Topic: This buffing isn't turning out to be the fun I thought it would - observatios

[Kong]

I bought a buffing machine and supplies* a while back and it arrived this past week.  I bolted it down and put on some wheels right away.  I had already read up on procedure and like everyone else have already put in my hours with a little wheel on an electric drill.  I've been playing with ever since.  The thing is quite a beast, I think the shipping weight on it and the supplies (shipped in two packages) was a little over 78 pounds and the buffer made up 55 of that.  It was much more of a Kit than I expected for my money.  It spins 8" wheel and does not bog down when I, with my ample monkey butt, lean into it. 

I thought buffing was easy.  What a fool I have been.  I offer up the following observations:

I am glad I was at least clever enough to dress for the task the first time; no one tells you how dirty the work is.  Wear eye protection, wear gloves, wear a padded apron, and don't have any loose clothing on; make sure there is nothing behind the machine that could not withstand a blow from a sledgehammer or better.

My god this process is dirty.  When you wash your hair, even after a short session, the mud that rinses out will look like a volcanic ash flow; sticky waxy crap too.  Yuck!  The dirty hair is a hint at something else too - you ain't gonna set up to do this in a spare bedroom, you're not even going to like the cleanup that's going to be required if its out in your garage.

Getting the shine is not an automatic thing, and yes, you still have to sand out the scratches before you can even think about buffing up a good shine.  Sand and sand and sand.  As a guy who has a lot of experience block sanding, and in fact enjoys doing it, I have to say that the hand preparation of old aluminum covers is just drudgery.

But then you start to see the shine.  WhooHooo!  Sure is pretty!  The thing is though, once it got shiney I was able to see where the sanding was deficient, so it was back to square-1 - the sanding blocks, the bucket of soapy water, and sheets of increasingly finer grades (150-1000) of sandpaper.  And that's what I know so far; this from a guy with no real buffing experience.  Pictures will follow when I do my build thread.


*  http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/34hpbuffkit.html

[tango911]

its very time consuming and i have no patients myself    

[78 k550]

just think whats going into the lungs?

Paul

[Kong]

just think whats going into the lungs?

Paul

That's a good point Paul.  I have a respirator and I was going to wear it - and probably should, but haven't.  In my own defense I'd say this, the mess it makes is nearly all splatter, not so much airborne dust or lingering stuff, so its not quite like when you do something like shoot clear coat where there is no hiding from it.  In this case the stuff isn't floating around in the air, its more or less in a an area defined by the rotating plane of the wheels; nasty as hell directly behind (and all around) the wheels, not quite so bad 2 feet out to the side, not bad at all 4 feet off center.

I can guarantee you that if I'm still doing this in the spring the thing will be on a stand I can take outside

[Damfino]

When I was a senior in highschool, I worked at a place that made periscopes for military tanks. There was an area set up for polishing/buffing the large chunks of plastic that made up the body of the periscopes. After reading your post I now understand a few things better. Like how the area around each buffing machine was boxed in by sheets of cardboard, including the floor. And why the guys buffing were dressed like Arabian sheikh's. (They wore wrap around smocks & turbans.)  

[azuredesign]

Did you get the 3450 or the 1100 rpm engine?

[MCRider]

Yes that's my experience as well. I have the means and I've done a few pieces, but my patience is not in synch with the process. I'll likely use it for pieces I care less about and for restoring pieces already professionally polished, but dulled with time.

Otherwise, they go to a pro.

I'm actually better about the sanding than getting the final result. I'll sand out the deep scratches, spoke scars like on a hub, etc. and then give it to the pro to finish.

[Kong]

Did you get the 3450 or the 1100 rpm engine?

3450. my interest is in polishing metal and somewhere in my reading I ran across the recommendation that said that the faster speed was best suited to metal and the lower speed machine to plastics.  I don't have any plastic to polish.

Today's result:

[simon#42]

looks good kong , but wear a face mask its the little bits of cotton that come off the buffing wheel that do the damage . try wearing a paper dust mask you will be surprised at the amount of crap that it collects . sorry to preach

[Kong]

Pleased to get preached at, we'd all still be swinging from the vines if we didn't share good advice.

I stopped by Lowe's this afternoon and picked up one of those full face shields as well as a packet of those cheap dust masks.  They really are a 'must have' if I'm going out there and do the rest of the covers - which must be done.

[MCRider]

Pleased to get preached at, we'd all still be swinging from the vines if we didn't share good advice.

I stopped by Lowe's this afternoon and picked up one of those full face shields as well as a packet of those cheap dust masks.  They really are a 'must have' if I'm going out there and do the rest of the covers - which must be done.

maybe you've already crossed these bridges, but i asked a buddy of mine who is really good at polishing with a minimum of hardware, how he does it. His advice was, wear thick gloves as the part will get hot but that's no reason to stop. Watch out for whatever is in the neighborhood as you will lose a grip once in a while and a part will go flying. And if you're getting a lot of black, you're using too much rouge.

I still couldn't do it as good as him. There has to be a knack.

[Raef]

The only good thing to come from polishing are the results
The worst thing to come from polishing are the results, now you have to keep it that way

I have been polishing motor bits for a while and the bikes no where near done, I know if the bike is done execpt the polishing I won't do it.

the hub looks nice

Mark

[Damfino]

If I did all that polishing I'd be looking into this or something like it...

http://www.sharkhide.com/ship_order.php

[Raef]

I have been thinking about clear coating some of mine, although most clears say not to apply to bare metal,

I'ma Rebel

[6pkrunner]

Lessons learned the hard way.

1 - There is no quick and easy method to buffing. I've been trying off and one for nearly four decades and while I've learned some of the tricks, its still a bear.

2 - I haven't found anything that you can apply to the polished surface that will not dull it substantially. I haven't tried any new products in the last 5 years or so but up until that period of time they all dulled by 30% or worse.

3 - It kills your hands and then lungs and eyes. The fine abrasive dust and aluminum go everywhere and that includes into eyes and lungs.

Here's a CB900 engine I did 3 years ago. You'll notice the axillary transmission cover isn't on at this time. Why? My hands needed a much deserve rest and healing.

[Kong]

I'm knocking off a cover a day till the end, just finished up with the Alternator cover.  I've got the front and rear hubs buffed all I'm going to.  Tomorrow I'm going to go beg some space in a friend's heated garage and paint the hub center sections and clear coat the parts that are already buffed; hubs, sprocket cover, and alternator cover.  You can't get oversprayed clear coat off of anything, and that's exactly how I intend to shoot it.  I'm going to dust on two coats, let them tack, then lay one down.  I do not care if I lose a bit, even a good bit, of luster, as long as the parts are consistent in color and don't yellow.