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Removing scratches from clear instrument plastic

dude

Apr 15, 2014
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A couple of weeks a ago I accidentally put a great big deep scratch onto my 187's LCD glass with a screwdriver. I'm not normally that much of a klutz but hey I repair more than I wreck. I wasn't too worried as I knew I could get it out but it's still been annoying the hell out of looking at it as it cast a big shadow onto the LCD. Finally got the chance to do it this morning.
My method for polishing things like that is a soft cotton cloth and a small amount of Brasso. Polish in a circular motion and make sure to mask the edges with tape (I use scotch tape) as you don't want Brasso running into any crevices as you'll have a hell of a time getting it out later.
For restoring old instrument dials etc, that's how I do it and with some elbow grease you can get them looking like new.
Here's the 187, anything you see on it is just lint from the cotton cloth.
 

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Jagtech

Feb 22, 2014
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Is that the actual LCD glass that's scratched, or is there a clear plastic protective face in front of it? IIRC, my 77 has a separate plastic face, which you can polish with some rouge and a buffing wheel.
 

dude

Apr 15, 2014
35
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Apr 15, 2014
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The plastic face, LCD sits under that. Yes rouge is also good although never tried it on plastic, I know its good for giving steel a mirror finish as a final polish, either in paste form or just plain old iron oxide. There is also pumice powder, talcum, graphite, even cigarette ash, depends what you're doing. I don't use a buffing wheel on instruments myself as its very easy to overdo it. That 77 is a great meter :cool:
 

davenn

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Sep 5, 2009
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just clarify ... you removed the scratch from a plastic face ? not a glass one as mentioned in your first post ?
 

dude

Apr 15, 2014
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yep, the clear plastic face, uppermost. sorry about that.
 

davenn

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cool :)

do you have a before pic so we can see the initial damage ?

D
 

dude

Apr 15, 2014
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No as it occurred to me to post this up only after I finished. You can remove some pretty deep scratches with this method, its just a matter of being patient. It took me about 40 minutes on this one. Just listen to some music and noodle away.
 

Morgan

Jun 22, 2014
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Jun 22, 2014
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Meguires Plast-X is also very good for removing scratches from plastic, so is toothpaste!
 

davenn

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Meguires Plast-X <--- never heard of that ?

Toothpaste, yes a good gentle cleaning abrasive :)

D
 

davenn

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Sep 5, 2009
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ahhh Ok maybe native to your country ??

where are you from ? .... put it in your profile

don't want street addy LOL just country will do

D
 
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