Thread: Buffing questions

I recenty bought a 6" variable bench grinder from sears and have some questions. Is the rouge at sears good, or should I get it elswhere. Also, what types do I need to go from very minor pit removing to a mirror finish? I would like to achieve a perfect mirror finish at least once. Would Leo like to know the best type of buffs to use for each step. I am not wanting to eliminate hand sanding, I just want to improve my finished products.
Any advice is appreciated.

I can't comment on the sears compounds, I've never used them.

Use sisal wheels for the black (emery) compound or anything coarser, spiral sewn cotton for the rest. You can also try a loose sewn flanel for the very fine compounds or if you intend on having a "clean" buff for cleaning or waxing.

If you have pitting of any type, you'll need to use greaseless compounds and sould probably do some preliminary sanding to save time.

Be carefull and NEVER stand in front of the wheel when it's running.

Adding to Dan's advise I would urge you to wear safety glasses, get some finger cotes if you can, watch out for overheating the blade. A leather apron is always very safe to wear too. I do.

Some advise.

Get yourself a good vacuum cleaner or shop-vac. Compounds, dry or greaseless, buffing wheel fibers,... will end up anywhere you'll be using the buffer. same when you do rake the buffing wheels.
So make sure you decide for a perfect location to use it. Get a wheel rake to clean the buffing wheel every so often when they cake up from using to much compound and most important, use 1 buffing wheel for use with only one compound. Do not start mixing different compounds on the same wheel.

Learn to properly use the cut or color motion and when to use it.

Here's a basic introduction to get you started.

May the force be with you.

is a dremel style felt wheel ok to use fr this job with flitz or dremel compound?

Is a dremel felt wheel good for this job?

you can do some of this kind of work with a dremel, but the buffer is really a different animal. IME the work is much faster with a buffer (but I think a bit more dangerous too. I use my dremel for sanding out major pitting with flap wheels, then I really like going to the buffer with some greaseless compounds. I only really liked using buffing type wheels on the dremel for running over things with a quick shot of MAAS, or polishing the scales (don't use felt wheels but the loose cotton or you can burn the scales up).

Originally Posted by RollTideMach

is a dremel style felt wheel ok to use fr this job with flitz or dremel compound?

I find a dremel felt wheel to work best with the Turtle wax green rubbing compound and green or black polishing diamond paste.

The red Dremel compound doesn't cut it for me and it's extremely messy.

This off course if you're talking about the Dremel small sized felt wheels since there are also larger felt wheels available to be used on buffers/grinders.

Originally Posted by Maximilian

Adding to Dan's advise I would urge you to wear safety glasses, get some finger cotes if you can, watch out for overheating the blade. A leather apron is always very safe to wear too. I do.

Some advise.

Get yourself a good vacuum cleaner or shop-vac. Compounds, dry or greaseless, buffing wheel fibers,... will end up anywhere you'll be using the buffer. same when you do rake the buffing wheels.
So make sure you decide for a perfect location to use it. Get a wheel rake to clean the buffing wheel every so often when they cake up from using to much compound and most important, use 1 buffing wheel for use with only one compound. Do not start mixing different compounds on the same wheel.

Learn to properly use the cut or color motion and when to use it.

Here's a basic introduction to get you started.

May the force be with you.

Good info, Max. I still have to laugh at the first time I used a rake on my buffing wheels. I didn't realize until I looked in the mirror later that I looked like a young Santa Claus without a beard. I had a layer of fine white cotton fiber that had coated my whole head.

I like the denim wheels as well for buffing prior to polish.

Chris L

Originally Posted by ChrisL

I still have to laugh at the first time I used a rake on my buffing wheels. I didn't realize until I looked in the mirror later that I looked like a young Santa Claus without a beard. I had a layer of fine white cotton fiber that had coated my whole head.

Chris L

I know exactly what you're talking about... the worse is the sneezing and itching on your face as those fibers literally fly everywhere. lol

Even buffing makes you itch. I now wear a bandana or use one of those huge face protectors and it helps. Sometimes I feel like I'm dressed for a trip to the moon.

Originally Posted by Maximilian

I know exactly what you're talking about... the worse is the sneezing and itching on your face as those fibers literally fly everywhere. lol

Even buffing makes you itch. I now wear a bandana or use one of those huge face protectors and it helps. Sometimes I feel like I'm dressed for a trip to the moon.

I don't know if you guys have similar experiences or not, but I find that I need to use my respirator when I am buffing. I NEVER stand directly in front of the spinning wheel, but especially when I am using greaseless compounds to do some of the heavier work, I get headaches and a cough if I don't use my respirator. It's like I can taste the fine steel powder in the air, even when I simply cover my face with a bandana or a regular painting mask. Now I use the respirator always. Feel like Darth vader there with my respirator and my eye protection