3450 works fine for aluminum and steel. The 1725RPM buffers work good for plastics and really soft metals.
For aluminum, you want a surface feet per minute (SFPM) speed of 5,000. On a 3450RPM buffer, that's a 6" wheel. (That puts you a tick above 5400, SFPM) but it's close enough.)
I'm not sure what the "target" SFPM is for steel, but I use the same setup for steel and aluminum and get nice results for both. I just use different processes for each material. (i.e no sisal on aluminum)
On your buffer, you want decent horsepower and the higher the AMP draw, the more "grunt" it's going to have. My 1HP buffer draws 8A and while I can bog it down, it takes all of my 225lbs REALLY pushing to get it to do so.
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