buffing/polishing wheel help

nelsonlake81 · Post by **nelsonlake81** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:38 pm

I m trying to find out how to make my own polishing and buffing wheels. I read in one of the threads here or at the 10 er group Im sure it was here but could be wrong. Someone wrote about makieng there own but I cant remember what type of fabric they used and I cant find the thread it was in it wasnt what the thread was about but cant find it with the advanced search either.
What I can remember is that there are about 30 circles (of the fabric) I think 7 1/2 inch diameter cant remember if he stiched them together or what.
Im trying to shine up everything I can on the ER.
Im happy with the way it looks after just using a wire wheel and polishing by hand but I just want it to look new or better than new not sure if the way tubes were polished to a mirror finish when new or not.
I did see the pictures of the chrome one but thats a bit much for the shop.
Any help would be great thanks for your time.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 12:45 pm

nelsonlake81 wrote:I m trying to find out how to make my own polishing and buffing wheels. I read in one of the threads here or at the 10 er group Im sure it was here but could be wrong. Someone wrote about makieng there own but I cant remember what type of fabric they used and I cant find the thread it was in it wasnt what the thread was about but cant find it with the advanced search either.
What I can remember is that there are about 30 circles (of the fabric) I think 7 1/2 inch diameter cant remember if he stiched them together or what.
Im trying to shine up everything I can on the ER.
Im happy with the way it looks after just using a wire wheel and polishing by hand but I just want it to look new or better than new not sure if the way tubes were polished to a mirror finish when new or not.
I did see the pictures of the chrome one but thats a bit much for the shop.
Any help would be great thanks for your time.

Are you there Mike?

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:20 pm

nelsonlake81 wrote:I m trying to find out how to make my own polishing and buffing wheels. I read in one of the threads here or at the 10 er group Im sure it was here but could be wrong. Someone wrote about makieng there own but I cant remember what type of fabric they used and I cant find the thread it was in it wasn't what the thread was about but cant find it with the advanced search either.
What I can remember is that there are about 30 circles (of the fabric) I think 7 1/2 inch diameter cant remember if he stitched them together or what.
I'm trying to shine up everything I can on the ER.
I'm happy with the way it looks after just using a wire wheel and polishing by hand but I just want it to look new or better than new not sure if the way tubes were polished to a mirror finish when new or not.
I did see the pictures of the chrome one but thats a bit much for the shop.
Any help would be great thanks for your time.

nelsonlake81 (the woodworker formally known as woodartist).....Can't help much with details of the process used to make the wheels but I can tell you the ones I used were made of 100% cotton. The wheels were made of .010 thick / ~100 threads per inch cloth. Both the spiral sewn and loose cotton wheels used the same cotton fabric and the flannel wheel uses.......flannel. There are 40 ply per wheel which works out to about 1/2" wide at the working surface.

The max diameter of the wheels is based on your grinder. Mine supports 8" and I would think that the max size has to do with the horsepower of your grinder. Mine is a 1/3HP and 8" was as high as I would want to go. Any larger and you'll tax your motor. I've used 4" and they work OK but take a lot longer to polish.

If your making them, figure on about 3 yds of fabric for each 8" diameter wheel. An obvious concerned is keeping the ID and OD concentric throughout the process. This means some kind of cutting die for cut-out and a staging fixture while sewing. Oh, and hopefully, you have a sewing machine that can handle 40 ply of fabric unless your going to use fabric glue.

Good luck. If you get overwhelmed, check these out for $4.87..... http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=46261

horologist · Post by **horologist** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:12 pm

Nelson,

Far be it for me to discourage you from making these yourself but it will be likely be much cheaper to buy them. Mike covered the construction of the wheel well. I have some 50 ply cotton wheels, some with chamois, and other types of material. I also use hard felt wheels and wheels with bristles. You will want one for each type of abrasive you use.

For an idea of the range of polishing material available take a look at

http://www.julesborel.com/

The search function on the page is having trouble but you can get to the catalog through the Products link.

Be careful with these, especially the larger diameter ones, when they grab a part they fling it pretty hard and you don't want to have your fingers hooked in the part. Always hold a ring shaped item by hte edge.

Also I would suggest a dust mask, these things generate a lot of airborne fibers.

The way tubes don't need to be polished and I would recommend looking at

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=3043&page=2

for a description of Mike's clever home made lathe. If you have a lathe I can describe my procedure that requires two people and uses a live, dead center.

Troy

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:39 pm

horologist wrote:... a live, dead center.

Troy

A what???

Sounds like an oxymoron to me!:)

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:41 pm

a1gutterman wrote:A what??? Sounds like an oxymoron to me!:)

The center is live(the person holding onto the tube) until it gets away from them, then......

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:53 pm

a1gutterman wrote:A what??? Sounds like an oxymoron to me!:)

The center is live(the person holding onto the tube) until it gets away from them, then......

Here is an alternative(IF you have a functioning ss available).

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... stcount=16

horologist · Post by **horologist** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:46 pm

JPG got it right, the live, dead center is me. A 4 Jaw chuck at one end with me holding the free end of the tube with a towel and running the lathe at about 100rpm. My dad did the sanding. Sounds a bit dodgy but actually worked quite well, the 4 jaw holds the tube quite securely and we have used this procedure for two Shopsmiths so far.

Troy

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:51 pm

horologist wrote:JPG got it right, the live, dead center.....
My dad did the sanding. Troy

8iowa = horologist dad??

horologist · Post by **horologist** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:32 am

mickyd wrote:8iowa = horologist dad??

Yes.

Nice photo on your public profile.
I had a similar landing on my one and only balloon flight. It was so windy they almost canceled the event and one group ended up getting pulled into a small lake.