Just made a paint roller buffer!
I bought a wool paint roller, as per Russ' suggestion. It has a 3/4" nap. Very sweet!
My plan is to make a dedicated buffer based on the paint roller. That is, it will have its own motor and stand.
In the meantime, I wanted to use the roller in my lathe. The roller has an inside diameter of about 1-1/2". This is what I did:
Turned a 6" piece of pine to 1-3/4".
Marked 3 sections: 2-1/8", 3/8", 3-1/2"
The 3/8" was left at the 1-3/4" diameter.
The 3-1/2" section was turned to fit inside the paint roller. I put a slight taper at the end.
I measured a #2 Morse taper, and turned that at the 2-1/8" end. I turned the taper about 1/16" oversized, and used coarse sandpaper to bring to size until it fit just right.
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Looks crude in the pic, but this is just my prototype! [
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I was going to turn a plug for the other end of the paint roller, to fit in the live center, but I found that my live center is a perfect fit for the roller's end. So this part has been postponed.
I think this is going to work great!
Total cost, $9 for the paint roller, scrap wood, some shellac.