buffing- lathe based or seperate buffer

[Michael Schneider]

I was reading another thread on buffing and was curious what people recommended: lathe mounted buffer or 2 wheel buffer.

Next month woodcraft is doing 15% of Rikon and they have $99 buffer.

That seemed like a nice approach for pretty low $$$.

Any thoughts of using a rikon buffer vs #2 MT mounted buffer in lathe.


Thanks
Michael

[John King]

Don't over think/analyze this. Buffing is pretty simple and straight forward. All you need is power to rotate the buffing wheel(s) at +/- 1725 rpm. With proper adapters, lathe meets the requirements. Pass on the Rikon buffer. Use the money for more woodturning tools. - John

[Curtis Myers]

I started with a lathe mount buffing wheels. Then got a dedicated buffer where the wheels are about 2 feet apart from each other. No longer use the lathe buffers.

[Marvin Hasenak]

When I was still doing production work and time was important, I had separate buffers, one for each compound and wax. I had a total of 6 buffers, the only time "wasted" from one compound or wax to the next was flipping the switch on the motors. Now, that I am really retired and rarely do shows I take my time. 4 of my buffers were given away, I only have 2 left, 1 is for compounds, the other for waxing. But I usually just set up the buffing wheels on the lathe.

[Thomas Canfield]

I really like my 1 1/4"T x12" L buffing shaft used on my Powermatic 3520B. It allows getting inside large bowls and most hollow forms. I have cheated and done some 3/8"threaded rod extension for buffs inside deeper hollow forms. I don't see how you can buff inside a 14" or so bowl with a dedicated buffing machine and short shaft. I also usually buff Tripoli at 1800 rpm and buff wax at about 1200 rpm which would require a variable speed buffing machine.

[Michael Schneider]

Thanks for the feedback. John, you are correct about over analyzing the problem.

Guys, thanks for pointing out the variable speed on the lathe. I don't do production work, and space is always at a premium.

I ended up ordering the bealle 8" buffer set and the 4" bobs along with the holdfast 1 1/2x8" buffer shaft for direct mounting on the lathe. To bad there is no longer a 12" that Don Pencil offered.'

basicly this system http://www.aswoodturns.com/2015/09/buffing-system/


Thanks again guys,
Michael

[Leo Van Der Loo]

As I was telling in the other thread, I went with individual buffing wheels for a couple of reasons, turning larger bowls and trying to polish under a rod held in/on the lathe is awkward at best and the piece is easily bumped against the ways or the rod itself, next deeper bowls can’t be done on the inside, so I went with separate buffing wheels.

Next was the need to exchange the different polishing wheels and the different size wheels, as the big wheels cant get into the smaller bowls or forms and the small wheels do not work well on the large bowls, so more different sizes and types.

Then polishing pieces that were on the lathe and spinning, that’s where I used the variable drills for, so between the variable lathe speed and the variable speed of the drill I can choose just about any speed.

Next was the polisher that I made from an electric motor and a drill chuck, and of course I should be able to do larger bowls, so where some think that this is not possible, I just made a couple of pictures to show that even a 20” bowl can be polished with a fairly short shaft polisher.

I do have some 12” t0 17” bowls sitting that are already finished, but this 20” bowl was right there to use so that’s what I used.

This bowl is not sanded yet, but good to show that one can polish/buff a large bowl on a fairly short shaft polisher.
341516 341517 341518

Here is to show how I can use a variable speed drill (0 to 3100 RPM) to buff any size bowl inside or outside, as well as on a lathe mounted bowl or HF.
341519 341520

[robert baccus]

All the above is good advice. Personally I prefer to leave bowls and vases mounted on their glueblock and sand, finish, compound and wax on the lathe. Liquid compounds and waxes probably buff out easier in this method that hard wax sticks but smaller pieces will work with hard waxes. Sometimes a soft cone in the tailstock is needed for high rpm's.

[John K Jordan]

I use three Beale wheels each on separate MT2 mandrels. I personally don't like the three wheels on a shaft since there is not enough clearance around them.

I also have a long aluminum buffer shaft which works well for insides. Note that you can make one any length. Frank Penta once made me one with a piece of turned wood held in a lathe chuck with a threaded insert on the end to hold a buffing wheel.

I also use some stand-alone buffers but mostly for metals since I want to keep those away from my wood lathe.

JKJ

[Dane Riley]

I use a ~11" piece of hardwood threaded for my spindle one end, and on the other,threaded for the bolt the washers that came with my HF 3 8" buffing wheel kit came with fits. Works great.