I've heard this once long ago, but I can't find it anymore... when you cut/sand/scratch, etc. acrylic, you know how you have that ugly white mark? I heard you can get rid of it with a bit of heating, but I'm not really sure about that. can anyone attest to this method? like, say, sanding the corners and edges down on an acrylic sheet down so the whole thing looks all sleek and stuff, and then heating it little by little to clear up the sanding marks?
yes it is called flame polishing usually it is done with a hydrogen/oxygen torch it is very hot and you move quickly so the heat doesnt go to deep but you can do it with other torches but the result isnt as nice
considering the melting point of acrylic, i do not understand why anyone would use an oxyhydrogen torch(is there even such a thing) to try and flame polish edges. A butane micro torch(i have one somewhere, will take pic if neccessary)will do perfectly well. Btw CCM maybe u r thinking of oxyacetelene and that is far too hot also.
yuh, acetelen is really MAPP(chief ingredient is acetelene). You cant really buy oxyacetelen torches. What you buy is a set of regulators that let u make a mixture of propane-oxygen = oxypropane or acetelene-oxygen = oxyacetelene. I currently own a propane torch and a torch that will do MAPP or propane. The regulators, hoses, and torch head for the oxyacetelen torch is only $50 at lowes and i hope to get that soon. Im a pyromaniac in case u cant tell. I made napalm recently, working on thermite.
the reason for using the hydrogen/oxy torch is because it is so hot and you move it so quickly you only heat the surface and polish it. butane isnt as hot and you have to go slower hence you have more heat going deeper and you get bubbles if it isnt done properly if you want to see what hydrogen/oxy polishing looks like go to www.c3case.com that is all we use to flame polish our cases.
better than propane or butane yes it is hotter and you dont need alot of flame . you are not going to torch it just lightly pass the area to polish do it several times if needed but make sure the acrylic doesnt get to hot. but yes to answer your question hotter is better you can move quicker to keep the heat from going deep into the acrylic
did some testing on this topic... Took a scrap piece of acryllic and tested it out ion the edges.. it worked pretty well.. i got almost no bubbles.. ant the few ones were wery small... but it is possible to get the edges reslly nice... but it is a good idea to find some steel wool (??) and smoothen the edges first.. so that less smoothing with the torch is neccesary... i'll post pics as soon as my FTP gets operative again...
ok.. it took over a month.. but here are the pics.. at last! Not the best pics i have taken.. (hey.. it was some of the first pics i took with the digicam! ) but you get the idea... not too bad as a test...
I used a propane torch.. I think it's a primus thing.. but i can't remember what nozzle (??) i used... I DID have the original packaging for them.. but it seems to be gone.. but i'll look for it.. if i remember right it was a point flame(???) (spissbrenner) wich burns about 50 to 60 g/h... Not sure though... The trick is to use the hottest pont of the flame.. (wich is actually after the flame you can see.. (where all the gas have burned up and produced hot air)) and go FAST a few times... I also got a cool effect with etching the acryllic wery roughly with the dremel (used one of those bits with a small "ball" on the tip. Cant remember name or number.. ) then flamepolishing... This gives a rough but crystal clear effect.. I discovered another thing aswell.. when doing this.. heat the entire sheet a bit first.. if you heat only in the middle the acryllic could crack... i figured that out the hard way..
BTW: i need a new mousepad.. i HATE that one.. it's ugly and worn out ( ).. Nice for the pics though.. colors and stuff..
