Message-ID: <000b01c0d4e3$cc10ed60$4db188ce@pavilion>
From: "J. N. Cameron" <toucan@The-I.net>
To: "Lancair List" <lancair.list@olsusa.com>
Subject: Buffing small parts
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 16:47:13 -0500
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Here's a tip for buffing small parts that some of you may find useful:

    Since polyurethane (as in paint) is a plastic, I thought maybe my old
plexiglass buffing setup might work well for the kinds of small parts you
can't attack with the usual 7" buffer.  It works like a champ!

    I have a standard 1/3hp electric fan motor (1725) rpm bolted to a bench,
with a 1/2" arbor attached to the motor shaft with set screws.  I use two
stitched cotton buffing wheels with one or two unstitched wheels in between.
The arbor and buffing wheels are available from Grainer Supply and other
tool supply houses.  To make the combined wheels softer for buffing plastic,
I remove about 1" of stitching on the wheels on each end.  As the wheels
wear, I keep about 1" unstitched, otherwise the wheel gets too hard and the
risk of burning the work goes 'way up.  For buffing compound, DO NOT use the
usual metal buffing rouges -- they are much too aggressive for plastics.
There is a blue buffing compound available from the Eastwood Company, Item
#13138 ($5.99 for a large tube www.eastwoodco.com ) that works very well.
Peel the cardboard away for about 1", push against the buffing wheel until
it gets good and blue, and buff away!

    Some cautions:  Go easy, because if you push too hard, or buff too long
in one place, you can burn the work.  Be extra careful around edges -- they
heat up much more quickly.  Also, the buffing wheels have a way of grabbing
an edge once in a while and flinging it at high velocity!  Always have the
wheel rotating so that the top is coming toward you, and the part you push
against travelling downward.   That way, if something does grab, it'll go on
the floor, not in your face.  As an extra precaution, I put a rubber mat on
the floor (a piece of old rug will do), so that the occasional flung thing
will often be salvageable.  This doesn't happen often, but it can ruin your
day.  Also, be sure to wear short sleeves, no loose shirt-tails -- the
exposed end of the arbor could wind up a lot of cloth in a hurry.  Ditto for
long hair.

    I used this today to buff my rudder trim tab, and am very pleased with
the results.  With about 5 minutes' work I got a beautiful gloss, ready for
wax and some flying.  I plan to use if for other trim tabs, inspection
covers, and anything else that's hard to hold down for the gorilla buffer.
Incidentally, I originally put this together for buffing small plexiglass
parts.  After wet-sanding with 400, you can get a glass-like finish on a
piece of plexi in just a short time.

Jim Cameron
Super ES  N143ES (reserved)


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