These doors were inspected before they left our factory and should arrive with you in perfect condition. We strongly recommend that you keep the protective film on all surfaces until the door has been installed to reduce any chances that it might get scratched between arrival at your premises and completion of the installation.
Drilling acrylic
We recommend that you purchase the doors pre-drilled by us. We will drill for Blum hinges with pilot holes for the fixing screws. These pilot holes are the 3.4mm diameter and we recommend you use a 4mm screw.
If you decide to drill these doors yourselves, please note that the material is very dense and a lot of heat is created. You will need to remove the swarf and cool the drill several times during the drilling process. You will also need to drill pilot holes for your screws; we recommend a 3.4mm drill is used for a 4mm screw. If you drill a smaller pilot hole you stand the risk of the acrylic shattering and crazing.
When drilling for handles we recommend you drill a pilot hole 3mm in diameter using a high-speed twist drill and then follow this with a 4mm drill. Drill from the front without applying too much pressure to avoid any breakout on the reverse side.
When fixing the drawer boxes to the acrylic, we recommend you drill a pilot hole with a 2.5mm drill bit; the pilot hole should be the full depth of the screws. The screws we recommend for securing into acrylic are twin thread hardened steel %” x 6″ screws (available from Screw Fix – quote 19041) or from us in boxes of 200 – see below.
Remedial work to the surface – Kitchen retailers
Because acrylic has such a high gloss surface any small blemishes, scratches or scuffs can show up. The product needs treating with considerable care. We believe that acrylic doors will become extremely popular and you will be involved in fitting a great many kitchens with them. For this reason, we recommend that you purchase a professional remedial kit from us (see below), which will enable you to remove all but the deepest gouges from the surface of the door and restore it to perfect condition. The kit includes several different compounds and polishing tools, together with instructions on how to use them.
Remedial work to the surface – Homeowners
Never use a harsh cloth, a J-cloth or a dirty duster to remove any scuffs or scratches. We recommend that you use a “micro-fibre” dusters (avoid open weave cloths, anti-bacterial cloths, sponges and anything harsh). Never use any household cleaner with any abrasive in it. We recommend you only use a beeswax polish. Apply a light pressure working in a circular action. In most cases, this will restore the door/drawer to its original condition.
Sooner or later someone is likely to scratch a door or use an abrasive cleaner or a harsh sponge or cloth which will remove the high gloss surface. You will then need to proceed with repair as indicated below.
a) You can try restoring the gloss with beeswax as described above. If it does not work proceed to b).
b) You may have some T-Cut or Farecla in your garage used for polishing cars. You may try this but use it sparingly and gently. We recommend that you try it on a small area first. It will probably create a haze on the surface which beeswax might cover. If it does not work proceed to c).
c) Purchase Homeowners Acrylic Restoration Kit from your kitchen retailer. This has the correct compounds to eliminate light scratching and scuffing. If this does not work proceed to d).
d)Ask your retailer to carry out remedial work for you (he will, of course, charge for this).