What's your secret ?

[MyLilMule]

The question was "Any way to polish these up or is it a waste of time"

Therefore, it was a question about polishing the lenses (Crystals), not replacing them.

Sure, possible to replace them, but polishing them will save time hunting down new crystals, time removing the old ones and fitting replacements as well as money.

Waste.Of.Time.

 

[Janderso]

I just went up and bought a gallon of mineral spirits for this latest adventure . I'm going to put a lot of stuff onto the bay . Wish me luck .

Good luck

 

[Janderso]

Waste.Of.Time.

deleted

 

[GrifterGuru]

Waste.Of.Time.

That depends on a number of factors.

 

[GrifterGuru]

I don’t know, we use to polish used car lenses. It works for a while.

That is generally down to UV, Pollution and other factors. Dial Indicator lense (Crystals) by comparison are a different thing given the use case.

 

[MyLilMule]

I don’t know, we use to polish used car lenses. It works for a while.

Polishing an $1,800 headlight lens is a bit different than replacing a $1.00 crystal.

But, hey, the OP asked what my secret was, I gave MY answer, then he proceeded to argue with me that I was somehow wrong in my opinion. Whatever.

You're Wrong,...

I do a lot of searches for information for my projects as well as ask a thousand questions. In my research so far I've found a few responses that have mistakes, or are just wrong but were not challenged by anyone. I don't want to be a douchebag by quoting mistaken posts and correcting them when...

www.hobby-machinist.com

 

[Tubby]

Tooth paste and a soft rag. Go easy.

 

[MikeInOr]

So I have Flitz... My son swears by Novus, as he was making and selling some Formula 1 acrylic etched / lit displays. I don't know if he still does, but he said it's amazing.

edit: BTW you can also try Colgate toothpaste (white) not the other stuff... it does clear up some lenses pretty well.

Your son knows what he is talking about. Novus is the polish to use for acrylic and other plastics. I have polished up a couple of acrylic aquariums using Novus. For an indicator lens a bottle of Novus #2 (fine scratch remover) should be all you need. For a heavily scratched aquarium or heavily scratched headlights I start with 800, 1200 and 2000 grit wet dry sandpaper. Then Novus #3 heavy scratch remover then Novus #2 fine scratch remover.

$13 for the small bottle Novus kit would probably take care of a few dozen dial indicator lenses:

Amazon.com : novus polish

 

[SouthernChap]

Waste.Of.Time.

I'm guessing your time is limited (by circumstance or simply your preference in the use of your time) and if you were asking the question to yourself, the answer would be "Eh waste of my time", and that's an entirely valid answer to you asking the question to yourself.

However, this site seems to me, to be predicated on the concept that our posts on threads like this really ought to be a useful resource to the OP and to anybody else reading the thread.

So I reckon it's more helpful to consider that concept before we reply and if the post we were thinking of replying with doesn't offer a particularly useful resource then maybe not bother putting up that particular post.

Okay, this is the internet and on the internet, people do seem to like putting up content that only serves to let those people see their self-expression published, rather than add value, so eh, it's hardly a war-crime (we've all done it, none of us are innocent ) and, as a counterpoint to the argument for 'disciplined self censorship' above, sometimes the back and forth of exchanging opinions can lead to useful information emerging.

But that emergence of useful information will only happen if the two people involved in the back and forth are more interested in teasing out the useful information, rather than winning an argument on the internet. The former requiring not pithy terse replies, but a decent explanation of the competing positions those two people are arguing for.

Oh and I'm barely the boss of me, let alone anybody else so take from it what you feel like taking.

 

[SouthernChap]

Polywatch, Novus, Brasso or even toothpaste. Used them all at some point in the past and they've all been varyingly successful depending on the plastic involved and the depth of scratching.

It's like all use of abrasives, I guess; you have to deal with the depth of scratch from the last 'operation' (the initial polishing having to deal with the unintended 'operations' that led to having to polish in the first place) before you move on to the next, finer grade.

Which approach you take, whether you bother at all is and how much time you spend before saying "Eh good enough for government work" is down to how much time you have, how good you want the finish to be and whether you woke up in a good mood on the day!

As @MyLilMule suggests, just replacing the 'glass' might be worth considering depending on the costs involved and how much value your ebay sales might garner. If you've got something like some rare or super desirable TESA or Interrapid DTI that measures at a few microns level of resolution, it might be worth it. If it's just 'yer basic' old tatty DTI then well, a bit of elbow grease and a polish might be a better use of resource.

My personal and worth-as-much-as-the-time-I-spent-typing-my-opinion-out opinion would be that using the various grades of Novus is probably the best, most flexible approach if you want to put the effort in.