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Polishing Plexiglas and smoothing cutting edges

Polishing Plexiglas
This guide shows you how polishing Plexiglas in accordance with the instructions works and thereby how you can smooth raw cutting edges following sawing. The ROTEX enables you to polish matt Plexiglas, and you can use the polishing paste to achieve a clean result. The guide also explains the disadvantages of a sheepskin finish and shows alternatives for an antistatic surface.

    Description

    Acrylic glass – commonly known by the name Plexiglas – is becoming increasingly popular for modern interior finishings and DIY projects due to its wide range of applications and relative ease of machining with common power tools. This material has many significant advantages over "real" glass. The most important benefit is the break resistance, combined with very high optical quality and high light transmission. When machining acrylic glass, there are no particularly significant requirements for sawing cut-outs and shapes of any kinds. It is also possible to polish scratched Plexiglas and thereby correct any blemishes. 

    Cutting acrylic glass to size results in a rough-sawn, milky-white cutting edge. However, if the cutting edges are intended to be visible when finished, the surface often needs to be clear and gleaming. This guide shows you how you can use the ROTEX to polish acrylic glass cutting edges to a clear gleam. 

    Tools/accessories

    The following tools and accessories are recommended for use in this illustrated guide:

    Alternative tools

    The following tools and accessories are recommended as an alternative:

    Preparation/set-up

    • First fit the polishing pad onto the ROTEX. 

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      Fitting the polishing pad

    • Place the polishing felt onto the polishing pad.

      For reliable polishing of Plexiglas, the unnecessary extraction adapter is removed.

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      Polishing felt

    • Reconfigure the ROTEX to coarse sanding.

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      Coarse sanding

    Procedure

    • Conventional procedure: Complex, laborious and time-consuming sanding by hand

      Problem:

      •  Mechanical processing with angle grinders, risking overheating of the surface and loss of polishing paste.
      • The water absorption of Plexiglas increases as the temperature rises. The effects of temperatures over 40 °C can cause a milky-white discolouration in the acrylic.
      • This can be eliminated via air or oven drying, provided that the material was not subject to any significant excess strain.

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      Plexiglas

    • Using the ROTEX and appropriate system accessories, the problem outlined above can be solved and the cutting edge polished to a clear gleam using the following process:

      • First apply the polish to the polishing felt.

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      Applying polish

      • Now set the ROTEX to speed level 1 to spread the polishing paste onto the workpiece. To prevent the polishing paste flying off when the ROTEX is switched on, only start the device when it is already in contact with the surface to be polished.
      • Slowly increase the speed level to 4–6.
      • Push down gently on the ROTEX and polish the acrylic.
      • Then check the surface by wiping it down with the microfibre cloth and, if required, repeat the above process to carefully polish Plexiglas edges.

      Notes:
      Finishing with sheepskin should be avoided, as Plexiglas can become electrostatically charged and attract dust when rubbed. The static effect will continue until the surface is washed down or cleaned. If the surface becomes electrostatically charged even without the use of sheepskin, the Plexiglas can be wiped down with an antistatic plastic cleaner and care product after polishing.


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      Spreading the polishing paste

    1. Our illustrated guides and work results are documented working steps that we have performed in practice. They are individual examples and do not guarantee or promise that users will obtain the same results. The results will depend on the user's experience and skill, as well as the material being used. Illustrated guides do not replace any Festool operating manuals and/or safety instructions. Liability for ensuring that the information, instructions and applications are free from content defects and defects of title, in particular with regard to the absence of defects, correctness, freedom from third party intellectual property rights and copyrights, completeness and fitness for purpose, is excluded. Claims for damages made by the user, regardless of their legal basis, are excluded. These liability exclusions are not applicable if the damage was intentional or caused by gross negligence, or in cases of statutory liability.

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