Polyethylene buffing tent

I've been setting up a workshop for restoring razors. The only available space is a big laundry room that doubles as a storage area and also has book shelves lining the walls. So, how to use a buffer without getting buffing dust all over everything?

Four retractable walls of 6 mil polyethylene:

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The polyethylene sheets are attached at the bottom to wooden poles. Axels with eye hooks are attached to the ends of the poles, and ropes are attached to the hooks. The ropes are routed through eye hooks at the top of the sheet. To raise the sheet, one pulls on the end of the rope. The principle is more or less like that of a sail on a sailboat.

Strips of Velcro along the edges hold the sheets together when the walls are let down.

It will be close inside the plastic walls. I'll wear a respirator and behind the buffer place a cardboard box with the hose of a dust collector attached to it. Also, taking a tip from another thread, I got a square floor fan and taped a furnace air filter to the back. The fan will help cool off the work space and also trap the dust that the dust collector doesn't catch.

Lot of work to set up the plastic tent, but I'm glad I did it. I spent a few hours last night hand-sanding a razor, using wine corks as backing pieces, and this morning felt incipient tendonitis in arm and hand. I'll limit the hand-sanding.

Joe

I like it. I still don't think my wife would allow me to do it :)

It reminds me of that scene in Snatch where they have the guy tied up in the plastic sheeted room and they're sharpening their butcher knives and Errol says "I think we should drip dry him governor"

Nice job. That is an awesome design.

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Originally Posted by RoyalCake

It reminds me of that scene in Snatch where they have the guy tied up in the plastic sheeted room and they're sharpening their butcher knives and Errol says "I think we should drip dry him governor"

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I got the idea from the TV series Dexter. He was a serial killer who always put up a polyethylene tent within which to murder his victims (who were themselves usually themselves killers). No blood splatter left behind.

I was making the work table and couldn't get it through the door to the outside. So I built a Dexter tent. That one had no roll up walls, but it did have one opening using Velcro, to get in and out.

Joe

Looks like it will work well.
I have a room with a wood shop in it that is closed off from the rest of the house. The dust in there will never be removed. When they tear the house down, the guys will comment on the room as being a dusty as hell spot. LOL
What brand buffing machine is that?

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Originally Posted by Neckbone

What brand buffing machine is that?

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It's a Stark two-speed, ten inch. I watched some videos that warned against getting a one-speed/high-speed buffer. I gather that running it always on the lower speed is the way to go.

Here's what the set-up looks like with the tent sides rolled up:

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It's not ideal, While setting it all up, I thought wistfully of having a whole room, a concrete floor, plenty of elbow room. This arrangement will be sort of like living in a ship's cabin, where every inch of space has to be calculated. I read once about a naturalist on board a ship in the nineteenth century. He shared a cabin with one other person. To eat, they had to move the hammocks out of the way and set up a table. The naturalist also used the table for dissecting specimens. He lived that way for nearly five years. If I start feeling cramped and frustrated, I'll think of him.

The shelves to the right of the work table hold a lot of the equipment and materials for restoration. There are also shelves behind the chair where I can put the buffer and other equipment, including the belt/disc sander. The drill press and scroll saw have to be stored in the bigger shelves to the right of the washing machine. That means getting them out and setting them up when I need to use them. That's when I'll especially feel the lack of a full room for a workshop. One nice thing, though, is that the washer and dryer can be converted quickly to a work bench. A platform made of multiple layers of heavy cardboard, wrapped in plastic provides a stable surface and protects the surface of the washer and dryer.

Joe

Clever design! But it does remind me of Dexter....

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Originally Posted by Noxa

Clever design! But it does remind me of Dexter....

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Well, you know, if I ever need to murder someone, I have the room, and the cutlery too. . . .

I guess asking your wife to use a laundromat so you can have the washer/dryer space wouldn't work?

I know about space squeeze. My wood shop has all the large tools in it (cab saw, jointer, drill press, router table, band saw, etc), but shelving in an outer room has mini lathe, routers, osc sander, planner, plate jointer, jigs, and arm-carry stuff like that. Everything in a large room, set up ready to go with a flip of the switch is dream material.

Your setup looks very usable and the dust tent is clever. I wouldn't want to make a lot of dust in that multi-use area.

Got a boat?

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Originally Posted by Noxa

Got a boat?

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Only in my dreams.

Joe

...just don't tell me your name is Dexter and you work with splatted patterns :D

very innovative idea, which I can totally relate to (my work-shack is a dinning room)

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Originally Posted by miha

...just don't tell me your name is Dexter and you work with splatted patterns :D

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I did once mix iron oxide and razor oil and try to use it as a buffing agent with a felt pad on a Dremel. Red splatters everywhere. That's the sort of mistake one tends to make only once.

Joe

Very well done.

Does the Velcro separate easily?

When i have tried velcro in the past I usually tear the plastic because the velcro has so much "stick". Or, the velcro has more stick than the adhesive. I used (well, tried) velcro from JoAnne Fabrics.

Dave

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Originally Posted by rolodave

Very well done.

Does the Velcro separate easily?

When i have tried velcro in the past I usually tear the plastic because the velcro has so much "stick". Or, the velcro has more stick than the adhesive.

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The Velcro zips apart quite easily. Perhaps it would tear thin polyethylene. You can get throw-away polyethylene drop cloths at .3 mil--very thin and easily torn. I got the thickest I could find, 6 mil, which is used to cover lumber or heavy equipment. Once the glue is pressed in hard on the Velcro, trying to remove it will tear even the 6 mil polyethylene. But I don't plan to remove it. So long as one is just unzipping it, it presents no danger of tearing the thick sheeting.

Joe