Removing epoxy resin from perspex portlight?

[ChasB]

I was doing some repairs and a bit of resin mix spilt on to one of the portlights.

Any ideas on getting it off? And if I scratch the surface, on how to get it smooth again?

Cheers!

 

[30boat]

Gently heat the area with a hair dryer and then scrape the epoxy off with a softwood wedge.Then,if needed, polish with paint polishing compound.

 

[Ifraser]

It might chip off...

I'm assuming that you are talking about cured epoxy..? If so you may be lucky and find that its not adhered that well to the polycarb because it is smooth. You may find that if you take a sharp blade... chisel or similar and , very carefully, lay it against the window and edge the cutting edge under the epoxy that you may be able to just pick it off. If you can just get the sharp chisel under the edge of the epoxy and then lever upwards vary gently you might be lucky and see the epoxy blob come away from the surface. Epoxy is fantastic adhesive but doesn't stick that well to smooth surfaces. If that doesn't work then you've got quite a job on your hands and how to polish the portlight smooth again is not something that I have experience of.... good luck.. Iain

 

[Stemar]

For me, I think plan A would be to try and get it off with a single edged razor blade or new stanley knife blade. As others have said, it probably won't adhere too well to a smooth an probably slightly dirty surface. (In this context, dirty means it's been rained on once!)

Plan B would prbably involve a Dremel and a lot of care (and luck), followed by 1000 grade wet & dry and polish

 

[Poignard]

I was doing some repairs and a bit of resin mix spilt on to one of the portlights.

Any ideas on getting it off? And if I scratch the surface, on how to get it smooth again?

Cheers!

I remove epoxy from plastic mixing bowls, spatulas etc by pouring boiling water over it and peeling it off when it softens.

BUT, before you try it, I don't know what boiling water might do to Perspex so maybe you should "try on an inconspicuous area first"!

 

[ChasB]

Cheers guys. Plenty to go on there

...by pouring boiling water over it and peeling it off when it softens.

Hmm... as it happens it's a brand new portlight (so doubly irritating!) but that means i can experiment with one of the old ones.

Bit of a pain to remove and put back, but that's got to be easier than doing it in situ.

Will let you know how it goes.

 

[Bodach na mara]

"Plan B would prbably involve a Dremel and a lot of care"

A LOT of care will be needed using the lowest speed and very little pressure. I have melted the plastic trying to polish out scratches this way. Not to the extent of blobs of molten plastic flying about, but small scratches became larger gouges where the plastic caught and was removed on the buff.

 

[ianat182]

Re-polishing can be done with Brasso (or toothpaste), they used to use it to polish out blemishes in Buccaneer canopies at a previous employment ,but try it on the old one first. Are you using Lexan or Perspex polycarbonate? Lexan doesn't suffer from the crazing that Perspex does,and is used for bullet proofing, and the screening around ice-hockey arenas! Polish out blemishes by hand not a buffer on a drill

ianat182

 

[ChasB]

Brasso worked really well once for removing masses of dirt.

I bought a bottle of this stuff a while ago: http://tinyurl.com/y8mo5ww but I haven't yet put it properly to the test. I've also got one those electric mini hand drill/polishing kits with variable speed from Maplins . So, if I go easy, the two together will maybe remove any scratches I may incur. I'll be careful.

The boat's like a floating workshop...

 

[Bosun Higgs]

I was doing some repairs and a bit of resin mix spilt on to one of the portlights.

Any ideas on getting it off? And if I scratch the surface, on how to get it smooth again?

Cheers!

Best of luck. I got some on a favourite working sweatshirt 10 years ago, and its still there after repeated washings. Personally I would leave it as it is - you are likely to make it worse by trying to remove it.