How to restore the sheen of the plastic prep tables?????


 
J

JimV

TVWBB All-Star
Sooooo I have always been able to get these tables clean....thats not my problem. What I am asking about is what to do when we come across the sun bleached prep tables. I can get them clean with our standard methods but sometimes even when clean if they are bleached out they can look splotchy. My instinct is to spray then with a clear coat....but I havent tried that yet. I just spray them with a bunch of 303 Aerospace and thats as good as I can get them to look. Does anyone have a trick to bring back the sun bleached prep tables to look pretty darn good?
 
Yep, sand them down. Start with a coarser grade and work down to finer until the thermoset table is nice and "SMOOTH" feeling. Then put the aerospace 303 on them and they will look brand new.
 
Start with 100 and work down to 220 should be fine. I also suggest an orbital sander for the flat areas and you can hand sand the curves and edges. If they are real bad, you can start with 60 grit.
 
Awesome info. I did not know you could sand them without damaging them. Especially using a an orbital sander.
Thanks for the tip.
 
I have done it to several of my rehabs. I did it to the one I am currently working on. It works great.
 
Thanks Bruce. I have sanded them to clean em up but never focused on taking them to perfect smooth...............easy peezy........I will get these all cleaned up......brother in law is picking up this ole blue unit on Friday....gotta get er finished!
 
Jim, truth be told, I don't take them down to perfect smooth either. But I probably should. It sure cleans them up though and makes them look nice.
 
I don't have thermoset tables any more, but would you say then that since you can sand them that they do not have any kind of factory topcoat?

If so, you can just increase the grit and get them as smooth as you want. I'm surprised that 220 is sufficient, but then again I've never done it before. I would have thought you would want to get up to at least 800 or 1000 grit, but again that is with no knowledge or experience.
 
When I go about sanding them , if they did have a top coat, it is gone. They are usually rough feeling on top. You could go all the way down to a much finer grit for the final sanding, but I don't think it is necessary. Maybe for a keeper/special grill.
I was skeptical about sanding them until I did one, but you can easily sand out gouges and scratches and it doesn't seem like there is any real "grain" to the thermoset, so it doesn't show sanding marks like wood or other materials tend to do.
 
Ya I have sanded several as my little trick to clean stains off of them.....you are essentially sanding a layer of plastic off of them just like when u restore your headlights on your car. But Bruce has given me the power to finish them like a piece of wood now. You know they are really bad when u cant drag a micro fiber rag across them. Sorry Bruce.....I know u wanted to call them Thermosets........I finally got you to sink down to my level then Sam drops the Thermoset on us :) One of these days I will remember that......but very few would know what a Thermoset table was anyway.
 
Ha....yep.......you cant even talk it into pulling across that table.......its like a kid having a melt down......it just sits down and wont move :)
 
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