Alternatives to Beall System

[Cory]

Is there a cheaper way to buff pipes? I am not quite ready to drop $100 on a motor and Beall system just to buff my first pipe.

[Massis]

arbor + polishing wheel on a handheld drill (preferably mounted in a vice)...

Or just a motor (I hear you guys in the US can find motors cheap enough, in Belgium it's hard to find any decent motor under $150) and a custom arbor from Tim West at JH Lowe which you can mount a jacobs chuck on.
Arbors and wheels are available from Tim West as well, or from PIMO pipecraft!

[KurtHuhn]

Do you have a wood lathe with a jacob's chuck? Drill press?

A wood lathe is ideal, since it positions the buffer vertically, but with either one all you need is 1/4" buffing wheel arbors and some buffing wheels. I like the 8" ones from Delvies Plastics in a mix of spiral and loose sewn.

http://www.delviesplastics.com/mm5/merc ... ccessories

Or, as Massis said, an electric drill mounted in a vice. Limited top speed means that it will take longer, but it should be perfectly serviceable.

[Cory]

No lathe unfortunately. I have a drill press though.

Anywhere local that would carry this stuff? Lowes? Home Depot?

[Massis]

I've always been told not to polish with a drill press because the bearings aren't made for lateral pressure. Not sure if it's true, but it took me long enough to get a decent drill press not to try polishing with it...

[KurtHuhn]

A drill press isn't ideal, but it will work. There's not that much lateral pressure generated when buffing - you get way more bearing wear from a vibrating drill bit.

Lowes and Home Depot should carry buffing wheels (usually 6") and arbors. They also have buffing compounds, but they're labeled a bit differently. You'll have to find the equiv of brown tripoli and white diamond. They do not carry carnuba in chunk solid form however. However, if you have a Rockler or Woodcraft in your area, they will usually have everything, and it will be labeled in terms familiar to pipe makers.

[caskwith]

Drill press will be fine, buffing will be a lot easier if you lay it on it's side however.

[Cory]

Swung by Lowe's to get some bits, sanding belt, and some small files (I am not equipped for smaller stuff - I have stuff to do cars and big woodwork haha). I had to grind a spade bit since I couldn't find anything suitable for a tobacco chamber - it actually worked surprisingly well and gave me a nice chamber.

Anyways, the point of bringing up Lowe's is - the only thing I saw as far as buffing compounds is for metal. One of them looked like tripoli, but I didn't want to buy it if I wasn't sure. Can anyone confirm this?

[mcgregorpipes]

I'm shopping at similar hardware stores like lowes locally, home depot etc and yes if you found buffing compound the brown bar is brown tripoli. If they have a white one thats white diamond, and if you're looking for carnauba wax the sales people will probably say they've never heard of it. The good news is I go through 3 brown tripoli bars for every carnauba.. just get some online. you'll find that some things like the spade bit just won't be stocked in the hardware stores cool that you ground your own then you can sharpen it without being afraid to wreck it

I made a buffing machine out of a 1/3 hp electric motor i got off craigs list for 20 bucks, a scrap of some 5/8 threaded rod think its easy to come by, and a few mounted bearings also hardware store purchase but places that do farm supply can have that stuff for half the price. I actually saw one like it on the cover of a wood working magazine and thought that looks cool i should try and make one. i picked up a few buffing wheels (they were probably at lowes in the buffing section) and ended up with a fairly stiff one for brown tripoli buff, a white diamond buf then a soft carnauba buff.. then i have one at the end of stainless steel (green bar). works great was easy to put together, used to have the motor on direct drive I threaded the end of the arbor and used barrel or collar nut to connect to the ready rod, it vibrated way too much so it works much better if you use a couple of pulleys and a belt to reduce vibration / run smoother and you can change the rpms by using different sizes. you can salvage pulleys for free, make wooden ones on a lathe (thats what i'm using oak or plywood pullyes works great) or buy them at lowes.

heheh thats probably a lot for buffing your first pipe, but you can use it to buff everything...

[KurtHuhn]

Pretty much all buffing compounds are for metal and plastic - manufacturers don't actually expect anyone to use them on wood.

If it's brown, it's probably tripoli or close enough. The white will almost always be white diamond.

[Sasquatch]

If it's green, don't use it, cuz it's full of chromium.

[KurtHuhn]

And boogers.

[Cory]

And boogers.

Of course - the one thing I could make at home I can't use. Thanks Kurt....not.

[Cory]

So I decided to just buy some buffing wheels and the compounds at Lowe's (pretty positive it is brown tripoli and white diamond).

I spent $2.98 on each of the compounds (4oz or something like that) and $4.98 on each of the wheels (4").

For $15.92, I think I came out with a pretty good buff. I am going to get a bar of carnauba from PME and another wheel from Lowes.

So a total of $26.90. I'll post a picture of the final result when I get the carnauba.

[Kenny]

You will soon wish you had larger wheels. If you haven't used them, return them for the 6".

As well, the "box store buffs" are nowhere near the quality of what Beall supplies. I have a few I use for metal, etc, and they don't come close to the Beall buffs.

If you want a deal, go to Grizzly.com. They have a ton of buffing supplies. Any size or type buff you could possibly want.

IMHO, slow down, look around for an appliance repair shop, electric motor shop, heck even look on ebay and find a 1/3 to 1/2hp motor. If you can't find a motor for $20, or free for that matter, I'll be amazed.

Then, set-up a real station. You'll be happier than using a drill press. Even a hand-drill would be my choice over a DP.

[Cory]

You will soon wish you had larger wheels. If you haven't used them, return them for the 6".

As well, the "box store buffs" are nowhere near the quality of what Beall supplies. I have a few I use for metal, etc, and they don't come close to the Beall buffs.

If you want a deal, go to Grizzly.com. They have a ton of buffing supplies. Any size or type buff you could possibly want.

IMHO, slow down, look around for an appliance repair shop, electric motor shop, heck even look on ebay and find a 1/3 to 1/2hp motor. If you can't find a motor for $20, or free for that matter, I'll be amazed.

Then, set-up a real station. You'll be happier than using a drill press. Even a hand-drill would be my choice over a DP.

I've already used them and am confident with their size - they will work for now. I am not using a DP or hand-drill, but a 1/3 or 1/4 HP benchtop motor (wheels attach on both sides). I am also happy with the finish after the white diamond - still waiting on carnauba from PME.

I will post pictures of the final finish when the carnauba comes in.

[DMI]

For all you need to know click below for a word file on polishing.

http://www.surtech.co.uk/downloads/data ... prices.doc