Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Sanding, rusticating, sandblasting, buffing, etc. All here.
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Ocelot55
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Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Post by Ocelot55 »

So I know this has been mentioned before, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it. Is there a proper way to break in a buffing wheel? In about three minutes I started looking like a giant piece of pocket lint. I don't think the pipe looked much different though. Also, is there a proper way to load the compounds onto the wheels for the first time?
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d.huber
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Re: Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Post by d.huber »

Ocelot55 wrote:So I know this has been mentioned before, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it. Is there a proper way to break in a buffing wheel? In about three minutes I started looking like a giant piece of pocket lint. I don't think the pipe looked much different though. Also, is there a proper way to load the compounds onto the wheels for the first time?
Lol! I just did this myself. I tried to break in the wheels by using a method I found online: wrap a piece of sandpaper (100 grit is good) around a piece of wood and hold it against the spinning buff towards the top while you use a shop vac towards the bottom to catch most of the lint.

Seemed to work fine... until I finished buffing. I looked down and had turned into a dust bunny. EVERYTHING in the shop was covered in a thin layer of buffer down. It was like seeing without my glasses... with my glasses on.

So if anyone has a very effective way of doing this, I'd love to hear it too. Right now I'm just planning to have my shop vac set up to catch fluff like it catches dust.
http://www.dshpipes.com

"Strive for excellence, not for what someone else accepts."
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Ocelot55
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Re: Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Post by Ocelot55 »

Yeah, I didn't have a vacuum. I was pulling lint out of my nose by the time I was through. It also made a nice spider webby thing off my mustache. :thumbsup:
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Growley
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Re: Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Post by Growley »

This should do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oulHXWm ... annel_page

You got to get to about the 6 minute mark.
caskwith
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Re: Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Post by caskwith »

I would recommend against using sandpaper as grit can get embedded in the wheel and then cause problems later. To break in a new wheel i spin it up, no buffing compound and use the edge of a piece of wood or metal to loosen all the dust, if you can run a vac near it then great, if not try to contain as best you can then clean up afterwards. Once the wheel has stopped shedding I take the block of compound and apply a really good layer then take a piece of wood, any wood and buff the hell out of it, add more compound and do the same again, don't do this step with metal or you will turn your buff black.. After a couple of applications like this the wheel will be good to go although it will take a couple of weeks to hit the sweet spot.
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DMI
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Re: Breaking in Buffing Wheels

Post by DMI »

Hit the wheel with a wire brush and get the ends all nice and fluffy then set fire to it to burn off the loose threads. Works for me. :D

Dust mask and goggles advised.

By the way because of all the nasty stuff in the compound you should have a catcher the same as on a sanding wheel.

David.
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