I actually polished the inside of my 174mm dome last wekend. I basically used the micromesh pads wrapped over a piece of folded lens cloth to give a bit of padding around my fingers. As I only had minor scratches on the inside, I started from #6000 grid and worked from there. Not at all that hard to do.

I still need to do the outside as well, but so far the result is looking just fine.

timo

I've got a ding on my dome and was told it is too deep even for the Novus 3 heavy duty scratch remover, so I picked up some 600 grit paper...do I need to use circular or straight strokes? Should I just concentrate on the scratch or sand the whole dome evenly?
Thanks for your help!
Mike

We use this product applied with an old rag (you know, old underwear that I was able to save from my girlfriend´s audit...). Theoretically, for cars, it should be applied using a rotary polisher but I have polished many domes manually:

http://store.carcareeurope.com/product.php?productid=505

A friend bought it and shared it with everybody and it lasts forever. It works very well and it is also very easy to use.

Hi,

I have bought a micro mesh kit on eBay from a seller in UK. Price was cheap.
I used it on a used 8" dome I bought for a resonable price but had some little scraches.
Using the micro mesh it was like new.
It takes some time but it is very exciting to see a new dome coming up.
Very simple to use.
The polish cream is also good to renew the rings... good for womens ;-)

Good product for scratches is a car product, crome metal polish.
Used to use it on headlamp lenses for bentley and aston and worked a dream.

Tend to use now for car windscreen and double glassing/ glass.

hope this helps

Thank-you for keeping this topic pinned! I've known it was there and last week I set about taking care of my ports, I spent time going through this topic, reviewing the posts and responses.

The micro-mesh worked very well and I am set for my next dive trip.

Thank-you to all!

Stuart

.

Glass port scratches are as problematic as they are inevitable. Fortunately, it is possible to remove scratches in glass ports if the scratches are not too deep. Stephen Frink suggested to me I use "jewellers rouge" which I found on Amazon. I used a Dremel which has a power cord (when I tried with battery packs, ran out of juice before finishing) and a whole bunch of felt polishing wheels (catalog #414). It took a long, long, long time. Perhaps an hour but the minor scratches did disappear. I went through a number of felt wheels. It is a long and boring process but gives one time to reflect on the dangers of rocks attacking poor defenseless dome ports and to be more protective in the future. I write this now as I am preparing to attend to another session of polishing, which I hate as much, if not more, than cleaning the camera's sensor (also necessary this weekend). While you are out diving and having fun, think of a tiny wheel spinning round and round and be thankful if you have acrylic domes how much easier they are to repair.

I can't guarantee this process will work for everybody but so far it has done well for minor, hairline scratches and little dings. I hope this advice cuts into the sale of replacement Seacam domes, Harald is doing far too well these days.

Good luck!

I used the micro mesh kit to remove 2 big scratches on the outside, and a scuff from the lens on the inside. It worked well, although the inside is much harder, it is doable. It is important to dry well between grits so you can see better, as I found I had to go back a couple of steps at the end to touch up a bit I missed.

Did anyone ever answer Karen's question in this thread? Is the marine mesh kit preferrable to the aviation kit?

ANy difference?

Best,

Timbo

For those with damaged Subal glass ports, please be aware that they can be returned to Subal for replacement of the glass. While far from cheap, it is considerably less expensive than buying an entire new port.

I have a heavily used Sea&Sea compact dome port with several mostly minor scratches on it. While on a Live Aboard in late March, the Captain who was also the photo pro suggested I try using some of his "Harley-Davidson" (yes the motorcycle people) Swirl & Scratch Treatment and a lot of elbow grease. After 3 treatments I noticed a great deal of improvement and bought a bottle of the polish when I returned home. My next photography dive trip is in late Sept. so I plan to use the polish between now & then to see if I can restore the port to almost new. Will keep you posted as to my results.

I leave for the Galapagos in 8 days. I have about a 2 cm deep scratch on the 8" acryllic dome port. I have the micro-mesh NC-78-1 kit. I sure don't want to mess this up because there's no time to get a replacement dome before the trip. Can you tell I'm looking for reassurance...So I have to do the entire 8 inch dome port? I'm planning on doing it after dinner tonight. Is there anyway I could really mess this up? The instructions and the previous tips seem pretty straight forward? Is it really that easy? I'm paranoid to do it.

SGL,

I hope you mean 2 cm long and not deep. I was leery the first time I tried it, but it turned out fine. Just follow the instructions and try to put it on a slip proof mat so it doesn't get away from you.

Good luck!

SGL I used the liquid solution (Novus) and it worked, although from re-reading this thread I bet the micromesh would've worked even better. You WILL get a huge sinking sensation with the coarser starting point...don't panic, don't rush, and don't skip steps. That was my one mistake - I was so terrified by the 'scarification' the coarser solution made that I quit too soon and went to the finer stuff....only to finish and find that some of the big scratch was still present, so I had to start over.

Just resist the urge to 'focus' too much on the problem area (which I assume is a "2cm , deep" scratch") or else you alter the curvature locally in a way that might make a focal ripple. Time yourself, take rests if you feel like you won't have the endurance to keep going rather than risk sloughing off on a step...and trust in the force.

Thanks sealifeprints and rtski for the encouragement. I should have done this a few weeks ago in case something goes wrong. I'll probably do this tomorrow morning! I'll report how it went when I'm done

I polished my 8" acrylic dome for the first time a few weeks ago. I used the MicroMesh down through all of the grades and it did a good job with multiple scratches and dings. However at the end of the job I felt like it had a lot of super fine scratches that left it with a less the crystal clear look. I did a follow up pass with the two of the three Novus grades (medium and polish) and I am now happy with the results. The dome looks great, almost as good as new. I probably spent about 4 hours all told, mostly sitting in front of the TV watching movies. Give your self a couple of days to work on it in case of finger cramps!

Dave

Ok--If I can do it, seriously anyone can do it. I appreciate the tips from past posts, such as the need to use the sandpaper and micromesh on the entire dome and not just on the scratches, and that the dome would look like a diffuser but would get clearer and clearer as you use finer micromesh (thanks for the photos from an earlier post). Take your time and read the really easy instructions included in the NC-78-1 kit. It took me over 2 hours but I was being very precise. Although it doesn't look brand-spanking new, it almost does. I am very happy with the results and am ready to use it in the galapagos next week.

I had been told by opticians and housing manufacturers that it is not possible to polish out scratches from glass domes: they must be replaced. However, after reading this post, I did some searching online, and found a DIY Glass Polishing Kit for $40 at www.hobbytool.com. I had a couple of scratches on my glass dome that were not deep, but close to 2cm long, and managed to produce really ugly black scars on the image files when shooting into the sun. To my utter astonishment, they disappeared after only about 20 minutes of polishing using an electric drill with the wheel, pad, and polish solution provided in the kit. Best $40 I ever spent. Thank you Yellowmon!

What a nice information here!

Finally I got some scratches on my Ikelite 8" Dome Port, decided to go with Micro-Mesh. After 2 hours working while listening music, All scratches are gone.

Thanks a lot for all great information.

Daehag.

+1 on using Micro Mesh NC-78-1. Polished my Sea&Sea NX dome port which had 2 nasty 3cm long scratches with it. Aside from the big ones, the sanding process removed all the tiny scratches. The result looks indistinguishable from a factory new product to me.

I used all sandpapers wet, each step at a 90 degree angle to the previous one, and washed and dried the port between each step. Drying is not essential to the sanding process but it helps you see what you missed.

You can also easily wash the micro mesh papers at the end for later reuse. This was $50 well spent and the kit is small enough to travel if need be.

Hi there,
Three months ago I've had a bit of salt water inside my Ikelite 8" dome. I ended up the dive and the camera was fine, cool.
Problems arrived after rincing the inside of the dome, and trying to dry it up: due to the shape of the dome's base, a bit of water couldn't get out!
So I stupidely dried it up manually, using a soft cloth. Now my dome has a lot of very tiny scratches in the inside, and I'm afraid they lower picture sharpness. At least they increase the rate of out-of-focus picture
So I may try the Micro-surface solution (thanks all for this advice!), but I wonder if it's not a hard treatment for my dome, considering that I don't have any big scratch.
Anyway, my actual question is: what would you do when you get water inside your dome? You can't just let it evaporate, you would end up with stains on the inside. How would you dry it and avoid those micro-scratches?
Maybe I should open a dedicated thread for this question?
cheers,

I bet you can already guess from the experience of just trying to wipe out the dome interior out to the edges: it's going to be really, really difficult to get even pressure using any sort of finishing product on the inner dome surface. I personally wouldn't be willing to try it. Perhaps just some sort of "polishing" solution (that doesn't actually have grit) and a good soft buffer pad on a drill or something might let you get in there, assuming you can get a long enough extension on the drill shaft, and a pad size that runs all the way round to the edges.

Regarding how to clean the interior, try another cleaning this time after letting it soak a while to make sure all salt is dissolved, then wash with distilled water and some mild soap (liquid handsoap or whatnot - just make sure it doesn't have any solid surfactants or grit), then use something with good sheeting action for a final rinse (mix a little alcohol in with distilled water to break the surface tension, same as you'd use to put in your ears...or try a few drips of that "Jet-Dry" type stuff you put in dishwashers for sheeting action) so that the water at least runs 'off of' the dome. After the rinse, position the dome port-side down, tilting around to get rid of as much water as you can, maybe wicking with a paper towel or whatnot wadded up into the neck (NOT so far as to touch the dome - just to get the capillary action sucking water off that flat back face!), and let it dry like that. Any waterspots from drying will be on the plastic back, not on the dome inner face, assuming you got it clean and broke the surface tension so no 'drips' were left behind.

I just can't believe you're going to be able to get good even finger pressure and not make things worse trying something even with really fine grit on the interior, unless you've got far smaller hands than I...

Thanks for this very comprehensive solution rtski! I'm gonna try this, and it looks less scary than using the technique mentioned above

Thanks a lot for this totally useful information. I used Jet-Dry plus distilled water, just as you suggested, and it worked perfectly.

Hello,
thx for this great thread which will help me to remove upcoming scratches (I expent them sooner or later :-) ) from my acrylic zoom dome port.
I just tried to buy a kit of N78-1 micro mesh here in Austria, but unfortunately, the responsible distributor is in Swizerland and offered it to me for 65 Euro (95 USD) + 45 Euro (65 USD) for shipping!! He definitely said that I have to pay the shipping from US to swizerland AND from switzerland to Austria. LOL.
Are there any comparable products which can be bought in Europe for a fair price?
Any help is very appreciated,
Jens

I got my Micro Mesh kit this week and tried it on my dome port this evening. I had one deep scratch and many shallower ones. Only took me a couple of hours, and looks awesome! Thanks for recommending it, guys!

I used the micro-Mesh 78-1.

I had som big scratches so I started with 240 sandpaper, from there I used the micro-mesh. I could feel the pain in my arms the day after but the results was fantastic!



This is totally gone

My stomach hurts thinking about it, but, I'm convinced after reading the forum. I have the kit, now, I need to take the plunge. One question: How do you know when it's time to switch between the grades of the kit? How can you tell? Thanks.

test

If you live in the EU, ou can buy a micro-mesh kit from here:
http://www.svsp.co.uk/Shop%20Website/pages/Canopy_parts.htm
They're nice people and I'm sure they'll post outside of the UK. I've used the kit for repairing a glider canopy on a vintage glider.

Cheers, Chris

Saw these on the net - would they be useful for anyone wanting to polish the inside of dome ports?

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/copy_of_c...ndi_Files_.html

They've also got the micro-mesh kits:

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Online_Ca...ng_Kits_34.html

(UK company)

I posted this elsewhere but it probably should be in this thread as well.
Ikelite 8" dome, Micro Mesh NC-78-1 kit

Great Video

Waiting for my micro-mesh kit to arrive so I can polish my dome

Thanks!!

Well, i finally did it! I plucked up the courage to run a piece of sandpaper over my dome port.

I didnt use the branded "micromesh kit", instead opting for a Micomesh Soft Touch Pads kit.

I watched Panda's movie, and after many deep breathes, delved right in to the outside of the port.

The first grade 1500 removed the majority of a fairly deep (maybe 1mm deep) scratch about 2 inches long. Completely gone by the time finished the second grade 1800.

It IS a little daunting to see the port turn into a diffuser, but rest assured, even a beginner could do this!

The hard part was removing a similar scratch on the INSIDE of the port. I had an accident a while ago where my lens came off inside the port and left a nice size scratch which would show up in pics faced towards light (the sun). ANNOYING!! So i decided to have a go at removing this also. The soft touch pads are much smaller than the full micromesh papers and make things a little easier when working on the inside of the port. Granted, my fingers were still sore after working on the inside of the port for an hour, but in the end, my port is now completely scratch free and taking photos like the first day I received it.

Australians - There is an ebay seller by the name of The Sandpaper Man. Easiest place to order your goods

I cannot give enough THANKS to rschrager for starting this thread and to the many who have posted their words of encouragement!

From reading this thread it's apparent that acrylic domes are loads easier to repair than glass. I couldn't help wondering if the kind of resin they use for fixing car windscreens could be used on glass domes. Nobody has mentioned it so just thought I'd ask.

I never knew such a product existed! Thanks for the post. I think I might pick up a kit even if at the moment its not needed.

I had a few annoying dents on my Ikelite 8" dome from crashing against some rocks in strong current.
To get rid of them, I first tried the Novus Acrlylic polishing kit that is sold at Backscatter.
But even the "#3 heavy scratch cream" did nothing to the dents.

Then I found a set of "Micro-mesh touch pads", with all the grades from 1500 to 12000, from a local woodworking shop. These are soft pads that have micro-mesh papers on both sides.

With the 1500 grade pad and water I was able to get rid of the dents in just a few minutes.

However, it does look like a diffuser after the grinding:

After this I applied all the pad grades, one by one, all the way to the finest 15000 grade. After each grade I rinsed the dome with plain water. And on each grade I buffed to one particular direction, and changed the buffing direction 90 degrees on the next round.
After this I dried the dome and used the Novus acrylic polishing creams, starting with #3:

Then #2 cream and final polishing with the #1 cream.
After this it looks like brand new again:


The whole process took about 30 minutes.
The micro-mesh pads can still be used for many times over, and I have plenty of the Novus cream left. So I can do this many times again, if nescessary.

Good stuff!

well, understandably this is kina a long thread and forgive me if i missed someone else saying it but i do think i saw Orca mention it... Brasso... it is cheaper and does a fanctastic job!

Basically any slightly abrasive polish will do the job for you; silver polish, brass polish, even car wax stuff works. Theoretically it should even work on glass domes and ports but it will just take you one heck of a long time to polish, maybe if someone has an orbital sander with a buff pad and a fair amount of time on their hands they can try it.

The other kits sound great and if it is a really deep scratch then the sanding method save some time but for a general clean up i would stand by brasso everytime! nothing like the good old ways!!

Awesome info, ty

Does polishing also works well for acrylic macro ports? I can imagine the acrylic surface is harder to "reach" than a dome port that is sticking out more.

I possible, I would see where removing the port lens would help, typically a flat port lens is fairly economical and I would consider replacing it, whatever the case, if you polish an acrylic flat port lens, make sure the polished surface is in contact with the water and not internal, water and acrylic are pretty, pretty close to identical and the micro marks left usually fill up with water and won't show up.

Was mentioned briefly in page 2 of this thread but a quick field repair is to use tooth PASTE (not gel) as those contain a mild abrasive (especially the ones that say "Tooth Whitening"). My 6" Aquatica port side swiped an outrigger on my last trip in October, left a 1/4" x 1/2" scuff. 30 Minutes with about a pea sized blob of Crest Whitening toothpaste and the port looked as good as new.

Cheers

Stu

This trick worked for me too on an acrylic dome. Lots of elbow grease using my bare finger and a cotton cloth after dinner while we watched a movie in the lounge (except I used Colgate). It polished the deep scratch to a point where when filled with water, there was minimal disruption. Saved the trip. When I got home I hit it with the Novus 3 step and it is as good as new.

a handy tool for using when trying to polish flat ports, espcially for getting to the inside if using a camera lens cleaning pen. Gives you the reach and makes it nice and easy for some high speed movement if you roll it between your two hands.... Works for dome ports too but not on the inside!

Hey Guys,
was just reading up about this topic because the same thing happened to me except it was my boss's camera dome and i had about half an hour to fix it before a dive and not a clue how to fix it, nothing quite like the power of google and it turns out that whitening tooth paste actually removes scratches! it was one particular scratch that was coming up in the middle of the frame in good sunlight when i was finished after a good 10 minutes of polishing and buffing with soft cotton rags (gently at first to see the effect, but quite a bit of elbow grease when i was confident that it wasn't making more damage) 100% success.
the great thing is even if your on a dive boat somewhere your quite possibly have some toothpaste lying around so your trip isn't cut short because you left your professional dome cleaning kit back at base camp.

note: i don't know if normal toothpaste is as effective but for sure the whitening toothpaste left the dome in mint condition.

Sir H Crrap

Oh no! I used one of those cheapo sand paper, polished it, but still see scratch, is there a way to save the dome?