polishing aluminum with a hand drill

[rancidnsx]

I am deciding on what handrill to get.
I will be polishing aluminum car wheels.
What is the max RPM I should look for in a drill, and what is a good model to buy?

[berad001]

I'm no expert, but you want around 3000RPM and the more amps the better. Are you just polishing your wheels, or are you polishing other peoples wheels too? They've got machines specific for polishing wheels and they do it ALOT faster than you're ever going to do them.

[rancidnsx]

I will be doing a few of my personal sets....not looking to do a bunch of wheels, maybe a set every few weeks.

[gagnon]

hey berad001,

What kind of machine are talking about just want to know by curiosity.

tkx!

[berad001]

hey berad001,

What kind of machine are talking about just want to know by curiosity.

tkx!

Not sure who makes them, but I've seen them being used. The wheel locks into it face up, it spins slowly and the machine lowers a pretty large buff onto the face of the wheel and polishes it.

[gagnon]

Ok, i no what you are talking about. The company who make's those machine is name is Marlin, but they have discotinnued there product for the year 2004.

[84Supra]

I also the same question. The only thing I will be polishing is my one set of wheels and then possibly clear coating. I want to get my set of wheels to a mirror like finish. I have just finished cleaning and stripping the clear coat off of them. I will begin hand sanding tomorrow starting at around 400 grit all the way up to 2000, by hand. Since I will only be doing my one set of wheels I see no reason to purchase a large buffing machine which is pricey for so little use.

I have pretty much decided on purchasing the Aluminum polishing kit from caswell. It states that it is designed for polishing parts using electric drills. I would like to know what the best drill for this kit would be? and anybody that has had success using a drill, what did you use?

I currently have 3 old "skil" brand drills which don't spin very fast and I know will blow up from the punishment of polishing and would like to know the best new drill to get for polishing. I have read the polishing manual on the website and according to it, using a 4" wheel (provided in the kit) I need a drill that can maintain a speed of 3600-7500 rpm (4" wheel equates to multiply drill speed by 1). where can I buy one of these "super drills" to get good results?? most drills I have seen have a max, no load speed of 2,800ropm.

I'm confused, hope somebody can send me in the right direction

[customandsound]

go to caswell's site and read the how to buff section .. it will help you out

[84Supra]

I've read it and as i said before, haven't seen a drill that has high enough rpm for proper polishing speeds according to to guide. and yet, the polishing kit says it is designed for electric drills.

Caswell or somebody that has had success using an electric drill, I would definatley like some input on what to buy.

[jtagger19]

I have a craftman 3000 RPM drill cost me $60 at SEARS
and use mushroom buffsfrom 1" to 4"
and a dremel with felt bobs
you can scratch the surface easy if you are not carefull with the nut on the drill wheels

[84Supra]

what about something like this? assuming that the screw attachment cna be taken out to reveal a normal chuck. Drywall Drill - Click Here

[customandsound]

the best thing to use for the kit is a electric die grinder sears got them for 90 buck's .. caswell sells a shaft mounted motor for some where around 100. it has been a while since i looked at it so the prices may have changed.. i used a drill one time with polishing wheels and i did not like the out come of the product.. so it was to a die grinder and a flex shaft i paid 40 bucks for the shaft hooked up a adapter to and mounted a 1/2" chuck from a drill and the motor was a old buffing machine .. so that way i had a dual set up .. i used the die grinder on the flat and bigger spot's then switched to the fleax shaft for the innser parts and samer detail areas.. feel free to email me and i will try to dig up a pic of the set up !!!

[wonbadmfer]

if you have an air compressor i recomend a small strieght grinder like 1 that you would use cutt off wheels with

you can get them at wal-mart for about $15.00 it spins at about 2000-3000rpms and the chuck hole on it is 1/4 in the size of most arbors



good luck

Bad Bikes By Eric

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[chrisk]

ive used air powered die grinders and i find that they stall too easy. And Im running off a huge commercial compressor so i dont think compressor output is the issue.
I started with an electric drill that didnt put out the speeds listed and it worked OK. You can still get a mirror shine but not quite the same quality with stronger, faster motors. I currently use a 1hp benchgrinder with a flexi shaft for wheels.
If you wanna just do a set of your own wheels instead of coughing up bucks for a pro to do it it seems silly to invest more in gear than a polish job would cost you. Unless youre gonna work on a show car Im sure you'll be happy enough with the results from a drill for prettying up a street car.

[pickleboy]

if you have air use an air drill. i use a 1/2" air drill and it has lots of torque not as fast as i would like but it is much stronger than a die grinder