Ian Hill - K8MM wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I have a couple of SB-200's that have scratches in the meter lenses.
> Does anyone know of a good way to polish them AND have them remain clear
> and micro-scratch free?
>
I see you've received a wide variety of procedures. Being a pilot and
aircraft owner, I regularly get to clean some large and fairly expensive
pieces of plastic. IOW, The windshields and side windows on airplanes.
Those same procedures should work well on meter faces. The windshield
on my *old* Beech Debonair is a single piece of tinted, 1/2" thick
plastic which regularly gets a good dose of bugs and dust. Micro
scratches can be a real pain in the backside when looking through one of
those wind shields particularly when the sun is also ahead.
Most of us use good old fashioned paper towels. Yup! that's what I
said, but not without a caveat. You do use care when cleaning a bug and
dirt coated, $8,000 to $12,000 dollar windshield. The towels have to
be clean (and wet). We start by just rinsing the plastic off, then
using a good, mild dish washing detergent (or plastic cleaner). Done in
the wrong order or carelessly can be very expensive as well as creating
safety hazards. There are larger and better paper towels that are made
just for that purpose, but for cleaning and polishing a meter face you
don't need one that is 2' on a side. Damp, paper shop towels (the
ones that come in a big box) work very well with the proper cleaner.
Those towels are thick and soft.
Of course a thick, soft cotton or microfiber towel is great but costs a
bit more than what most of us use. Besides, once we clean a windshield,
the towel goes in the trash.
The cleaner comes in (IIRC) 3 grades. There is a coarse, fine, and just
a polish. After using the soap and window cleaner we normally use the
find polishes unless the window is really bad and has scratches you can
feel with a finger nail. This is strictly hand work with no power tools
allowed on the windshields as they are likely to create irregularities,
or even burns into the plastic. The windshield on mine is over 15 years
old with no noticeable scratches.
BTW, I just finished reconditioning a group of meter faces using the
same methods and they worked. Unlike coatings that age the finish is
permanent, or it is until the meter face gets scratched again.
73
Roger (K8RI)
> Ian - K8MM
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