Buffer?

[EricWil]

I have been looking all around for a buffer. Baldor buffers are great but pricey. I am trying to get the most bang for my buck and found this buffer by JET. It comes in two speeds 1725 and 3425. The buffer is 1hp comes with the stand and can be wired 110 or 220. My question for you all is which speed? I can run a 14 inch buffer at 1725rpm for 6000 SFPM or 8 inch at 3425 rpm for almost 7000 SFPM. Is there any benefit to running a larger buffer a bit slower at all and what is the largest size buffer you should run on 1hp. The buffer has plenty of room to stack buffs but have seen recommendations for 3/4 hp not to exceed 7/8 inch. Anyone? I need to make a decision soon and get my buffer on the way to me.

http://www.hechinger.com/web/catalog...5&catid=196949

[mpierich]

Get a couple of 8" and 10" and experiment. A 10" will probably bog it down but the sure way to find out is to try it. Some of us feel that high speed seems to leave scratches so it might be good to have options.

[pickleboy]

just a thought but if you are looking to buy that machine and from that supplier. it is in the 350 range you can get the baldor for only 100 more. i can speak from experience with the baldor 1.5 hp, it is one super duty machine. i have run the cr@p out of it and the only time i had issue is when the garage circuit pops due to overheat. just my 2 cents though.

[thesound]

I would go with the buffing machine that spins @3,425 and here's why:

One facet of buffing that doesn't immediately make itself known is the fact that even though on paper the larger wheels seem like the be-all-end-all solution to building up enough heat to make the compounds work effectively, the catch-22 of this is that sooner or later you're going to encounter a part that has a tricky set of angles that the larger circumferenced buff simply will not fit into. Sure, most buffs will mush into tighter spaces if enough pressure is applied, but that begs the question of whether your buffing motor puts out enough torque to keep the wheel moving while you do this.

The higher spinning motor will give you versatility. You won't always be able to get away with a 14" wheel to get the job done, so in the instances where you have to switch to a smaller wheel you'll still be cranking enough RPM's to allow a decent SFPM rate. Also, a fact of life is that buffing wheels deteriorate, so as they shrink and your SPFM's decrease you'll want to be able to maintain the highest rate of surface speed possible to squeeze the maximum usable service life out of the buff. I don't imagine a 4" or even a 6" wheel would be worth a damn at 1,725rpms. (Unless you were buffing plastic.)

Here is a water pump from an LT1 engine that I did recently that sort've demonstrates this point. Notice on the right hand side of the pump underneath the water inlet, how there is a "valley"? Squeezing a wheel down in there (and not getting it snagged and shooting the pump across the room) was a challenge. NO WAY I could've done that section if I were trying to use a 14" wheel. It is the same down on the bottom around the areas that have the circular projections. Just something for consideration:

[chromepl8tr]

I happen to prefer the slower lathe. The faster turning machines will throw the compound off and if you have had much experience polishing you will know how important it is to have plenty of compound on your wheel. They are also more difficult to control on dangerous parts that might have a tendency to grab and cause injury. The slower machines have more torque which makes the part more controlable. When polishing in nooks and crannies you want the part stable in your hand and not jumping around. that way you can keep the wheel focused in the area you want polished instead of jumping all around and chattering the the part up. However to each his own. all I can can go by is my 30 plus years of of doing this for a living everyday.

[thesound]

From Caswell's Online Polishing Manual:

BUFF RUNNING SPEEDS
For best results your wheel should maintain a surface speed of between 3600 & 7500 Surface Feet Per Minute. (SFPM). The higher your speed, the better and quicker your results.

Let's do some math:

1/4X6= 1.5.........1.5X1,725rpm=2,587SFPM
1/4X8= 2............2X1,725rpm=3,450SFPM
1/4X10=2.5.........2.5X1,725rpm=4,312SFPM

So going by this table, just to be in the ballpark he's gonna need to run at least a 10" wheel. And even at this size, he's gonna be on the low end of the spectrum. Larger wheels can be had, but let's be realistic: the marginal amount of torque advantage that a 1,725rpm buffer has over a 3,425rpm buffer is going to be eaten up by having to spin the extra mass of the larger wheel, (we're still only talking about 1hp here...), so in the end usable torque is gonna be about the same. Stacking wheels would be totally out of the question. By the time that 10" wheel wears down to 6", he'll be exercising futility.

If this were a money-is-no-object type situation and the guy could afford a higher hp machine that could keep the rpm's stable enough to maintain a realistic SFPM rate then I'd say go for it. When I worked at Delta Faucet we ran 10hp variable speed Baldors and 2,000rpm's on a 16" vented finger buff was prime. Although, there was always some cocky new guy who thought he could be the next Dale Earnhardt of metal finishing who would turn the machine up to 4,000rpm's or so trying to crank out parts faster than everybody else and impress the boss. All the rest of us would just look around at eachother with grins on our faces, waiting for the inevitable. Needless to say, the sound of faucet parts crashing into the inside of the metal dust collector boxes at each wheel was heard quite frequently at that place.

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by chromepl8tr

...all I can can go by is my 30 plus years of of doing this for a living everyday.

Welcome, and please stick around. Despite all our theories, there's no substitute for experience.

[thesound]

Originally Posted by mpierich

Despite all our theories, there's no substitute for experience.

Interesting. I've got a newbie from out of left field insinuating that I don't know what I'm talking about and trying to justify it by reading his resume in one corner, and a veteran who's ideas and opinions I have come to respect reducing me to the level of a theorist in the other corner.

Gee guys, I guess you got me. Looks like my career of masquerading as a buffing and polishing guy and getting to indulge in the unparalleled joy of giving out technical service help to random strangers on the internet is finally over.

[mpierich]

Originally Posted by thesound

Interesting. I've got a newbie from out of left field insinuating that I don't know what I'm talking about and trying to justify it by reading his resume in one corner, and a veteran who's ideas and opinions I have come to respect reducing me to the level of a theorist in the other corner.

Gee guys, I guess you got me. Looks like my career of masquerading as a buffing and polishing guy and getting to indulge in the unparalleled joy of giving out technical service help to random strangers on the internet is finally over.

That's silly, dude. Just because his advice conflicts with yours, and I asked him to stick around in case he really does have 30 years in, is no reason to get in a huff. Actually you were quoting Caswell...and frankly, although our gracious hosts provide a great service, they simply aren't the last word on polishing. Nobody is, I suspect.

You know as well as I do that nobody's (and I do mean nobody's) advice in here is set in stone, and what works for one will, for no apparent reason, not work for all. I have a day job I've been doing for almost 40 years - I can do it in my sleep now, and I can tell anybody all the tips and tricks they'd never think of, just because I've been around long enough to see it all.

Sorry you took offense. I certainly value your research and contributions, but one of the few things I've come to know for sure is that there really is no substitute for experience. If chromepl8ter has 30 years in, he'll jump in and clear some things up for us. If he doesn't, well...

Anyhow, life's too short. No offense was intended. Please accept my apologies for giving a wrong impression.