We have covered polishing acrylic pieces multiple times on this blog. These parts provide some additional challenges. Specifically, there an ID on the part that is just about the right size for media to get completely stuck inside the part. Additionally, this part has been turned to the final shape and there are relatively deep grooves (it’s hard to see in the picture – left part) on the part that need to be smoothed out.
These challenges require that we use a two-step process with the first step being a traditional wet tumbling process. In this case, a Triangle Plastic Media was used to remove the machining lines while not gettin stuck inside the part. The result of this step was a smooth, matte surface finish ready for polishing.
The second step involved the traditional Hardwood Media and Hi-Glos Final Finishing Cream. The Peg shape is typically the recommended media; however, we used a Cube shape in this case as the Pegs could very easily get stuck and jammed inside the part. The result is a beautiful, high-gloss finish.