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Andyfish2000

Electric polishing aids - mini Bench Grinder

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Spurned on by my desire to strip and polish / clean an SRB chassis over the winter got me thinking about polishers and buffers and whether it was worth buying a mini bench grinder and fitting polishing wheels.  Has anyone any experience with similar please?

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I got one a couple of years ago. These things are fantastic, and useful with almost anything you want to work on. Almost all the time I spent working on the bench the thing is rolling on, haha. Find a nice, cheap one and get the polishing wheels. You're going to love it.

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Andy, I use a 'huge' 8" wheel set on an old decommissioned (broken rest and missing shield) grinder from work.  Pulled off all the shields, screwed to a mobile tool stand, it works great and is easy to swap buffs on.  Sisal for heavy duty smoothing used with those greasy sticks of heavy compound, sewn cotton with normal grades and an unsewn/loose cotton (I like to call it a flapper, as it's all over the place for final shine and plastics.

Remove the tool rest and guards, find a wheel you can get onto the arbor and you can really get a decent shine quickly on the SRB stuff.  Mirror shines require sanding everything flat and smooth before attempting any polishing.  The gear case has so many nooks and crannies, even with little tiny felt buffs and cotton wheels in a Dremel... you're going to be at it for a very long time.  I just polished up my old SuperChamp and am in the process of trying to get a Rough Rider body fitted so I can do a Malcom Smith BelRay Bullet scheme... but so much is aftermarket... it's tough going.

Wear eye protection (preferably a face shield!) and cotton gloves.  I had the safety glasses on (thankfully!) when the CRP roll bar got yanked from my tired fingers... and that sucker hit me so hard in the face... you might as well have punched me.  The safety glasses got a nice nick over the right eye... would have probably been poked out by that one.  Polishing is messy... be prepared for lots of threads and crap flying about.

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Thanks guys for the responses.  Mongoose - DO you have a small 3" one or larger?  There seem to be mixed reviews on whether the small ones have enough power for the polishing / buffing wheels.  I was hoping to go small rather than larger, mainly for noise, size on bench, and also dirt / dust which I assume wil be thrown further with a larger and faster wheel speed.

Kayak - Nice finish.  Definitely what I am after.  

My other option is to simply us my dremel and mount it in a clamp when I need to use it fixed to the bench.  I guess that is not going to be so easy or quick to get an all over consistent finish for the larger parts as a larger wheel though.

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For most of my polishing needs I use a 6” bench mount grinder with a buffing wheel. Dremels take a long time, overheat and the bits are pricey. 

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18 hours ago, Andyfish2000 said:

Mongoose - DO you have a small 3" one or larger?  There seem to be mixed reviews on whether the small ones have enough power for the polishing / buffing wheels.  I was hoping to go small rather than larger, mainly for noise, size on bench, and also dirt / dust which I assume wil be thrown further with a larger and faster wheel speed.

I would say that if you want it for hobbies such a this one a 3inch bench grinder like the one I got works very good. It isn't noisy and goes up to 10000rpm. The unit I got can handle an extension to a rotary tool the dremel type. I've never used that one because I already have one. Also, I agree completely with @Shodog on the dremel being too expensive and not as capable as a larger grinder.

Here's a picture of the one I got:

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I have nothing bad to say about these ones. I think I'll purchase a larger one in the future as I noticed it's complex to use on large pieces like bike & auto parts. All in all I said before getting one of these -no matter if a 6" or 3" one- it's sure going to make you smile! :)

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Thanks Mongoose. That is the one I was looking at (although the Aldi version).  Think I'll go that way, but have to say, I am totally confused about what wheels I would need and use.  I have found one online retailer metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk who provide a spindle adaptor for it (as well as a complete Silverline one with full polishing kit) and the screw on type buffering wheels, but then it seems you can also get small wheels which I assume would go straight onto the 10mm shafts without any need for adaptors!  All very confusing.

Any help for us uninitiated would be appreciated about the use of these (from anyone of course, not just M)

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The problem with smaller setups is how close the wheel is to the main body of the grinder/polisher.  The spindle adapter may not be a bad idea, as they usually end up moving the wheel away from the machine.  Get a basic assortment of polishing compounds in stick form and a spiral sewn cotton wheel to start.  Read the guide as to what compound is for what purpose and experiment.  Too much pressure will cause the wheel to disintegrate in a flurry of threads... so does polishing things with sharp edges.  Time, compound and wheel construction make all the difference... don't force it.  There must be some excellent polishing vids on Utube....

Long ago, I sanded everything first with progressively finer grades of paper... all the way from 400 to 1500 grit... by hand with a bucket of water or in the kitchen sink... a messy, dirty and hand cramping task.  Heavy compounds and a sisal wheel can smooth castings pretty quickly, but won't flatten, and can screw up the surface pretty quick.  With the SRB case... there are a lot of places even a wheel as small as a 1" Dremel buff won't get to.  So you'll be 'stuck' going after those areas with pointy felt bobs on a rotary tool... they work, it just takes time.

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I've had a Clarke 8" bench grinder in my workshop for nearly 2 decades.  Well, in that time I've had more than a few workshops, but always had my grinder.  I only have one cotton wheel and a single stick of compound (actually the green stuff that came with the polisher kit) but it works for the odd things I use.  I really should get some other wheels and compounds to do the rougher bits.

Also if you don't wear a facemask, be prepared for black snot.  If you do wear a facemask, be prepared for black lines to appear on your face where the mask doesn't seal properly.

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