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So I was at Harbir Freight today and saw they have a 1/2 HP 6" buffer with 1/2 " arbor. Also a 3/4 HP motor with 5/8" arbor. Both have slow speed operation. Have any of you been able to use one of these buffers with larger wheels for guitar finishing? The arbor size required for sm's wheels is 1" but could that be modified for a smaller arbor or are their smaller-arbor 12" diameter wheels? These HF buffer motors are 40-70$ vs the several hundred for an official guitar buffing setup.
I have no ability to modify a motor myself, so I would need to buy a complete rig...would live to spend less than $100 vs $500 or more!

Looks like you might have trouble getting your guitar in there with such a short shaft for starters. The Griz buffing arbor is only about $100 and works great with any old 1/3hp motor and pretty easy to through together.

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Pat

As pointed out you need long shafts for "safe effective" guitar buffing. Perhaps you know this already -- a big powerful buffer is a double edged sword, true you can end up with a nice shiny body. However, in an instant you can badly burn the finish and even the wood -- worse the buffer can catch an edge and fling the whole assemble to the floor -- it happens! I always give the example of the chrome buffers at the Cadillac plant in Detroit -- because of the this reality the part being buffed was attached to a safety cable to prevent the part from being flung across aimless in any direction.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

My buffer is from Caswell Plating...

Get one of those Shop Fox buffing arbors from Grizzly (Stew Mac used to sell the same thing), scour eBay for 1/3 hp motor, 1" pulley, and buy 4 canton 14" wheels from caswell, and medium and ultra fine sticks from stew Mac. All told a little over $200

I don't know anything about the HF buffer, but, I'm with Ed, mine is from Caswell. It was on the low priced end of the spectrum but has been doing a good job all of these years.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I use a shop fox and only 1/3 hp this is not a grinder so don't use more power than you need.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If u can stall your buffer without burning ur finish, you have the right horsepower. If u are working with polyester type finishes, you will need advice from those who use that.

I have the grizzly belt drive model and it's ok but I learned the hard way not to have both wheels on at the same time... In hind sight I would go on eBay or Amazon and buy a set of pillow block bearings, the shaft, pullys and a used 1/3 horsepower motor. I think with some shopping around you could get that setup for less than $100 and it would be way better than most you would buy.

I have thought about doing that myself. Anyone know of a good seller that has a 36" shaft that will work for this application? Beth, don't want to hijack so if you're not interested in building your own I can move this to a new discussion.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Steve,

I have a set of 3/4" pillow blocks that I'm planning on doing this with. I'm going to just use some threaded rod for the shaft and a 1/3 HP motor I have. I'm still working out my pulley size and setup. I probably wont use bigger than a 12" buff. Really the buffs and compound end up being the big expense if you are piecing it together.

John

I'm running two Caswell buffers, one of them for over eight years now. There are hundreds of guitars logged on mine with no problems at all.

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jw ( o)===:::

I made mine a few years ago and it works great. I bought a 1" rod from a local metal dealer and had threads (RH & LH) machined on them by a machine shop. It works great. I have it running about 700RPM and love it. It was originally at 1000RPM and that was just too fast for me. Too easy to burn through a finish at that speed.

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ELEVATE || Next Level Lutherie
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Seems a lot of folks use go-kart axels. Just make sure you get one that is threaded in both directions. I'm thinking this has to be done after you buy it. So, what is the issue with having both wheels on? I put 4 canton 14" wheels on (2 on each side). Never had an issue. Unless you mean you are bumping second wheel when using first...

I hacve both wheels on my grizzly shop fox and have no issues. I use it daily. Avoid HF.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Mike,

It might not happen to a lot of folks but once I was buffng a guitar I made and while on the first wheel the neck caught the second and ripped it right off the body. It took a few weeks of self loathing before I could bring myself to go out there and really look at the damage. The heel broke off so I cut the heel off and made a new one, also the top was damaged so I had to rout it out and replace the top as well. Since then I only buff with one wheel on at a time. If I where looking for a buffing setup I would make sure there is plenty of room between wheels If running one on both sides. The 1" arbor sounds like the way to go, the beefier the better.

Ditto John Hall, HF for extra clamps, shelving, storage bins --but its the every day tool source of last resort. I am not a tool snub but I've seen over the past few years that the HF quality bench mark is not going up.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

You can make a buffer pretty inexpensively. Here's a link to a go-kart axel supplier

Here's a picture of what I came up with. I've since changed out the motor as that one was really old and burnt out. I also added 4" dia plates (made from 1/4" plywood) to each side of the buffs.

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My buffer is also from Caswell.

The only power tool that I have from Harbor Freight is their 20 inch floor mount drill press that I bought several years ago. I like it, but don't think that I would care for most of their power tools.

Joe I have the fox buffer mounted with 1/3hp motor and I mounted 2 12in caswelll buffs. I sand to 3k and go right to the single buff.. What type of caswell buffs are you using do you sand to 600-1000 and then got straight to the buffs .Please explain . thank you.. I/m new to this type of buffing.

Ernie,
I've had my caswell setup for nearly 25 years now so I am not real sure what wheels I use, but I think they are the 12" loose cotton buffs (2 per end). With KTM 9 I sand to 1200 or sometimes 1500 then buff with fine menzerna and then extra fine. I suspect most folks just sand to 800 then buff. It probably comes out fine. After buffing I go over them with a plastic polish like Meguiars PlasticX. That removes any buffing compound and any remaining swirls.

On new wheels be sure to rake them pretty good before you load them up, and of course you will want to use one wheel for fine and the other for extra fine.

My next build is with Cardinal Nitro, so I am hoping the same schedule works!!!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks joe , when I called caswell , they said all I needed was 2 12 in buffs and some white acrylic compund . Both of the buffs are on 1 side . Forgot to rake them. I like to sand to 3k I am using General water base pre- cat urethane gloss. I like the look of FP and nitro old school stuff. As soon as I build a new shop.I will be putting in a spray booth .Thanks again for the info.

Beth,
Are you going with the HF buffer?

I think the biggest concern is size of the wheel, 12" is what seems to work, speed of the wheel, slower is better 700-800rpm is about right, and length of the shaft. A 36" shaft gives you room to do a guitar. Less length would make it difficult. Quality of the motor is less concern to me since I only do 1-3 guitars a year. Also, Caswell Plating sells buffing wheels in many diameters with lots of different shaft holes. You are sure to find what you need.

Some other thoughts on buffing:
You want the big wheels and long shafts so you have wiggle room while buffing. One wrong move and the buffer will jerk the guitar around. It is better to have more room so your master piece doesn't hit anything when that happens. You will learn pretty quickly to hold the work piece firmly in both hands and what you can and can't do moving the work around.

Well, OK, it's not quite as hard as I am making it out to be. You will be fine with a little practice. Happy Buffing and make it shine!!!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust