What Buffing system.

[boysie39]

I was wondering what way you turners that have buffing wheels set them up for useing.
I read on another forum where some have the three wheels mounted on a shaft that is
set up between centers on the lathe. Questions

What do you use and
what way do you set it up if any.
I have never used any buffing system so look fwd. to your advice.
Can finishes such as Woodwax ,Microcrystelian or whatever be applied with buffing wheels .
How to get the best results with buffing wheels :?: :?: .

 

[Blister]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oulHXWmIrI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbFOKk3T ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZRuPwFv ... re=related

lots to see :mrgreen:

 

[cambournepete]

Chestnut system with their blocks.

 

[John. B]

Hello Eugene,

I use a Beal system, I bought it from the American site a couple of years ago, and opted for the 'one at a time' mounting.

This a small device that fits in a chuck, in my case the 'C' jaws of my Multistar. It's easy to use however, but in hindsight given the choice again,

I would opt for the bar with all three mops mounted together.

The first mop uses Tripoli, the second mop uses White Diamond, and the third uses Carnuba. All these come in bar form and easy to apply.

You just start up the wheel and apply the bar to the running mop.

The mops are made in different form ie stitched, loose, different materials etc.

The mops when new need to be 'dressed' that's applying very rough sandpaper to get rid of loose threads, even up the surface etc.

It's a learning curve to use them successfully but can get good results.

John. B

 

[CHJ]

Eugene, you have a PM.

I use individual mops on a stub arbor mounted in my chuck. I also use smaller domed mops for bowl internals that the larger mops will not fit.

I personally would not go for a long shaft with multiple mops fitted, OK for metal polishing but very restricting in gaining access to wood items where the ability to pass a piece across the front of the mop is often needed.

All my recent items are finished with it.

This mornings bowl took about 10 minutes to polish.

I only ever sand down to 240 grit as a norm, occasionally 320.
Seal with cellulose sanding sealer, surplus wiped off before it's dried and then burnished with a cotton rag on the lathe.

1. Blend any sealer streaks and raised grain nibs with the Tripoli abrasive loaded wheel.

2. Then move on to the Medium wheel loaded with White diamond abrasive, this cleans up the dark residue left by the Tripoli and adds a finer polish.

3. Final treatment is with the soft mop loaded with Canuaba Wax, you apply the wax to the wheel so that it transfers to the piece.

An alternate to the Canuaba is Chestnuts Microcrystalline wax.
In fact to be honest I coat with canuaba and then finish with the MC. as I think the Canuaba adds depth and the MC adds a fingerprint and moisture resistant finish.

My finishing mops are obviously loaded with both so that if I just use the final mop on a piece it would result in a fine polish without having to use any additional wax If I were to do so.

The only difference with the two waxes is that the Canuaba has to be applied to the mop as it needs the friction heat to melt it, the Microcrystalline is wiped on to the piece as you would WW22, you then need to leave it 10 minutes or so for the solvents to evaporate before buffing to melt the hard wax and blend.

WW22 will buff with the wheel but because it is a soft paste wax based on bees wax it will never give you the handling marks resistance of the higher melting point waxes.

 

[Hesh]

I was lucky enough to get the Chestnut system for Christmas and have since added the domed mops to the set. I have them mounted on the arbor one at a time which takes seconds to change and am more than happy with the results. I think there is a bit of trial and error involved in order not to overload with compounds but hopefully I've managed to work that out now.
I keep mine in on of those see through plastic boxes with a lid just to keep the dust out.
Thinking about the set up where you have all three mounted at the same time I don't know whether I would gain anything doing it that way, I would have to take them all off anyway for storage so am struggling to see any benefits unless I'm missing something that is.
I was interested to read CHJ's post above regarding the micro crystaline wax on the same wheel as the canuba as I have so far avoided doing that for fear of ruining the wheel. But having seen the results achieved I think I'll be more than happy to give it a go rather than buy another wheel which I was going to do.

Steve

 

[henton49er]

For those who are interested, Ockenden Timber (http://www.ockenden-timber.co.uk/index. ... ts_id=1119) have the Chestnut system at 10% off the usual price, at £48.37 plus postage).

Mike

 

[Jonzjob]

I use a Beal system with the 3 wheels and 3 small mops. I opted for the small mops because you can do the inside of vertually any bowl with them whatever size.

I have my Beal arbor mounted on the old motor from my CL1. The MT1 fitting was removed and the shaft size is 5/8', the same as the old motor shaft and a perfect fit. The motor speed is 1400 rpm and the correct speed for the wheels. I also drilled a hole through the arbour to put a tommy bar through to release the wheels or mops without having to hold the arbour.

The 3 wheels and mops are totally linen for the Tripoly, 50/50 linen/cotton for the W Diamond and totally cotton for the carnuba. What ever else you do DON't drop the carnuba! It shatters and goes everywhere But with some ali foil, a small saucepan and some boiling water you can make a mould and remelt the bits into a lump again :x :x

Wheels and mops stored on the wall behind the lathe

Motor mounted on a simple frame with some of my 'famous' welding? The 3rd hole in the arbour is for the tommy bar

Ready for action without having to touch the lathe

Handy having that motor available at the right time. Before that I had the system mounted on my lathe using the MT1 spigot and secured with the tailstock, but it was a real pain if I had anything I needed to get inside of and of course the t/stock couldn't be used with the mops.

 

[CHJ]

The Chestnut Arbor fits straight into most scroll chucks with or without the auxiliary jaws fitted.

I house my mops in a little cupboard alongside the lathe, it has a front cover fitted when not in use, one thing you don't want is a stray wood shaving caught up in one of the mops, a moments inattention and you can spend some considerable time removing the resultant bruises and scratches from the work piece.

it's somewhat fuller now as I have a selection of domed mops and smaller straight ones.

Be very cautious if you are tempted to use a small straight mop inside a bowl or similar, or the big mops for that matter in a large bowl, it is very easy to allow the fixing bolt head to come into contact with the inner base of the bowl.
Using Domed mops avoids this of course and allows for greater ease of access into smaller items.

 

[boysie39]

Thanks to all who replyed . A great insight into the world of buffing . I think the Chestnut system looks the flavour of the month .
Will check with suppliers over here and if available will order tomorrow .
Geez, I sure am lucky I thought I had nothing else left to buy :roll: . It can get depressing to have thoughts like that . :mrgreen:

 

[Jonzjob]

Don't forget that you can buff more than chestnuts with it though Boysie :roll: :roll:

 

[cornucopia]

Hi Eugene

I use mops and compounds from the polishing shop
I dont buff much wood- i tend to use them on acrylic and amalgam mutt box's- but its the same process
I use three sorts- as listed in the middle of this page
I belive the mops are cheaper than the "systems" and the compounds seem to last for ever

 

[Lightweeder]

I use the Chestnut system - only one I've used so can't really compare. Frequently, I get to wheel B and find I missed a bit, so have to rever to wheel A, so the all on one bar system would be usefulo, but otherwise I couldn't be without it. I must say, the Beal domed wheels look a better shape than the Chestnut, but otherwise, no complaints.

 

[boysie39]

George , thanks for your advice ,I had a look at the site and realised that one would have to know whay one was looking for. As I havent a clue what I needed,
I thought the Chestnut one was the safest one to go for . :roll: :roll:
Trying to source a supplier over here that have them in stock it will probley be next week before I have one, something to look fwd. to. :mrgreen:

 

[OldWood]

Glad I found this thread - it's an area I've been wondering about for some time.

Can I ask the question - what speed do you buff at ? I liked John's separate motor idea but worry slightly about how fast that must be going.

Rob

 

[CHJ]

Speeds:
Maximum speeds used depends a lot on the construction of the particular brand of mops and how the cloth is retained at the core, but judging by what I have experienced there is little chance of them flying apart at speeds you can sensibly use them at.

For my (Chestnuts) 200mm mops I use at a basic 1200 RPM, this is sometimes taken up to 1400 or so but more often lowered to 750-800 to allow the mop to flex well into cavities and give less risk of snatching a piece out of your hands.
The 'stiffness' of the three mops due to centrifugal force varies because of the composition, the softer finishing mops needing more speed if attempting to maintain the same stiffness but that is rarely needed.
Other brands may need slight adjustments but I would suspect that the variations in personal methods of use would be more significant than the Brand type.

Smaller mops such as the 100mm straight & domed versions I find perform well at something around 1600-1800 RPM to increase the surface speed and subsequent friction heat for the polish and by their very nature gain less flexibility at lower speeds due to the small fabric length from the clamping spindle.

 

[Hesh]

Rob,
I buff at 1450 which seems to do the job for me and a lot of the motors I'm looking at (1/2 hp) seem to be around about that speed.

Steve

 

[OldWood]

Rob,
I buff at 1450 which seems to do the job for me and a lot of the motors I'm looking at (1/2 hp) seem to be around about that speed.

Steve

Hi Steve - standard speed for 4 pole induction motor. 2 pole = 2800; 6 pole = 930, etc. Anything more than 4 pole is a bit of a rarity now though as it is cheaper to use pulleys than make motors with lots of copper.

 

[Hesh]

OldWood, thanks for that I'll have another look. I'm thinking of a seperate motor for the chestnut system so will have to ensure i get the right one. The other option is to use the headstock of my current lathe once I get my new one as I know everything works. The only problem with that of course is that I may need to sell one to buy the other.............

Steve

 

[CHJ]

.... I'm thinking of a seperate motor for the chestnut system so will have to ensure i get the right one. ...

The Chestnut main mandrel is designed to clamp in your four jaw chuck on your lathe.
The small mandrel fits in a pillar drill or electric hand drill jacobs style chuck.

Neither mandrel is designed to fit on a shaft.

As you will not be using your lathe chuck whilst you are buffing why would you need to have a separate motor, especially if you have a variable speed lathe, it gives you more flexibility in mop performance.