I recently saw them making plastic screwdriver handles on "How its
Made". After machining, they just dipped (submerged) the parts in
"solvent" to make the parts shiny. This provided the micro-melting
needed to blend machining marks, I guess.

Pete Stanaitis
---------------------

Den wrote:

I'm machining some small enclosures using PVC electrical conduit (off white
color). The electrical condut just happens to have the needed ID/OD. I'm
using acetone to remove the manufacturers ink labelling which is marked down
the pipe, but the finish still looks like water pipe/conduit. I'm making
them in batches of 20 or so.

Painting or dying is not really an option, I could spin them in the lathe
and take a light cut along the length but I'd like to avoid this if I can. I
thought about wiping over with solvent to soften and smooth the top surface
but this may leave "wipe" marks on the surface.

I tried to source clean PVC pipe without marking etc but I could not find
anything.

Does anyone have any other ideas on a quick simple way to finish the
external surface nicely?

TIA