Thread: Dome polishing

All I ever do is use 2000 grit. What I do is put the lens under a running water faucet and commence to hand-sand 'till resistance is gone(I can feel rough patches). After that I use a Mothers powerball and some Plast-x. I did a set of Twinsonic domes this way. Turned out good. I'm fixin' to have to do a set of Aerodynic domes. CFD125 told me to polish them on the bar. Any other advice on polishing Aerodynic domes :?:

Originally Posted by Lightbarnut

All I ever do is use 2000 grit. What I do is put the lens under a running water faucet and commence to hand-sand 'till resistance is gone(I can feel rough patches). After that I use a Mothers powerball and some Plast-x. I did a set of Twinsonic domes this way. Turned out good. I'm fixin' to have to do a set of Aerodynic domes. CFD125 told me to polish them on the bar. Any other advice on polishing Aerodynic domes :?:

I did 2 Aerodynics. 1 by hand, the other one with buffer/sandpaper on a hand drill. I found it easy to do with the hand drill by leaving the domes on the bar. I found it easier to remove the domes from the bar if I wet-sanded them by hand. I feel I can have more control on the sanding this way. By hand, I rest them vertically on a towel and there you go. One hand on the lense top, the other on the sandpaper.
If your domes are not very scratched, it should not be too tedious to do. If they are scratched and faded bad, you are in for a long haul. I did every section independantely on top but I could go all the way on the bottom part. On the top of the Aerodynic lense, the lip of every section prevent the sandpaper to glide easily so until halfway down, I do them one by one. Further down, the lips seems to merge flat against one another so there is no ridge anymore; making it easier to sand. Good luck!

Polishing AeroDynic Lenses

Hey all. I finally managed to finish the polishing of my AeroDynic LAPD-style domes. I'll show you a before-after picture of the blue side.
As you can see, the shape they were in was quite rough. I started by removing the deeps scratches with very rough grits, like 220 and even some 80 in the beginning. I gradually went from there to 120, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and wet 2000. Results were good but not that great. I then tried the "3M polishing kit" from the start and did every 17 steps. I find the results better with hand-sanding then 3M kit.
Let me know what you think about it. They are not perfect but sure look very well. I don't think I could get them to look any better after all the long hours I put in them. Aero domes are a PITA for sure. But regarding the price for new ones, considering you have time on hand(I must've spent somewhere like 12-15 hours on the bar so far) , I'd try to restore them.
I hope it helps you out as many people asks for AeroDynic lenses restoration/polishing.

Before:



After:



Toon

I was very board and gutsy tonight. I decided to tackle some very bad domes tonight. My main interest was to make a short "how to" video because I needed a project to work on. I have never actually wet sanded before but give my self a 96% out of 100%.
I started with a 400 grit using pressure, moved on to 1000, 1500, 2000, then 2500. The final 2500 I did 1st with pressure on the paper then again with VERY light pressure. I kept a trickle of water in the dome as I was working and only sanding in circles (small and large). I then followed up with Plastx, all done by hand no tools of any type.

Before and after, not bad for a first try

Originally Posted by shott8283

experimented with the 3M headlight kit from the parts store. worked well. still left scratches, i think it needs a 1000 1500 grit stages and then the foam trizacs pad, then a compound and then a final polish. i like the size of the pad and it being drill mounted, way easier to control then my full size high speed buffer. uses less material too!

+1 I just used this on some severely worn lenses and they look almost as good as new. While I agree it needs a 100 and 1500 grit stage, it does a darn good job for the price and the little time required to do. Well worth the $15.

What kind of materials/paper is used for this?

Originally Posted by rwo978

What kind of materials/paper is used for this?

there's P500 and P800! really effective!

I've been polishing in one capacity or another for a long time, cars, metal, plastics. The domes have been a little interesting. Fed sigs are easy as pie, I assess them to determine where to start, but 500 if they're really clouded and rough surfaced, 1000 if they're not too bad, always wet, always with a smidgen of dish detergent to lubricate and to aid in floating away the particles. I then step down to 2000, 3000, and ~4000, I use a 1800 RPM 6" buffer with a spiral wound cotton on one side and a 3 wheel stack of loose cotton on the other. I apply a liquid micro cut compound and buff against wheel rotation for inital pass, apply a straight polish compound and buff with the wheel for the final pass.

I can turn out a hawk dome in under 15 minutes from screwed to "Is that brand new?". Aerodynics take a little longer, about 30-45 minutes.

The ones that piss me off is the code3 MX's with some hard coat on them. That stuff sucks to take off without mucking up the plastic in a hurry. I end up using a spiral wound wheel that I have glued aluminum dust to, I'm basically micro grinding that crap off, it makes refinishing those domes ALOT harder and longer.

I do alot of hawks and more and more MX's so I'm currently making a form for them so I can just do reflow on them and eliminate totally having to buff them, just stick em on the form, in the "oven" and let em cool, basically brand new.

Would someone be kind enough to post pictures of results from using the 3M Headlight restoration kit? I'd be particularly interested in TwinSonic domes and AeroDynic dome results using this product.

Originally Posted by kadetklapp

Would someone be kind enough to post pictures of results from using the 3M Headlight restoration kit? I'd be particularly interested in TwinSonic domes and AeroDynic dome results using this product.

I did the AeroDynic domes with the 3M HeadLight restore kit. Check my before/after results in the same thread, post #35.
Rough scratches were done by hand with VERY rought grit to "eat" through the plastic, then finishing using the exact steps of that 3M kit. It's not NOS-like, of course, but displays very well. I will probably continue polishing my lenses with finer grits ( I have up to 12,000). Results are better than the pictures shows.

OK, here's another AeroDynic dome restoration.
I did the following steps, a bit different from my previous ones but I think the results are better:

1- Left overs from the "3M headlight kit": P500 followed by P800 grits pads on a hand drill.
2- Wetsanding by hand with 1000, 1500, and 2000 grits sandpaper.
3 Using this kit:
Micro-Mesh Finishing Kit

which contains 6 grits: 2400, 3200, 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12,000 followed by the provided finishing compound.

Finally, I yet have to use some Meguiare's Plast-X and a powerball to finish the buffing.

Here's the results on one side. Yet to complete the other side:

Before:


After:


Side-to-side:




EDIT:

After completion, check this out for the finished results:
My restored NYPD AeroTwin 24RMVF-2Z

I completed the polishing using mother's Plast-X and a power-ball. I finished it with turtle wax platinum wax, to shine it a little bit more.

Wow! ... The result is very impressive! it seems NOS!
thank you for sharing

Cyril

Very impressive results, goin to have to give it a whirl.

So i've got a question.. after using the 3M kit which worked out pretty well, though i've got a few areas that need some more attention from the 800 grit process. I was wondering if there was anything against using an orbital sander for the process? I've got the exact same P800 grit 3M paper for it. It does not seem to be any different than the drill, in face seems easier

After using the 3M kit I found it gave pretty good results. I need to go back and do some touch up with the 800 grit part, but I've got a question. Does anyone see an issue with using an orbital sander over a drill? I've got the exact same p800 grit 3M sand paper that is in the kit for my orbital sander. Just seems like the orbital would be easier and maybe faster than the drill? Any thoughts?

I have a split Whelen Corporal dome that has quite a bit of glue residue inside as well as out. Any suggestions would be helpful. I will remove the mounting pins from the dome, so they won't be an issue. Is wet sanding possible in such a small space?
Thanks.
Dan

I´ve a clear center dome (Streethawk) and this is a quite yellowish.

I´m with wet-sanding a chance to get it clear again?

Originally Posted by Mars Light

I´ve a clear center dome (Streethawk) and this is a quite yellowish.

I´m with wet-sanding a chance to get it clear again?

Yes it will help

Anyone use Plexus on anything?
I've used it on some faded Excalibur lens' with favorable results. They didn't quite make them new, but it was waaay better then they were. Also took some yellowing off the Unity spotlight.

Originally Posted by Hoff

Anyone use Plexus on anything?
I've used it on some faded Excalibur lens' with favorable results. They didn't quite make them new, but it was waaay better then they were. Also took some yellowing off the Unity spotlight.

I always use my clay bar on them with soapy water. Then I take a polishing compound to them, then I use plexus to do a final polishing on them, they always have turned out looking brand new.

Originally Posted by Hoff

Anyone use Plexus on anything?
I've used it on some faded Excalibur lens' with favorable results. They didn't quite make them new, but it was waaay better then they were. Also took some yellowing off the Unity spotlight.

Love plexus .. use it all the time ... too bad its been discontinued... I think C3 lenses are the hardest to refurbish, they put some sorta protective coating on them .. when doing a restore I usually end up getting new lenses

Originally Posted by WPD8908

Love plexus .. use it all the time ... too bad its been discontinued... I think C3 lenses are the hardest to refurbish, they put some sorta protective coating on them .. when doing a restore I usually end up getting new lenses

It's discontinued? I got two cans of it from Adamson Industries 3 weeks ago...

Originally Posted by dmathieu

I have a split Whelen Corporal dome that has quite a bit of glue residue inside as well as out. Any suggestions would be helpful. I will remove the mounting pins from the dome, so they won't be an issue. Is wet sanding possible in such a small space?
Thanks.
Dan

Dan try Goo Gone to remove access Glue from dome. It will be tedious to do the small domes but its possible. Randy

Originally Posted by WPD8908

Love plexus .. use it all the time ... too bad its been discontinued... I think C3 lenses are the hardest to refurbish, they put some sorta protective coating on them .. when doing a restore I usually end up getting new lenses

I got a can off amazon not to long ago. I could get 3 or 4 different sizes also if I wanted to.

What about the Mothers Powerball Headlight Restoration kit... anyone ever use that? If so what were the results? I would assume its very similar to the 3M kit everyone likes on here.

here my results:
AeroDynic Politur.jpg

I started with 2000 grits and moved on to 2500. Polished with 3m Finesse-It. Final polishing with a paint cleaner.

Originally Posted by Mars Light

here my results:
AeroDynic Politur.jpg

I started with 2000 grits and moved on to 2500. Polished with 3m Finesse-It. Final polishing with a paint cleaner.

great result! this gives well

i have only used some Nue Finish brand polish and a dry rag. works just as good

I wanted to add some advice here.
I bought some polish in autozone. I forgot the name on the container because i threw it out. It was a small orange flat container like a larger wider toothpaste container. It may be call nu finish or swirl something it gets out swirls but it worked awesome on my lightbars....
its a small tube orange with black writing ,,12 bucks or something

Where is the best place to purchase the Novus at?