Beall buffing wheel accidents!

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rickbw

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Mooresville, NC, USA.
I hate to admit my inadequacies, but I struggle with buffing pens with my Beall buffing system. Don't get me wrong I love the finish when I don't ruin a pen. To explain my problem:

I have the 3 wheel Beall setup on an old Jet 1236 lathe. I turn on a straight mandrel inserted into a Beall collet chuck. After finishing turning (mostly lately poly resin pens cast by myself) I wet sand 220 - 400 - 600. I then take the pen tubes, still on the mandrel inserted into the collet chuck over to the 1236 lathe with the Beall setup. Because the wheels are so close to each other, I find myself holding the mandrel at tough angles to get the entire pen buffed across the 3 different wheels.

The issue is this: 2x out of my last 5 pens, I have had the mandrel knocked out of my hand, only to drop on the floor and crack the poly on the pen tube :(:(:(

After spending so much work to get the pen ready for buffing and then to have this happen is extremely frustrating! Has anyone else had this issue and come up with any solutions (like maybe spreading the wheels farther apart??).

Thanks,
 
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Rick,
Have you thought about using one of those tube insertion tools and putting the blanks on it so that the wheel pushes the barrel down into the "handle" portion of the tool? You can do the same thing with any of a number of other tools as well, including pieces made from scraps or a cut-off from a dowel.
 
How fast are you buffing at? What is the RPM speed? I personally think that speeds no greater than 1800 work best.

-Peter-[:)]
 
I also use the Beall system. The first thing I did was go to HD and bought myself a 3/4" threaded rod. I turned one end of the rod to fit the lathe's MT 2. The extra length allowes me more working room with the buffing wheels spaced out further from each other and center drill the other end to accept the point of the live center. I simply cut several spacing tubes from 3/4" id steel tubing and placed nuts on each end to hold everything together. I have plenty of room to get a 12" bowl on each wheel and a bit to spare for moving around.

If one is not really careful and the wheels catch the work piece, well just take my word for it when I say that the ways metl will definitely cause one to cuss, fuss, jump up and down, and be the reason for re-turning or starting all over again.

I even polish the lenses of my glasses when they get all gunked up with all that flys around the lathe. Be sure to take them from the frames first else you will be needing to get new ones all around if you suffer from a "catch." Polish the lenses slowly and just a little else you can - and will - change the prescription and focus points. [:D]
 
Slow as you can go....and if that doesn't work, use the smaller buff wheels as well. I don't have a lot of experience with the system, but have sacrificed a couple of nice pieces to it as well.

Jon
 
I've read a lot of problem with the 3-in-1 mounted beall buff...imagine if you turn bigger items like bowls.

As mentioned, keep the speed at around 1800 rpm. Buff between 7 o'clock and 8 o'clock area of the wheel (reference if you are facing the headstock).

FYI, you can buff the pen barrels pointing towards you and not parallel the bed ways [;)]. Make sure you support the piece at the bottom since that si where the buffer will throw the piece towards. You do not need to push (or jam) the item in the wheel too much...let the wheel surface do all the work...gently.

I've used mine several times and had no problem whatsoever.
 
You might consider finding a 1/4" bolt about six inches long and only buff one blank at a time. A 1/4" bolt won't fit inside a 7mm tube; but a little work with some sandpaper or a file will fix that problem. Other alternatives would be a D drill bit, a 15/64" drill bit, a piece of brass round stock or even a spare 7mm mandrel shortened to about 6".

As mentioned earlier, a moderate speed and only light pressure on the buffing wheel should solve most of your problems.
 
Not sure if it applys but try to not twist the item when buffing. Put it against the wheel move it back and forth. Pull it away from the wheel twist it and repeat.
 
I don't have the Beall buffing system. I have an adapter goes into my lathe chuck and it only holds one wheel. But, I have tried to buff pen barrels while still mounted on the mandrel in my Beall collet chuck. That thing makes buffing at least 10 times harder because it just puts way too much weight in one place. A regular mandrel is fine, but not the Beall collet chuck. I sometimes buff the barrels just holding them in my hand and have never had a problem doing it that way or with them mounted on a regular pen mandrel.
 
I don't use a multi wheel system, just one with white diamond on an old 6" grinder, but I do them one barrel at a time and leave the bushes in place as "handles" while buffing. Your problem is obviously one of space, and I can imagine it would prove very difficult if the barrels are being left on the mandrel. Obviously not a solution when doing slimlines!
 
How about this... Hold onto the mandrel.

If that doesn't work, pull the mandrel out of the collet. It should not be so tight that you cannot loosen the chuck by hand. Also, get rid of that nut on the mandrel when you hold it. The wheels can grab that nut really fast and grab it out of your hand. Last, keep the lathe speed under 1,800 as others said. I do mine at about 1,200.

When I buff, I pull the mandrel out of the collet, take the nut off and hold the bushings with my fingers as I run the prts over the wheels. There is nothing for the wheels to grab on to, so it is very easy to hold on. Plus, you can vary your finger pressure and the spinning wheels will slowly spin your blank for you on the mandrel.
 
Thanks alot for all of the input. Steps I plan on taking:

1) I will definitely slow the speed down on the lathe
2) I will remove the not and the collet when I buff (so nothing can catch)
3) I will look into somehow spreading the buffing wheels farther apart.

Thanks again!
 
I use an old pen mandrel chucked in a cordless drill. Mount the blank on the mandrel just like you do on the lathe. Run the drill on slow speed to get a uniform polish. [;)]
 
It sounds like you have to do several things. I think they have already been mentioned, but here goes anyway:

You need to ease up on everything you are doing. Slower wheel RPM, a softer entry of the wood into the spinning wheel, and use less pressure against the wheel. It might take a little longer, but you will be less likely to ruin a finish or throw the work across the room.

1. Slow down. The wheels get harder and more agressive the faster they spin. The physics of centripital force still works every time. Slow down. Run them at whatever lathe speed falls between 900 and 1200 RPM. They will cut slower, but that means they will be less likely to ruin a finish; and the results will be the same.

2. Hold the pen barrels at between 45-degrees and vertical to the wheel as you rotate them. Hold them more vertical if there isn't enough clearance between you wheels on the mandrel. There is nothing that says they have to be held across the width of the buffing wheel (parallel to the lathe bed). The wheels cut either way. Sharper edges held across the face of the buffing wheel are an invitation to having the work thrown across the room.

3. Use a lighter touch when holding the pen barrels against the buffing wheel. The pen barrel only needs to be barely touching the buffing wheel. There is no need to bury it into the wheel. Again, it might be slower, but that means it will take longer to ruin a finish, and it will be less likely to throw the pen across the room.

4. You have been advised to use a bolt or other metal rod to hold the pen barrels while buffing. This can be done, I do it, but you will have to be careful when buffing light colored woods because the buffing wheels can pick up metal particles from the rod and transfer them to the wood or finish as a dark stain. We always spend a lot of time concentrating on ways to prevent transfering a metal stain to the wood from the bushings while sanding, and we forget that we can do the same thing with the buffing wheel. It is better to use a wood dowel or nothing because there is no metal to transfer.
 
Russ,

Thanks for the input. Funny you should mention the bushing causing a stain to be transfered to the pen. I had some very nice olive wood that I was making a pen for our pastor out of and had this issue happen to me.

I had to take the pen back to the lathe and sand out the stain. I then took a 2x4 and buffed and buffed and buffed [:)] until I got the metal out of the wheel. Learned my lesson on that one!
 
When I do synthetics I don't find the need to buff. After turning and sanding I polish with Brasso and get a mirror like finish. Others use plastic polish with the same results. I like Brasso because it works and is easy to purchase locally.
 
One thing that I don't think anyone mentioned is that you get more grabs if you try to polish above the centerline of the mandrel that the wheels are on. Stay below the centerline, and light pressure, and you will seldom have a catch.

Also, use VERY little polish. If you use too much, it just builds up, heats us, and burns the finish.

Mike
 
I chose to make my own buffing system with Beall wheels. I have a Jet 1014 lathe, so I mounted two wheels on 3/4" all-thread. I kept the third wheel on the bolt it came on from Beall and it goes in the jacobs chuck. I have the Tripoli and White Diamond on the all-thread and the Carnuba wheel on the bolt. One extra step, but it made more room for my clumsy fingers. I have dropped a couple blanks and one bottle stopper, but nothing has broken for me ...... Yet [:o)]
 
I solved this exact problem by disassembling my 3-in-1 and converting them to individual wheels, utilizing the Beall hub the bowl buffs use. Since doing this, I have not had anything "ripped" out of my hands because of the lack of room between wheels.

This is my solution to this problem and it works for me. It may not work for you.

keith
 
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