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Let me preface this whole thing by saying that while I did get good advice to not mount this thing on a cabinet, I have no wall space and had to mount it to a stand. I will be careful and likely pad the area around the wheels. That being said, here is how I built this thing:


These are the parts (in no specific order): 1 threaded rod 30" long 7/8" diameter with a LH thread on one side and a RH thread on the other, 2 LH threaded nuts, 2 RH threaded nuts, 2 spacers w/ 7/8 i.d. and 1/4 o.d. (to convert the rod to fit the wheels), one 1/2 hp motor, 1 switch, a pulley for the motor, a pulley for the rod, a belt to move the thing, 2 pillow block bearings, and 2 sets of flanges. And of course, a couple of buffing wheels, a rake, and some buffing compound (not pictured).

I should note that I got the pillow blocks and pulleys before I bought the rod. When I went to purchase the rod, I asked them to make sure it fit inside these items. I didn't plan on having to pay for (or do the labor myself) to thin down the rod. It all fit like a glove.



First things first, center the pulley on the rod. By the way, I found a calculator online that allowed me to figure out what size pulleys to buy to reduce the speed from 1725 rpm to 1000 rpm. The rod pulley is a 5"er and the motor pulley is a 3"er.



I next put the pillow blocks on and spaced them according to where they would be mounted on the stand I made. I attached the bearings before I put them on the stand so that they would be all kosher and not out of line. I figure if I had tried to mount the bearings to the stand then insert the rod, it would be much harder to get everything aligned just right.



I then went on to mounting the assembly to the stand. The legs of this stand are from an old free audio mixing board stand I had laying around. You have one of those too right? Make sure that the LH threaded side of the rod is on the right so that when it spins (forward) the nuts are being tightened and not loosened. Also, place the belt on the assembly now. Unless you know something I don't and can get the thing on with everything bolted down....



Next, I mounted the motor. I was looking for two things here: 1- that the belt has enough tension on it, and 2- that the pulleys were coplanar with one another. I used a straight edge to do this. Once I had it lined up, I marked for holes, and drilled. I then bolted the thing down, double checking tension and coplanar. Looks good to me.

Then, I mounted the switch. Couple of screws and the thing is on.

I next did a test and made sure the thing ran without wheels on it yet. Yeppers, it workes.



I mounted the wheels, using the spacers and flanges, tightened it all down, and it runs great. I tested it out on a junk body that I keep around to practice new finish technique, and it made it shiny. Imagine that. I just have to be careful I don't bump it....

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
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Chris,

Nice job....looks cool

Marc

Looks Great!!!!
You might want to consider a simple shroud for the pully.....
What did your shaft speed end up to be?

Good job! Now go get a roll of 1/4" foam tape & cover all those sharp corners you might bump into.

Daniel, that sounds like a great idea. Where might one find such a thing?

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

1000 rpm

_________________
ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
http://elevatelutherie.com
&
http://ensorguitars.com

I would round-off all the sharp corners with an 80 grit sanding block. I would look for foam tape in a dollar-store or use spray adhesive on polyether foam or click-floorin underlay foam.

Just some cheap fixes.

Bob

If you strike out at the dollar store, you can find rolls of black foam rubber (I think it's neoprene) in the door & window insulation department of any building supply store. The white stuff is cheaper, but not much good for anything.
It comes in several different widths & thicknesses. I use the 1" wide & 1/4 or 3/16" thick stuff.

The only thing I would have (and have done) different is mount the pillow blocks such that the part of the block that contains the bearing is pointing out (not the bolted end) - this gives you the most clearance between the buffs and the parts mounting the shaft. Other than that, its pretty much the same as mine, whcih works great.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

+1 on what Tony said. One day, I plan to do that to my own buffer, but it hasn't p'd me off enough yet to motivate me to do it.

also have seen belts left intentionally loose to allow slow-down of the wheels with a little pressure (before burning through) Nice build though!