# Best Use Of Megs PlastX



## Guest (Mar 13, 2011)

Hi Mike,

Can you give me a pointer on the best way to use the above?

Is it possible to use it with DA for instance? If so what pad and speeds?

Thanks


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Works great by hand or with a DA machine... 

What are you working on? Rigid plastic or flexible plastic like convertible top windows. Or are you trying to remove scratches out of the gauges on the dash or your car or the face of a stereo?


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2011)

Its the dash, and it has to stay in the car so have to work around a few things.

Have a PC and a few pads, so just rough guide on the DA (which pad, speeds etc) :thumb:


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

matt1263 said:


> Its the dash, and it has to stay in the car so have to work around a few things.
> 
> Have a PC and a few pads, so just rough guide on the DA (which pad, speeds etc) :thumb:


The reason I asked was because working on small, hard to reach areas, especially when it's visual defects on clear plastics, gets kind of complicated.

The plastic used for lens faces on gauges can either be easy to work on or real hard, so it's a good idea to do some testing first.

I'm going to copy and paste something I typed to another thread as it relates to working by hand, then I'll address using a PC

This was about working on clearcoated, wood grain trim inside of a GM Tahoe...












> The problem with working small trim pieces like you're talking about is that it's difficult to use a machine to work on these areas and trying to do so by hand requires skill and experience.
> 
> If you work by hand, then you need to be able to have enough room to move your hand back and forth with speed in a "polishing" action.
> 
> ...


And this,



> *Removing defects by hand comes down to,*
> 
> How to move your hand
> How much pressure to apply
> ...


As it related to you machine polishing plastic inside your car on your dash using a Porter Cable, first question is... can you get a small spot repair pad, (while it's attached to your Porter Cable), against the plastic?

Usually the steering wheel and levers on the column are in the way.

Regardless, if you can then prime the pad with the PlastX and give it a try.

If it were me, I would test the PlastX by hand using a small piece of clean foam, like a piece of foam from a clean, foam wax applicator pad and test to see if rubbing some PlastX to a small area looks good, if not, then chances are rubbing to a large area won't look good and firing up your PC and trying to machine polish the plastic might not look good and I don't want to be responsible for replacing the plastic on the gauges inside your car.

A lot of your success comes down to how polishable the plastic is and that's an unknown variable until you do some testing.

*Acrylic (Plexiglas) or Polycarbonate (Lexan)*
In the old days the common "clear" plastic was called Plexiglas, today, the commonly used plastics are some type Lexan Lexan materials are *MUCH HARDER* than Plexiglas and thus much harder for the average person to work defects out of without leaving defects behind at the same time.

Most plastic for gauges on instrument panels is Lexan.

This why it's important to do some testing first as I find most people doing this type of work have really high expectations while not really aware of how difficult working on some plastics can be.

Remember, what you're trying to do when you remove *"Below Surface Defects"*, like swirls and scratches, is you're trying to abrade the surface until it's level with the lowest depths of the defects you're trying to remove AND not leaving any of your own scratches behind in the process.

*Free Floating Spindle Assembly*
If you do take it upon yourself to try to machine polish your gauge lenses, then in order to remove material you want the pad rotating, not just vibrating, this can be kind of tricky to do because the PC uses a Free Floating Spindle Assembly and it's pretty easy to stop the pad from rotating. So you're going to need to be on the high speed settings, like 5-6 and probably a small diameter pad.

So however you decide to proceed, I would suggest doing some testing first, especially if whatever it is you're working on is important to you...


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## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

matt1263 said:


> Its the dash, and it has to stay in the car so have to work around a few things.
> 
> Have a PC and a few pads, so just rough guide on the DA (which pad, speeds etc) :thumb:


I would test a polishing pad with the PlastX...


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

Not that I'm the initial poster Mike... but thank you very much (and to the OP!) - I need to give this a go soon, and by hand too! I mistakenly used a cheap microfibre on my LDC display screen cover and dials on my new car (before being enlightened to the error of my ways).

I was tempted to cut a German applicator in half, and then one of the halves into further smaller pieces (to leave 1/2, 1/4 then 2/8th's) to give me a set of tight area applicators. :thumb:

Been really enjoying your contributions to the site :thumb:


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