Eyeguards for Sears Grinder

[SketchWB]

Hello folks. I have an old Sears grinder that the eye guards are foggy and covered with paint. I received the grinder this way so I’m not sure how it happened. I believe they are acrylic. What is the best approach I can take to clean and polish these?

 

[Robby321]

Cut new ones out of plexiglass

 

[Asport]

Soak them in purple power for 24 hours and then use a car headlight lens polish

 

[Davefr]

I've never had much luck with plastic polish for major restoration. Just buy these and make/modify a bracket to fit your machine.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Dayton-Eye-S...ment-5PZP2/1567856622?iid=252680535670&chn=ps

 

[PETE14]

If you're lucky, you might be able to pop some / most / all of the paint off by carefully pushing on it with your fingernail or maybe a small piece of wood like a popsicle stick or chopstick from your favorite oriental resturant. Then wet sand in stages with progressively finer and finer sandpaper and finish up with a plastic polish. With enough patience they should be able to be brought back to nearly new. In theory at least.

 

[SketchWB]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I’m going to try wet sanding and polishing them and if that doesn’t work, I’ll buy those ones you listed on eBay Dave

 

[hsvtoolfool]

I believe they are acrylic.

Maybe, but probably not. We tend to call any clear plastic "acrylic' but it could many different types.

For impact protection, get some scrap polycarbonate off Ebay or at local plastics companies. You can get scraps for pennies on the dollar. Brand names are "Lexan" and "Makrolon" plus a few others. This stuff is used to make passenger jet windows, jet fighter domes, race car windows, and it's the main ingredient in most bullet-resistant windows...

Lexan or Makrolon

I avoid using acrylic (PMMA) for impact protection. Cheap, "extruded" acrylic sheet found at home stores is an especially bad choice. Brand names are "Plexiglass", "Lucite", "Acrylite", "Perspex", and a hundred others. Really thick, "cast" acrylic is pretty darn tough and would likely suffice for small impact resistance chores provided you over-engineer the thickness. Acrylic is certainly a better choice than glass, but it's hardness (RH 60+) also means it's brittle and can shatter into long, sharp sliver-knives under extreme impacts. Cast acrylic is great stuff for large 200+ gallon fish tanks, but it's a poor choice for router and table saw shields.

Plexiglass or Lucite

Plastic Trade Names

 

[torqueman2002]

Grainger has eye shields for ~ $13.
https://www.grainger.com/product/DAYTON-Eye-Shield-KIt-5PZP2

Thread about replacement eye shields: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3323239&postcount=465

CM Block Grinder plastic eye shield clean-up, thread:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=311635

 

[6PTsocket]

I would go with a premade shield if it were me but if looking for a Lexan cutoff, to make your own, is not convient, Lowes has a piece of Lexan that is 8"x10" by .093 for $5.18. You can probably squeeze 2 shields out of that. They have bigger but it gets expensive, fast.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[BFBOB]

Don't use Plexiglas. It can shatter, sending daggers in all directions. Use Lexan (polycarbonate).