Carville specialise in the heat treatment, precision machining and polishing of acrylic and other engineering grade plastics. Acrylic material can be polished to a clear glass like finish and be used in applications such as lenses, light guides and other engineering components.

Carville have manufacturing procedures that ensure good material handling and a high level of machined finish. We aim to achieve the best possible machine finish on our component parts to minimise the requirement for post machine polishing of acrylics or plastics.

Carville attend exhibitions throughout Europe and theUSA. We display acrylic component parts that have been produced to customer specification but carry a high level of internal and external surface finish. We regularly receive comments that our finished components look more like works of art rather than CNC machined engineering components. Customers are surprised by the quality of the finish that can be achieved on a fully heat treated and diamond machined acrylic or plastic component part.

When polishing is necessary, there are a number of ways to polish acrylic and other engineering grade plastic materials to achieve the end customer’s required internal and external surface finishes. These techniques will vary depending upon the actual component part and the final application.

Plastic polishing techniques for acrylic lenses and light guides are different from those applied to produce a luxurious finish to a high end writing instrument. Carville have developed a number of acrylic and plastic polishing techniques to achieve the required internal and external surface finishes for each customer application. These techniques may include:

Mop Polishing
Acrylic and other engineering plastics can be polished to improve the surface finish and appearance. Acrylic polishing requires the removal of material and it is essential to achieve a good machined finish before polishing to ensure critical dimensions can be maintained.

Mop polishing requires different grades of mops or clothes used in conjunction with abrasive soaps which will remove surface material and leave high quality polished finish on acrylic and other plastics.

Super Finishing
Super finishing is a term used to describe Carville’s vapor polishing processes. Vapor polishing can be used to enhance component features on materials such as acrylic or polycarbonate. Vapor polishing is ideally suited to the polishing of small features and offers improvements to internal and external surface finishes.

Flame Polishing
Flame polishing requires the surface of the acrylic or plastic material to be heated sufficiently to create material flow. Material, in a liquid state, will flow and this results in a smoother finish. Flame polishing will result in uneven heat distribution and material stress. Introducing stress to the materials such as acrylic may result in future stress cracking, crazing and component failure.

Flame polishing is a lower cost technique and is typically used in applications such as the manufacture of acrylic signs or point of sales goods. Flame polishing is not ideally suited to engineering grade components and is not a process used by Carville.

Flame polishing is not a process used or recommended by Carville.