, but is a known way to crack a canopy. Plenty of material in the various archives, back issues of RVator etc. on the subject. It might work on non-airplane applications, but with the stress, thermal expansion/ contraction etc. you are asking for trouble.

Sandpaper and elbow grease is the way to go.

 

[CESSNADON]

You can purchase a plexiglas edge finishing file from, I believe, MacmasterCarr for smoothing the edges of plexiglas. You still need to do a final finish with sandpaper.

 

[dhall_polo]

I liked the belt sander for refining/straightening any cut.
For final polish, I used a block with wet/dry sandpaper, keeping the paper wet.

 

[Brantel]

Don't do this, most have reported as a guaranteed crack later once flying.......

can use a torch (propane ,map,o2/acedalene.etc..) just move flame over edge at an even pace and it gives a polished look .

 

[Rick6a]

Just made the big cut on my 7A slider. I would like to hear what works best for finishing the edges of the plexi......

I've finished Plexiglas many ways including the use of belt sanders, sanding blocks etc. but by far the easiest and quickest for me is using this Plexiglas scraper. By drawing it across the Plexiglas, you automatically generate a consistent edge leaving a highly polished surface that requires little to no additional finish work and generates no dust in the process.
http://www.averytools.com/p-410-plexiglass-edge-scraper.aspx

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[az_gila]

Try it with Wet-n-Dry...

...sandpaper when you get to the finer grades (100 and less) Lots of water will get rid of the slurry you make and the paper seems easier to sand with.

Break the edges as you sand, a well machined plexi edge will easily draw blood...