How to Buff Plastic

Plastic Monkeys

If there is one way to bring life back to your plastic, it is to buff it. Buffing plastic is almost mystical in the way that it transforms an old, scratched up piece of plastic into something that looks like it just rolled off the assembly line. Buffing is also an important step in transforming a rough plastic cut into a refined and polished keepsake. Best of all, it can be very easy to buff plastic, as long as you have a few basic tools. If you are interested in working with plastics, or just want to make a plastic item look new again, keep reading to learn how to buff plastic.

Things You'll Need

• Metal file
• Sandpaper
• Buffing wheel

Instructions

1. Use a metal file to grind down any edges that are extremely rough or jagged. This is mostly useful if you are making a new plastic item from scratch, or if you are trying to salvage a piece of plastic that has a broken edge. Do not use a fingernail file for this job. You need to use a real steel file, like the ones used in machine shops for filing metal. You will not get a perfectly smooth edge from the file, but you should at least be able to get the edge even so that there are no particularly jagged areas.

2. Sand the surface with 120-Grit Sandpaper. You will need three different grit levels of sandpaper. Grit refers to the number of particles per square inch. The higher the grit, that is, the more particles, the finer and less abrasive the sandpaper is. Start with 120-Grit sandpaper to do your rough smoothing, mostly to lighten any marks left by the file.

3. Use 220-240-Grit fine sandpaper to refine the sanding. The 220-240-Grit sandpaper will be used to do most of the smoothing. You should begin to notice that scratches are close to disappearing. Many of the smaller scratches will even disappear entirely by the time you finish this step.

4. Finish the sanding off with an extra fine sandpaper. Use 400-600-Grit extra fine sandpaper for final sanding. This should be enough to remove any fine scratches, and to all but take away the remnant of the excessively deep scratches. The plastic will be very smooth by the time you finish with the 600-Grit sandpaper. There will be very few scratches, and they will hardly be noticeable.

5. Buff the plastic. Use a buffing wheel to do all of the final buffing and polishing of the plastic. There are basically two types of buffing wheels that you can use: stationary and hand-held. The hand-held buffing wheel works best for buffing large surfaces or heavy pieces of plastic. The stationary wheel works best when you need to buff a piece of plastic that is small enough to hold in your hand. The buffing wheel is a small wheel covered in soft cloth that will spin very fast, allowing the cloth to buff and polish the plastic. The buffing wheel will also remove any fine, light scratches that remain on the plastic, but not any large ones.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do not have access to a buffing wheel, you can buy a buffer attachment for your electric drill that will work just as well.