Scratches & Haze

[JHFGSX9D]

Originally Posted by kenykirschstein

When you had bad results with the 8" what was the result. I guess I am still under the impression that the clodiness that I get with the loose and white is the result of something else, probably not polishing right with the sisal and black. If you look at my second picture that is what I get after the sisal and black. It is a dull luster. When I played with it more I still got the same results. I'm hearing that it should look more like my third picture when I am done... If that is the case then that is my problem but I don't understand why that would cause the cloudiness. Like I said the finish looks very smooth.

Ok i know i stated this before and i dont mean to be repeatitive but i had the same cloudiness with my 6 inch loose wheels and white !! the reason i was getting the problem was because i didnt have a fast enough machine yes it would polish but it left a haze once i got a fast enough machine (you can ask tom about this) my work became night and day difference !!

[kenykirschstein]

OK I understand what you are saying about speed. I do have a 15 amp buffer at 3500 RPM. An 8" wheel will have a third higher surface speed than an 6" so why would you want to use a smaller wheel. The only reason would be if you don't have enough power to maintain the surface speed of the wheel. Since the loose is soft I would think that you could stop most buffers regardless of whether it was 8" or 6", so the issue becomes how much pressure will it take before slowing up. If you can't maintain the correct pressure and surface speed combination then you won't get the desired results. The problem with this is that I have no experience to know what is fast enough with adequate pressure. I don't know if the problem is with the maintained speed or something else. Experimenting adds more variables and confusion unless you end up solving the problem. Which at this time alludes me. I understand that heat is our friend but how warm should the piece get with the loose and white. Maybe I'm not generating enough pressure to get it hot enough. But then again it could my sisal with black polishing.....

[JHFGSX9D]

Originally Posted by kenykirschstein

OK I understand what you are saying about speed. I do have a 15 amp buffer at 3500 RPM. An 8" wheel will have a third higher surface speed than an 6" so why would you want to use a smaller wheel. The only reason would be if you don't have enough power to maintain the surface speed of the wheel. Since the loose is soft I would think that you could stop most buffers regardless of whether it was 8" or 6", so the issue becomes how much pressure will it take before slowing up. If you can't maintain the correct pressure and surface speed combination then you won't get the desired results. The problem with this is that I have no experience to know what is fast enough with adequate pressure. I don't know if the problem is with the maintained speed or something else. Experimenting adds more variables and confusion unless you end up solving the problem. Which at this time alludes me. I understand that heat is our friend but how warm should the piece get with the loose and white. Maybe I'm not generating enough pressure to get it hot enough. But then again it could my sisal with black polishing.....

15 amp is pretty big whats your HP? my previous setup was a 1HP bench grinder converted it didnt work well !! i have recently upgraded to the caswell 2HP buffer and this thing is UNSTOPPABLE !! i can apply any amount pressure i put to it !! maybe tom has some answers to what pressure you should use but i know that my buffer wont stop !! like i said it never slows down i wore an 8 inch sisal out in an hour thats how hard i can bare into my wheel!!

[kenykirschstein]

3/4 HP, 115V.... with the loose wheel I can slow it down pretty easy which makes me think it might be a heat issue. It is hard to slow down my sisal and somewhere in between for my spiral. I can get the sisal hot enough to where it is uncomfortable to hold the metal, the spiral gets pretty warm border line hot and the loose only gets real warm. Maybe pressure / heat is the issue. Originally I had experimented with a spiral and brown on a 4" wheel on a 12,000 rpm hand grinder. I would say I had plenty of heat and maybe I didn't have the haze problem...

[JHFGSX9D]

Originally Posted by kenykirschstein

3/4 HP, 115V.... with the loose wheel I can slow it down pretty easy which makes me think it might be a heat issue. It is hard to slow down my sisal and somewhere in between for my spiral. I can get the sisal hot enough to where it is uncomfortable to hold the metal, the spiral gets pretty warm border line hot and the loose only gets real warm. Maybe pressure / heat is the issue. Originally I had experimented with a spiral and brown on a 4" wheel on a 12,000 rpm hand grinder. I would say I had plenty of heat and maybe I didn't have the haze problem...

i used to use a hand grinder and i got good results with it !! but i started needing more my air compressor was not able to keep up so i went to bench mounted buffer and i am in love with it !! i wouldnt trade this thing for anything else in the buffing polishing world !! I LOVE IT !!

[kenykirschstein]

My real project is a 24" by 32" aluminum plate which I really want shinny so I'll have to use hand tools anyway. I will be doing a lot of tubing so I thought a bench buffer would be a good addition.

[JHFGSX9D]

Originally Posted by kenykirschstein

My real project is a 24" by 32" aluminum plate which I really want shinny so I'll have to use hand tools anyway. I will be doing a lot of tubing so I thought a bench buffer would be a good addition.

For that plate i would use an angle grinder they seem to work really good but they are easy to burn up !!

[tomg552001]

You want to apply as much pressure as possible without significantly slowing your machine down. When i polish, the part is always mighty hot...sometimes even hard to hold even when using the loose wheels. I honestly think smaller wheels will do you better along with applying more pressure. I have no idea about the technical surface speed all i know is what works for me. When i use 8 inch loose wheels the machine bogs easiar and i get a haze like you mention. I suggest picking up 2 loose 6 inch wheels and giving it a shot. It's $10 worth being spent to possibly solve a problem. Trial and error will yield you your best results. Eventually you'll learn the right pressure, the right speed to move the part along the wheel, the right cutting actions to use at the right time, and the right amount of compound to load on the wheel. Things like this dont come over night. I've been polishing for over a year and a half, and i still have room for improvement. The best thing you can do, is experiment and see what combinations work best for you.

[JHFGSX9D]

if your going to do this i highly reccommend not using the spiral and emory i would use sisal/emory this is where the biggest part of your work is done or at least for me it is !!

[kenykirschstein]

I need to order some other stuff so I will probably try that. I am also running two 1" wheels so I'll try 1, I also have a 4" so I might experiment with it on a grinder....

I'll let you know how it turns out.... maybe I'm actually getting closer to solving my problem and learning how to polish.....