Help with a Buffing Decision

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Buzzzz4

Buzzzz4

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Dec 7, 2008
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Grand Rapids, Mi
I've been looking at the different options for buffing on my lathe. I'm down to the Beall 3 wheel system and the 2 wheel Barry Gross system. Any tips or pointers either way would be much appreciated. I do a lot of acrylic and CA finishes and also looking at Poly finish. Thanks in advance for any assistance.
 
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I have the Beal and love it. But to be honest I rarely use the first wheel. I White diamond and wax.
 
We use the Beal and actually use all three wheels. One is for a blue compound that is specific for plastic. White Diamond for the center and wax for the third.
 
I hate all of the changing the lathes back and forth. Additionally, I like buffing off of the lathe because getting the lathe bed, tool rests, duct collection hoods out of the way allows me to do a better job buffing.

I bought the PSI buffing station. It goes to 7,000 rpms and in my setup is much easier to use. One word of advice, throw away the PSI buff wheels and go to Carlilse and get the good flannel and cotton wheels. Those wheels are great. IMHO, these pads put the Beall system to shame AND they cost less.
 
I just have to be different, I use an old wool sock and good polishing compound after the full range of MM. Learned to use wool in the body / clean-up shops. A final coat of mirror glaze and a fly trying to land will break his legs. YMMV of course. Oh yes, I do it ll on the lathe over a towel to protect the bed.
Charles
 
I use the Beal 3 wheels with the quick change adapter on an old motor mounted on a 4X4 post making a portable stand alone buffing station. The wheels are quick to change out with the adapter. The set up has worked very well and I have used it for a lot of things other than pens.
 
Agree with Pen Man, get a buffer from CraftSupplies or PSI and go, changing back and forth I think would be a pain. I did not buff until about a year ago and what a difference, especially black. I have told GR Woodcraft they need to get some buffers in to sell but I do not think they have to date.
 
Eric -- Jerry Bealle and Barry Gross are "integrators" who are marketing off the shelf products from different sources into a package. That is not bad, but it likely is not the best available for the specifics you are going to do. Simple yes.

Separate power source is good if you can handle it -- I use the headstock from an old 3/4 by 16 lathe.

I avoid the three on one shaft systems because of the ease of contaminating finer polish wheels with more coarse abrasives. Only takes once to scratch an acrylic to make the "aha" stick.

As noted above you will want a separate wheel for polishing acrylics and plastics. Flannel wheels are better for final polish and wax.

Those in the polishing trade have provided some good info in prior threads. Take a look if you want to learn the best of the business for what we do.
 
PenMan1 said:
I hate all of the changing the lathes back and forth.
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I bought a new lathe while the old one was being repaired. When the old lathe was fixed I set it up as a 'dedicated buffing station' with the PSI 3 wheel buffing system. Haven't used it yet since I put it together right before I had knee replacement surgery. I'm now waiting for a little warmer weather!

Dan
 
Lots of good suggestions and thanks for the link. I was looking for it, but for some reason the search wasn't turning up anything. Looks like I will be looking at a dedicated system. I wasn't thinking about getting the tool rest out of the way and what it takes to do that.
 
witz1976 said:
Eric I am not sure if you remember this thread that George posted a while ago...but here is a good conversation on buffing.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55476
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While I have the 3 wheel Beall Buffing System, I took George's advice with respect to his thread and built another 3 wheeler. I have never used my Beall again.
attachment.php

This is my permanent buffing station using Formax Buffing Compound http://www.formaxmfg.com/plastic-buffing-wheel-bar-compounds sold by my Caswell dealer. I use the Plastic-Glo Ultra-fine Dry (515-6163) first, and then the Plastic Compound Extra-Fine (515-6165) next. All my pens both wood & acrylics, are buffed using this system. I only dry sand to 600 grit both across and with the grain. For the acrylics I may do an extra sanding with 0000 steel wool. Then it's on to the buffer. You can see the wax sticks on the bench, I also apply them to my CA finished wood pens.

All in all I am very pleased with this system.
 

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I use the single wheel system as I started off turning bowls and the 3 wheel system would not work for these. I can see the 3 wheel system would be good for smaller things. JMTC.

Lin.
 
Has anyone ever used the Beall one wheel with the adaptor on their lathe instead of on an additional motor? I can't seem to find any older motors that would work and I really didn't want to spend an additional $120 for a motor on top of the cost of the buffing system. Just curious.
 
Go to HF and pick their 6" buffer. Catch it on sale and use the 20% off coupon. A friend of mine got one for something like $32. It's a nice motor for that cost, just replace the wheels with quality ones and get some quality compound.
All together, it will be less than the cost of the buff system for your lathe that you will be cursing at when you have to keep taking it off and putting it on the lathe.
Just my opinion...
 
Wander around the yard sales this spring (if it ever comes) and look for an old grinder as long as the motor runs. Take the grinding wheels off and install your buffing wheels. You now have a dedicated 2 wheel buffing station for next to nothing. Harbour freight has 2 wheel grinders for $32.
 
Rick_G said:
Wander around the yard sales this spring (if it ever comes) and look for an old grinder as long as the motor runs. Take the grinding wheels off and install your buffing wheels. You now have a dedicated 2 wheel buffing station for next to nothing. Harbour freight has 2 wheel grinders for $32.
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Grinders aren't good for buffing. The shafts are too short... makes it hard to get an even stroke. Why pay $32 for a grinder when you can have a buff motor for the same price? The shafts are plenty long for pens too.
 
I use the Beale 3 wheel system on my lathe and love it. I do all of my turning, sanding and CA application and set the finished parts aside. When I have finished I then put the Beale system on and do my buffing.
 
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