Buffing at 3600 rpm

[Connlaus]

I have a small ryobe bench 3600 rpm grinder with counter clockwise rotation. I just ordered the beall 4" bowl buff kit since it needs to be run at higher rpm. I have never buffed a pipe so this will be my first time at it. Has anyone used the bowl buff kit on pipes and are there any pitfalls I need to watch out for?
This is the pipe I will be buffing.

[baweaverpipes]

3600 rpm is much too fast.

[RadDavis]

The biggest pitfall to watch out for is a buffer turning at 3600 rpm, especially doing a pipe with a lot of sharp edges. It'll be bouncing off the floor or a wall or you before you know it. It can be done, but you must be very, very careful.

Ideally, you want your buffer to be turning at around 1200 rpm or so.

Rad

[caskwith]

Get plenty of practice before you put your hard work near the buffer

Buffing at high speed can be done, for a couple of years I buffed at 3000rpm because it was the only buffer (metalworking) I had so I just learned ot make it work. As soon as I could afford it though I stepped my speeds down and I now have a variable speed system which I love.

[W.Pastuch]

Yeah, be careful. All the stuff written above is very true...
Actually the first thing I thought when I saw the photo of the pipe was "wow thats gonna break into 10 pieces if it flies off of that wheel..."
I'd even consider some cheap-ass, selfmade system, based on a hand drill mounted in some type of chuck. Even if the torque of a cheap drill might be pretty small on low speed it would give you the advantage of learning not to overbuff

[Connlaus]

I watched a couple of beall videos and corisponded with a representative and both seemed to imply that the bowl buffs were intended for those kinds of speeds. Now I'm starting to think I made a poor decision.

[BobR]

No, you don't want the bowl buffs. The wheels are what you need. The 4" wheel kit http://www.bealltool.com/products/buffing/buffer.php which has the quick change arbor, three wheels, tripoli, white diamond, and carnuba.

The 4" wheels work and you can make a nice pipe with them but you will eventually upgrade to larger wheels and a better buffing motor that can run slower.

FYI, surface speed: The uniform rate at which the wheel revolves against the workpiece. Surface speed is a linear measurement of how far the surface of buffing wheel travels (usually in feet per minute).

The surface speed (in feet/minute) of a buffing wheel = the circumference of the wheel (in feet) X RPM.

The wheel circumference is PI (3.14159) X wheel diameter.

so...surface speed in feet/min (SFPM) is: PI (3.14159) X wheel diameter X RPM

8 in wheel @ 1725 RPM: 3.14 x 0.66' x 1725 = 3612.8 SFPM

4 in wheel @ 3600 RPM (bench grinder): 3.14 x 0.33' x 3600 = 3769.9 SFPM

8" wheel @1200 RPM: 2513.3 SFPM which is a significant difference.

[Charl]

Practice first and then be very careful when you do the pipe. At high speed the wheels are "harder" and you might have to do some areas by hand because you won't be able to get in everywhere.

[mcgregorpipes]

not sure how a bowl buff would behave compared to a wheel, its more blunt and wouldn't into tight corners as well for sure. i would keep a super firm grip on the pipe as you move the piece around on the wheel, make sure you're only contacting the bottom "safe" zone and keep the contact with the pipe along the bottom half at a glancing angle so the the sharp corners won't dig in.. its when you relax an edge is grabbed by the wheel.

[caskwith]

I'm sure Beall gave great advice based on their knowledge base, unfortunately they don't know much about pipes. This is why this forum was set up so you can ask questions from those who have already followed that path and made those mistakes.

[Connlaus]

Thank you all for your advice. My buffs arrived today. I started with my 900 rpm electric drill. Moved up to my 2000rpm cordless. After practicing a while and getting a feel for it I moved up to 3600 grinder. It did a great job and I didn't have any problems. As mentioned above I couldn't get all the way into the neck so I did that with a foredom flex tool.
Though the finish came out great, there were some fine scratches I missed so I will be resanding. Thanks again for the advice, Kevin.

[BLC]

For those looking for an alternative. http://www.donpencil.com/BUFFINGKITS.htm . His lathe adapters are great and for a great price. His buffing wheels are the same quality as the Beall system and appears a tad cheaper. The only down side I found were the arbors that came with the wheels...round top carriage bolts...wouldn't let me get the wheels tight enough to prevent slipping so I just replaced them with normal bolts and it works great.

[E.L.Cooley]

[The surface speed (in feet/minute) of a buffing wheel = the circumference of the wheel (in feet) X RPM.

The wheel circumference is PI (3.14159) X wheel diameter.

so...surface speed in feet/min (SFPM) is: PI (3.14159) X wheel diameter X RPM

8 in wheel @ 1725 RPM: 3.14 x 0.66' x 1725 = 3612.8 SFPM

4 in wheel @ 3600 RPM (bench grinder): 3.14 x 0.33' x 3600 = 3769.9 SFPM

8" wheel @1200 RPM: 2513.3 SFPM which is a significant difference.]

So the math is fairly simple. Is there an ideal surface speed for buffing?
Eric

[BobR]

IAWR