Fixing rack checks on the face of chips (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Cheese]

I recently purchased 20x Grand Victoria Primary 1000's which had some pretty bad rack checks on the face and inlay of the chips. After looking I didn't really see a thread about methods to fix them so I thought I'd share my experience.

First step was to use a magic eraser which easily removes the rack checks on the inlay. The rack checks on the face of the chip where the mold is was not removed with the magic eraser. So I decided to take some 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper.

I made sure I had a perfectly flat surface to lay the sand paper on, then poured some water on it.

I took one chip at a time and placed the rack checked face against the sand paper and made little circular motions. It only takes about 10-20 seconds of this to completely remove the rack checks. You don't need to press super hard or anything either. Just nice even pressure along the entire chip. Rinse with water and inspect often to make sure you don't get carried away.

I measured the chips thickness afterwards and I removed at total of .001 to .002 inches so not enough to be noticeable in stacks of 20 of non repaired vs repaired chips. The mold and even the cross hatching is still there. Of course if you get carried away with your sanding you will remove the cross hatching and mold so check often while you carefully sand.

Here's a before and after shot of once chip.

After

Closeup to see just how badly they rack checks were

After magic eraser and wet-sanding them all!

 

[abby99]

Wow! Nice job.

 

[moose]

SOS pad is better.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

SOS pad is better.

An SOS pad is better then what, the magic eraser?

 

[moose]

sandpaper

 

[JFCJ]

Nice job!

 

[BGinGA]

After looking I didn't really see a thread about methods to fix them

Didn't look too hard - pops right up during a 'rack check' search:
http://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/re-painting-touching-up-edge-spots.9046/

Wet sanding is pretty high-risk - I would only use it as a last resort. Scraping off the excess material is your best bet.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

Didn't look too hard - pops right up during a 'rack check' search:
http://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/re-painting-touching-up-edge-spots.9046/

Wet sanding is pretty high-risk - I would only use it as a last resort. Scraping off the excess material is your best bet.

Yes you found a thread that talks about it... However I wanted a thread made that had it right in the title not one that had a title about painting or touching up edge spots. I also wanted it to be about my method and be easy to find and not buried 30 posts into someone else's thread... You can certainly ignore this method and thread if you don't like it.

Wet sanding isn't "high risk" if you know what you are doing. How do you think paint jobs on vehicles are able to be so smooth? I'll give you a hint, not with an exacto knife lol. I've used wet sanding after a paint job to get it smooth as glass. 2000 grit sand paper is very mild and smooth so it just removes the rough imperfections on the surface. I'm not suggesting using 60 grit here which would obviously eat the chip up.

If people are worried about it they certainly don't have to use my method however I am comfortable with sanding as I've done plenty of body work over the years. I had good results with this so I wanted to share it with the community. My before and after pictures speak for themselves I think.

 

[BGinGA]

Sorry mr expert, but sanding chips is stupid.... especially when there are other proven methods available.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

Sorry mr expert, but sanding chips is stupid.... especially when there are other proven methods available.

Never said I was an expert but you certainly seem to come off that way. Nothing like the pot calling the kettle black lol.

I said in my first post and the last I had a good experience and just wanted to share my experience with the community. Never said this was the end all be all but you seem pretty bothered by it. Part of being in a community is people sharing their experience be it good or bad. I had a good experience that might help others. There are more then one way to skin a cat.

Feel free to continue to bash it. I don't mind the trolling

 

[BGinGA]

You claim to be an expert when it comes to sanding. I simply feel that sanding chips is an easy way to unnecessarily subject them to risk of permanent damage, as most people aren't sanding experts. Sorry if you can't see the differences, but I think it's irresponsible to promote such a practice.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

You claim to be an expert when it comes to sanding. I simply feel that sanding chips is an easy way to unnecessarily subject them to risk of permanent damage, as most people aren't sanding experts. Sorry if you can't see the differences, but I think it's irresponsible to promote such a practice.

Lol. I know you need to have the last word so I almost hate to reply but I think my previous posts speak for themselves. I never said this was the only or best way. I simple am saying how I did it. My post also mention that you need to be careful as you can damage the mold etc. Sorry if you can't see the difference... See quotes below.

Of course if you get carried away with your sanding you will remove the cross hatching and mold so check often while you carefully sand.

If people are worried about it they certainly don't have to use my method however I am comfortable with sanding as I've done plenty of body work over the years. I had good results with this so I wanted to share it with the community.

I never said its the only or best way or that it wasn't without risk. Hence the above quotes from my previous posts.

People share their experiences both good and bad on this forum. Not everyone needs to agree on everyone's experiences... but please continue to enlighten me about how stupid my method is and how irresponsible it was for me to post about it despite the fact that I clearly mentioned the need to be careful as quoted above. .

 

[Ronoh]

Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today LOL.

Know what else is classified as wet-sanding and can damage your chips if you aren't careful? Magic Eraser... the tried and true method of many, many chippers. Better get the word out about those too Dave.

 

[Marius L]

Result looks great to me, well done!

 

[Owens76]

I used sos pads and a magic eraser to remove rack check marks before. The sos pad can remove part of the chips face and it is nearly impossible to do while keeping the chip flat. The sand paper sounds like a possible alternative.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

I used sos pads and a magic eraser to remove rack check marks before. The sos pad can remove part of the chips face and it is nearly impossible to do while keeping the chip flat. The sand paper sounds like a possible alternative.

Yeah that's a nice thing is it's perfectly flat and even across the entire face of the chip as long as your surface you have it on is. To anyone interested in this method I would say test it out on a junk chip first to get the feel for it. I think you'd be surprised though, 2000 grit sandpaper almost feels as smooth as a regular sheet of paper.

 

[Shaggy]

I think you'd be surprised though, 2000 grit sandpaper almost feels as smooth as a regular sheet of paper.

^^^this

The process Mr Cheese described is similar to lapping. Very precise way to slowly remove small amounts of material.