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Balancing them is easy, it's getting the critters dead round that's hard.

On another thread, someone said they had luck using gravel grit floor-stripper class paper as a dressing tool, followed by a scissor trim of the outside few layers afterward.

I just returned from the hardware store with said paper, have attached it to an appropriately sized length of wood, and am ready to flip the switch. But before creating a cotton blizzard, a question occurred to me.

The abrasive on that stuff is designed to shatter rather than dull, so that new edges are constandly exposed and it lasts longer. And though cotton wouldn't be expected to cause any shattering, one---just one---teeny little piece of crystal that broke off anyway and nestled into a buffing wheel would make it useless. 60 scratches per second's worth.

Has anyone here actually tried this and used the wheel after truing?

(I could just do it and see, of course, but figured reporting on that would generate a thread, too... so, as long as I was gonna type anyway, why not potentially save cleaning up a mess? )

Not the same stuff, but I've used low grit sandpaper for quite a while not just for trueing up but for "cleaning" a buff as well and have never had a problem. As always, YMMV.

As Frank suggested awhile ago, I used my 3in belt sander with 36 or even 24 grit. If you use 3M belts, you don't have to worry about the grit lodging in the buff. It worked OK, but not great, and it sure gets the fuzz going. Sometimes, I still ended up with a low spot and burned the cloth when applying more pressure to get to it. Now I use a home fashioned wheel rake. Caswell sells one too. I made mine out of old hacksaw blades embedded in a two handed wooden handle. It does the trick more efficiently. It also cleans up the buff nicely with light pressure if you want to unload or switch compound.

On another thread, someone said they had luck using gravel grit floor-stripper class paper.....

hazmat wrote:Not the same stuff, but I've used low grit sandpaper for quite a while not just for trueing up but for "cleaning" a buff as well and have never had a problem. As always, YMMV.

Matt, he's not referring to a particular usage type of sandpaper, just being sarcastic. I'm sure he must be aware that these very coarse grits are used in many applications. I myself use them (Klingspor & Norton brands) on my belt grinder for rapid stock removal.

Incidently, I have used this method numerous times for cleaning off old compound and have never found any grit embedded in the wheel.
My reluctance to use a regular wheel rake is because they tend to turn the buffing wheel black (or at least grey). Perhaps the hacksaw blade approach works just as well. I hesitate to denigrate that approach, since I haven't tried it yet. As for trying to get the wheel perfectly round, I just don't have that many hours of time to waste.

(I misunderstood something --- post deleted)

Frank.. I've used a hacksaw blade before, and it didn't turn my buff black or grey. I know what you're talking about, though. If you have an older buff you don't mind experimenting on, give it a try. They work well.

Matt

OK. Received a box of fresh wheelage today from McMaster-Carr, and decided to go for it. Used 20 grit. It is literally gravel. Huge spaces between the chunks, and they are sharp.

Half the wheels I mounted were round out of the box, the other half not.

#1 -- Medium pressure, slowish side-to-side motion, I watched the TOP of the wheel to see the effect I was having, not the contact point. Felt-y fuzz blizzard supreme... But after 10-15 seconds, the quality of the feel changed, the wheel seemed to firm up, and less fuzz came off.

I'll be damned, it was round. Some sharp Fiskars type scissoring to neaten up the edges and catch the long threads, and presto.

#2 -- Ditto.

The technique works.

Messy, but recommended.

If you have a dust collector, mount it closer than usual and you should greatly reduce the fuzz problem. It won't go away entirely, but it will be reduced by about 80%.

What would be the best wheel profile for a given function? (tripoli / wax)

http://www.penguinbriar.com/tools/wheel_profile.bmp