Difference in Buffing machines...

[dwoodru1]

I am thinking about buying a buffing machine, because my 1/3 HP bench grinder is not cutting it (pun intended). I am a little concerned, though, about going with a 3/4 HP or 2 HP because it might be "too fast". I use gloves when I polish stuff, and sometimes it's hard to hold on to the object. Is the higher HP's going to make it that much harder because they will spin faster? Help is appreciated.

[merc56]

I don't pretend to know a whole lot about different buffers but I recently purchased a 1.5hp 8" buffer from Sears online and love it. The parts still get hot to the touch, but I don't wear gloves either. :O I think if you look into the information about various buffers I think that you will find that the horsepower allows you to apply more pressure without the machine bogging down. Mine is rated at 3450 rpm I believe, so are a lot of 3/4 hp buffers that I saw. I chose the 1.5 hp instead because it was an extra $50.00. Hope this helps.

[txturbo]

HP has nothing to do with RPM. There are only a few different motor speeds(1750 & 3450 that I can think of right now) but lots of different HP ratings. Higher HP means it will take more load to slow it down. If you need higher speed you need to use a bench mandrel with different size pulleys on the motor shaft and spindle.

[chromo]

I don't think speed is the issue with Hp. Less Hp will bog down under a load where more Hp will keep on spinning.

Many tools run at the same speeds but come in lots of different Hp.

I think the thing you will see with a higher HP machine is you can apply more presure and do larger areas than with the lower Hp ones.

A 1/3hp you can only run one wheel, but a 2hp you should be able to stack 3 wheels or so and do a wider area at a time.

Also with the higher Hp if you want you can apply more presure (with in reason) to the part and cut it faster at the same motor speed. Of course with more presure you will most likely get more heat. When I used to polish range handles for plating at a chroming company I would apply fairly hard presure to cut the orange peel and get into tight spots then a light pressure to buff the handle to a high shine. If we would have had a Low Hp buffer you'd be there all day

Chromo