Bench Buffing/Polishing Choices?

[Bingster]

My trusty forum pals! I know I can count on you to give me some good advice on purchasing a bench mounted buffer/polisher for trim and such.

I've seen a lot of price ranges. I like the longer shafts on each end for clearance. 3450 rpm. There's Harbor Freight and Sears and various brands that I've never heard of.

I don't want to have to spend more than I need to. I really need it for polishing small stainless trim in my furniture making, but will also use it on my 47 Desoto.

I'm thinking that a pedastal stand would be a whole lot easier for clearance than mounted on the bench.

Let's hear what you like and don't like! Thanks.

[Norm's Coupe]

It's best not to mount the buffer or grinder on a bench. That will usually limit you in the size of item buffing and make a mess on the bench. Best to either make a stand or buy one so you can move the buffer or grinder out into an open space to do larger items.

[norrism1]

I agree with Norm, but also make sure you can bolt it down, suckers are top heavy and tip over easy unless older cast iron stand.

[Bingster]

So what brands are we talking about?

[Arthur1947]

I bought mine from Harbor Freight along with a $13 stand. I've had it for about five years know and have used it for buffing, wire wheel and grinding with no problems. These are simple machines so I wouldn't get too spendy.

Best.

ARTHUR

[Norm's Coupe]

I have two grinders/sanders, both on stands. One stand is a very old cast iron stand that weighs a ton. I made the second stand and it doesn't tip either. Stands are easy to make if you want a heavier one than the cast iron ones you buy today. I simply placed a 2 1/2" pipe in a plastic 5 gallon pail, braced it with pieces of wood 2x4's in the pail, then filled the pail a little over half full with cement. Welded a piece of flat steel to the top of the pipe and mounted the grinder on that. Now, that one did walk when in use. So.........just took an old rubber mat and place it under the base when using it. That stopped the walking problem. It doesn't tip either and is very easy to move around. Either one, I just tilt a little and roll or walk it to where I want it when I use it.

Brand doesn't matter that much. One of mine is a home made job out of an old motor I had. Have 3 other motors laying around like it. All came from various things like old saws and appliances. The other grinder was made as a double shaft grinder. Don't know the brand off hand as it was used when I bought it from a place going out of business.

Edited September 27, 2009 by Norm's Coupe

[Plymouthy Adams]

I pieced mine together..the 3450 RPM as first mentioned is a bit high for buffing..gets the item very hot very fast...even at 1725 the heat is pretty significant..do get the belt driven twin shafted buffer head and put on your own motor..this style will give you a good working area (room to move your piece)...do be very careful..the buffing wheel is notorious for snatching the work piece..cut hands and bent trim is the result..at minimum a scratch/dink..mine is self built, on a 15 x 24 heavy wood base that sits on my work bench, it is portable but yet heavy enough to stay in location..I have a goose neck mounted work light on it along with on/off switch

[Bingster]

I had been using a motor with a shaft for buffing but the speed was 1750 and I see that buffers run at 3450. So I figured that the speed must have something to do with the rate of polishing. And I have seen the shafts with the pully. Is this really a better way to go?

[Norm's Coupe]

Without actually going out to check, I believe the one I use as a buffer is only running about the same speed as Tim's (around 1750 RPM's). Like Tim said, even at that speed you'll sometimes burnish the polish, then have to rebuff to get it clean.

This and the tipping comment brings up another point. Why do they make and call electric or air tools of any kind power tools? The answer is simple. Because the tool will do the job with all the power that is needed, with little effort from the worker. I've had people locally say their table saw is too light and it tips, their grinders/buffers tip, those cheap drill bits they bought burned up, and even the good ones burn up, their drill burns up when they use it, etc., etc. Then if you watch them use one of those power tools in question, they are usually trying to hurray the job by pushing the item through the saw with too much force, pushing on the item being buffed or ground too hard, or laying on the drill to force it through whatever they are drilling. If you let the "POWER" tool do the work, you'll have none of those problems, and save money on buying or sharpening drill bits, saw blades, etc. When using a power tool, one should just relax, hold it or the item firmly and let the tool do it's own work, in it's own time. Visit a machine shop sometime and watch a drill press, etc. in action. No one is sitting on top of the press or adding extra weight to push the drill through. The machinist is usually just sitting there watching the tool do the work.

[Young Ed]

This is the harbor freight version. I just this summer polished my entire grill with this. Works great but it does get quite warm. I believe it does run at 3200 or so RPM. So does the stainless buffer from eastwood. The pieces do get warm but I never had much trouble with burns or launching stuff.

[Bingster]

That's a nice buffer. I'm going to Harbor Freight next Saturday. They also have an 8" buffer. Is bigger better as far as the wheel size? HP?

[1just4don]

one heavy base that wont tip easy is an old cast flywheel from an old John Deere 2 cylinder tractor.specially if you can find a restorer that has a cracked one that they arent too proud of.

Otherwise a cast brake drum from an old truck works well too.

or like norms idea with a twist,,find a narrow tall old tire and fill with concrete.

If you have a nice shop,put a pipe sleeve in the floor that you can slip the pipe holder right into,,that works well case you can turn it any direction,,and cap it when not in use. or make it swing out from bench crosswise,,,thats handy also

[Norm's Coupe]

I've seen a lot of cast iron car and truck parts used as a stand base too. Even old wheels used as a base with just a pipe welded or bolted to it.

[Plymouthy Adams]

all you wanted to know but was afraid to ask...

http://www.schaffnermfg.com/speed-chart.html

[RobertKB]

I have the use of the best buffer there is..........a borrowed one. Yesterday, while on a car run, I asked a buddy if I could come over to his shop and use his buffer to do the stainless trim from the D25 Coupe I am having painted. He said to come and borrow it as he hasn't used it in years and just return it when I am done. Free is always best. Sometimes you get lucky.

[Bingster]

Tim, that web site has a lot of info. It seems to me that they are saying that with stainless steel you need the buffer fast and hot with not too much pressure to bog down the motor. Fast and hot seems to me to mean 3450 rpm as oppossed to 1750. Apparently you only need to use the tip of the buffing wheel. I have been prone to bearing down a little too hard I think.

If you have the higher speed, you can still control the amount of heat generated by your feed pressure. A lighter touch equals less heat. Stainless is a hard metal and now I am leaning toward a higher speed machine.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the speed of the motor is important..however you will see that it is rated also in Surface Feet Per Minute..that is the speed of the motor, combined with any intermediate shaft speed times the circumference of the buffing wheel...so a small 6 inch wheel will require the higher RPM..per this website...I really do not think my motor is turning the high RPM..will have to second guess myself and look see...but I do have a rather torquey motor and stall takes quite the pressure...its all a learning process..I assure you standard buffing compound is not near as good compared to the special compound stainless requires to do right..made all the difference in the world on my buffer..

as you can see they want everything buffed at a high speed....be carefull if you are poslishing plastic emblems and such..will melt them down in a skinny...I have no problems doing plastic on my setup...thus I believe the lower motor speed..I am quite pleased with my setup..

[Young Ed]

Tim I need to buff some plastic headlight lenses. Tips? what type of compound do you use? Also I mentioned above I bought the harbor freight buffer and stand which is true however I bought my supplies from eastwood. I didn't trust their 1.99 stuff

[Plymouthy Adams]

light pressure as in almost non existant...very light amount of coumpound on the wheel..stay moving..watch the temp...do not let it get warm...once the largest part of haze and scratches are removed..get the Permatex brand Plexiglass polish..finish it by hand to remove the last of the "blurr" practice on a modern style rear lens or something like that first to get technique...

if your speed is 3450-3600 rpm on the motor direct drive..get the smaller cones that are about 2-3 inch diameter...this will effectively cut your buffing speed for plastic per the schedule posted earlier...

Edited September 28, 2009 by Tim Adams

[Young Ed]

What type of compound? Is there a specific one for plastic? My buffing kit came with 4 different ones but I can't recall them all at the moment. I know the one is white rouge. These are the headlights for my 94 dakota. They are getting pretty bad its hard to see.

[Niel Hoback]

From the back of a 4 stick craftsman package:

1 Emery cake (black); for heavy cutting action for rust and scale removal from cast iron and steel.

2 White rouge; for stainless steel, cast brass and aluminum, chrome and nickle plated metals and other hard ferrous metals.

3 Tripoli; for buffing aluminum pewter, brass copper, wood, bone, plastics, painted surfaces

4 Red rouge; for bright luster on silver plate, gold, sterling, other precious metals.

Apply new compound to the spinning wheel generously, using a wiping motion.

Buff the item lightly, moving the item constantly to avoid burning. Do not press hard, let the wheel and compound do the work.

Apply compound sparingly but frequently, as needed.

Before changing from one compound to another, clean the wheel by "raking" with a sharp tool such as a screwdriver to remove old compounds.

[Bingster]

So what is the proper compounding sequence for stainless steel? Compounds & Wheel types. I've noticed that hard wheels are used for initial cutting and softer for coloring the stainless.

[BobT-47P15]

I have the buffer from Harbor Freight as well as their stand.

Seems to work OK for what little I do.

Some time back, I bought on ebay a box of old P15 stainless, fairly cheap.

None of it is in very good shape, and some has overspray on it.

Got it just to use for practice buffing. Have only tried with it once,

and did not achieve the desired result. Maybe more time for practice,

since I retired......maybe. Have the assortment of rouges.

Wearing gloves when buffing trim is strongly suggested.

[Norm's Coupe]

Whatever you guys do, don't buy a big brick of each of the compounds, unless you are going into the polishing business. I got carried away by the moment once at a swap meet and bought one each of the large bricks years ago. Even though I've polished a lot of items with them, the bricks are still almost full bricks. Buy the small little sticks, they'll last you a very long time.

You can check with a buffing supply house to see which wheels to use for which. They should have a sheet listing the proper type of wheel for whatever you need.

[Young Ed]

Bob my buffer directions specifically said not to wear gloves. I think to keep the pieces from slipping out of your hand. I did my entire grill without gloves and was fine. You can tell when the piece is starting to get hot and needing a break. My procedure for doing the grill was wet sanding with 400 and then 600 all in one direction. Start with 220 for really bad pieces. Then 3 diff compounds going the opposite way from the sanding marks. The compounds go dark grey light grey white. I forget the names of the first 2. The third is white rouge. Bob I can find out the names of the other 2 to get you started. I too had some pieces that were completely painted over and that comes off in seconds with the sand paper.