Polishing the Bevel

I spent some time polishing the beveled edge of the Plexiglas around each of the three openings so it would match the front surface once the protective paper was removed (I can't wait for that!). This actually took quite a bit of time and I ended up breaking the task up into 3 separate nights. Setting the schedule of "one opening a night" allowed me to take my time and get the results I wanted. Whenever I try to do something like this in one sitting I end up rushing it towards the end and mess it up.

Check out the results! Shiny!

The first thing I did was cut all of the sandpaper into 1"x2" rectangles and put them in separate ziplock bags to keep things organized. I used 400 grit, 600 grit, 1000 grit and 1500 grit sandpaper for this process. Using the smaller pieces gives me better control and allows me to go slowly.

I started off with 400 grit sandpaper to smooth out the pits left behind by the chamfer bit. I sanded in long slow strokes using the tips of my fingers trying to keep the sandpaper flat against the edge. It was tricky but managable. Once I got it smooth and there were no visible pits left behind, I switched to the 600 grit sandpaper followed by the 1000 grit sandpaper and finally the 1500 grit sandpaper repeating the process each time. After the sanding was finished, I used the Novus 3-step polish system to really make it shine.

Here is an odd shot of the bottom of the monitor opening as well as the speaker opening:

Here is a "before" and "after" shot of the bevel around the volume knob. You can really see here how much better it looks after sanding and polishing it:

Even though I spent 2+ hours a night for three nights do do this it was totally worth it - I love the results! Next up is gluing the front panel to the shell!