Carb Polishing Help

[EricWil]

Ok where do I start? Do I need to sand this at all before I start or should I just start with emory and a sisal wheel and go down from there. There are a lot of tight spots and I will most likely need felt bobs. Well if you have done a carb I would like to hear from you.

[thesound]

Best way I can explain buffing carbs is that it's an all-or-nothing proposition. As in, all buffing wheel or nothing. Tapered felt bobs do good in corners as long as the corners are somewhat rounded out, but the problem with carbs is that most of the corners and low spots meet at 90* apexes, and round bits have a hard time fitting into square corners. (Unless you apply a good deal of pressure which tends to destroy the buff.) The only decent method I've found for getting total coverage on carbs is by using a sisal wheel and emery on a buffing machine that won't bog down, and LEAN on it. Believe it or not, sisal wheels will flex and mush if enough pressure is applied, you just need a buffing motor that can keep cranking while you do it. There's really no big trick to it other than getting the wheel to squeeze into all the nooks and crannies.

As far as tapered felt buffs go, you CAN use them, but the best I've ever been able to do with them on stuff like carbs is get "the 5 feet look." (Looks good as long as you're standing 5 feet away.) On the areas of the carb where there is limited room to move the buff around, it tends to leave snail trails. If you don't currently own a high powered buffing machine but want to take the path of least resistance moneywise, you may just try experimenting with the tapered buffs and emery first to see if you're able to get a finish that is to your liking. It won't do anything to the part that can't later be corrected with a sisal wheel should you decide to go that route.

It's a crappy pic, but this was done with 100% sisal wheel/black+loose cotton/white on a Caswell 2hp buffing machine:


P.S.- No sanding required.

[EricWil]

Caswell does not sell a 2hp buffing machine which one are you referring to.

[thesound]

Originally Posted by EricWil

Caswell does not sell a 2hp buffing machine which one are you referring to.

They used to. I (think) the reason they may have stopped carrying it is because it requires 220V to run, and has a European style plug. I run mine using a 3,000watt 110V/220V AC/AC converter with a plug adapter and circuit breaker.

If you scout around for other buffing machines I think you'll see that in this horsepower range 220V is pretty much the standard. When I first started polishing, my first bench grinder was an itty-bitty 1/4hp Delta. From there, I worked my way up to, (and in two cases burned through), incrementally higher hp bench grinders until I finally arrived at the Caswell one. I can tell you that in retrospect, if I had started off with 2hp from the beginning, there are a few projects I've done that I would not have had to agonize over nearly as much and know for a fact that I could have gotten better results from had I not been using lesser equipment.

You might try PM'ing or calling Caswell and see if they could possibly special order the 2hp version for you. If I remember right there wasn't a huge price difference between it and the 3/4hp version. (Like $50-$75.) If not, just scout around and see what you can find. Good luck.

[chefboiali]

That carb looks amazing. I turned down the order for the 3/4HP buffer I was going to get simply for this reason. Everyone is saying the more the better, but I really can't do a 220V. There was a guy selling a 7HP for $650 in my area. Yeah... what a dream, huh? I wonder if Caswell will sell a 2HP in the future.