so you want new amber markers, but you're too cheap to buy new ones. refinish them like I did!
for this job you will need:
I spent roughly 5 min. on every marker sanding it down with each grit of sandpaper wrapped around the 3M block. 400 grit is the most important stage. 400 will remove all the rock chips your tired markers wear. it's fine to sand off the lettering, not like it matters. in my 2nd photo, you can see a deep rock chip the sandpaper didn't level off in the middle of the left marker. every pit you don't sand out flat will be evident in the end.
I did all the wet sanding in a 5 gallon bucket of warm soapy water. once you complete all the phases of wet sanding, you can then buff the markers two ways. 1. orbital buffer, or 2. by hand.
I used meguiars M105/M205 polish with a buffing pad mounted onto a griot's orbital buffer. I held the markers from the bottom while one hander-ing the buffer over the markers.
if you decide to do it by hand, use lots of elbow grease and clean cloths.
I polished the aluminum button screws the same way, but in a different fashion. for those who are crazy enough to polish 4 stupid screws, what I did was mount my drill in my vise, had the screws gripped by the drill chuck, spun the screws and polished them as if it was a ghetto lathe.
after all of it, I washed the markers off with dishwashing soap and coated them in wax to preserve their polished state. my DIY will work with any marker/clear plastic bit i.e headlight, tail light. any questions feel free to ask
before/after (before is after 2000 grit, don't have any photos of the markers in their original state)
for this job you will need:
- 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit 3M wet sandpaper
(buy the pricier 3M, it'll be worth it. I've made the mistake of using POS dollar store paper and the sheet was worn out and done for after 5 minutes. "the poor man pays twice!") - 3M foam sanding block (size of index card roughly, very flexy, can find in any auto parts store)
- buffing tripoli/jewlers rouge/metal polish whatever and a small buffing wheel (I used a dremel with a 1'' cotton sewn wheel)
- can of patience, took me 3 hours
I spent roughly 5 min. on every marker sanding it down with each grit of sandpaper wrapped around the 3M block. 400 grit is the most important stage. 400 will remove all the rock chips your tired markers wear. it's fine to sand off the lettering, not like it matters. in my 2nd photo, you can see a deep rock chip the sandpaper didn't level off in the middle of the left marker. every pit you don't sand out flat will be evident in the end.
I did all the wet sanding in a 5 gallon bucket of warm soapy water. once you complete all the phases of wet sanding, you can then buff the markers two ways. 1. orbital buffer, or 2. by hand.
I used meguiars M105/M205 polish with a buffing pad mounted onto a griot's orbital buffer. I held the markers from the bottom while one hander-ing the buffer over the markers.
if you decide to do it by hand, use lots of elbow grease and clean cloths.
I polished the aluminum button screws the same way, but in a different fashion. for those who are crazy enough to polish 4 stupid screws, what I did was mount my drill in my vise, had the screws gripped by the drill chuck, spun the screws and polished them as if it was a ghetto lathe.
after all of it, I washed the markers off with dishwashing soap and coated them in wax to preserve their polished state. my DIY will work with any marker/clear plastic bit i.e headlight, tail light. any questions feel free to ask
before/after (before is after 2000 grit, don't have any photos of the markers in their original state)
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