Looking for Advice on polishing an Airplane Windshield

M

mike01

New member
My dad just bought a 1958 Cessna 172 a couple months ago. The plane is overall in pretty good shape, especially considering the age. However, one thing that is bothers me is that when flying into the sun, visibility is pretty poor because the windshield is full of swirls causing a lot of glare. My dad has used plexus, which I know has fillers in it, which seems to help a lot. I would like to help him repair, rather than cover up the swirls, but I would like some advice because I definitely do not want to cause more damage than is already there. I believe the windshield is made of acrylic (plexiglass). I have not worked with acrylic before, but I was thinking of starting out with Plastx using a PC. What type of pad/speed would work best with this (I have the Sonus Sfx 6" pad and polish kit). If the plastx does not do the trick (which I'm hoping will, since the damage does not look to be too bad) I'm assuming the surface would have to be wetsanded to remove the damage. If so, what grit should I start with? Thanks for all the help!
 
Ive done some work on motorcylcle fareings with PlastX. Although the results were marginal, Im going to give Optimum Polish a shot. I spoke with Optimum about it and they conveyed to me I was on the right track. Ive done a little wetsanding also, which the PlastX was able to remove the marring with a PC and polishing pad. I just need a little more bite, hence the effort with Opt Pol.
 
at work we use prist to clean our aircraft windshields... Im not too sure if it would do anything for swirls though. You could probably get a replacement windshield for a descent price. 172's are so common, parts are fairly cheap (for air planes anyways)
 
Have you ever thought about a polishing kit for acrylic aquariums? I once bought a 180 gallon tank that was so yellowed and scratched that you could barely see through it, but I got an awesome deal and wanted a 4th tank for my cichlids...LOL anyways, it takes a buttload of time but the results are perfect!



Couldn't you just use a regular polish to accomplish this? I know next time I need to restore a tank I'm taking my full line of Poorboy's to it, should be so much faster I would hope..



Jeremy
 
jgriesinger said:
Have you ever thought about a polishing kit for acrylic aquariums? I once bought a 180 gallon tank that was so yellowed and scratched that you could barely see through it, but I got an awesome deal and wanted a 4th tank for my cichlids...LOL anyways, it takes a buttload of time but the results are perfect!



Couldn't you just use a regular polish to accomplish this? I know next time I need to restore a tank I'm taking my full line of Poorboy's to it, should be so much faster I would hope..



Jeremy
Click to expand...





Novus Polish works Fantastic on Acrylic Aquariums, I've used it many times on large expensive saltwater reef tanks...If the Airplane windshields are made of Acrylic or Lexan, Novus Polish should work like a charm....
 
I'm not sure if it is the original, but my dad says it is actually in pretty good condition compared to a lot of planes he has seen. I think I'm going to start with the plastx and see where that gets me. Thanks for the tip on Novus, I may look into that. As far as what was said with the optimum polish, could something like sfx-2 do a similar job? Thanks again for all the help.
 
Plexus three part polish/cleaner work great...I bought it off ebay

Also there was a Worksite band for cleaning lightbars
 
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