[chinto]

BP....forgot to mention that in some cases, you will need to find an adapter in order to fit the buffing pads to your angle grinder.

[Black_peter]

Mojoe,
Since you have established yourself as the resident finishing expert. I have some questions;

Does your angle grinder have a variable speed? if it does, you will be able to use it for buffing. All you need to do is find some pads that fit or an adapter.

Hey!! who asked you?!?!





Thanks, I check what speed it runs at. I guess I can find the tread size too,
how would I find the thread size of the buffer wheel?

[chinto]

All you need in order to find the thread size is to get yourself an F.U. adapter.

:flipping:

[River]

Wow...

[Black_peter]

All you need in order to find the thread size is to get yourself an F.U. adapter.

:flipping:

Does Kale Co tools have those??

[Mojoe]

Mojoe,
Since you have established yourself as the resident finishing expert. I have some questions;
Buffing equipment, can you refer us to the part numbers you use at caswell?

Speeds;
What speed do you buff with? as in RPM.

Are buffing pads standard?
Like can I get then to fit my angle grinder?
(if the RPM is right)

I want to buff some metal and my next paint job.
I'm a cheap barstard but also hate buying cheap tools..

Thanks!

to answer your questions:

first....I never used an angle grinder for this. It won't work properly. you need both hands on the grinder, which leaves none to hold the windscreen. I tried that with the plastic oil filler cover on the fairing of the bike I painted for dave...the one I used in the polishing "how to". it went great for about 15 seconds, then the piece disappeared. I found it over in the corner behind my stack of winter tires. It was a bit scuffed and I had to paint it over. when I attemted it again, I strapped the grinder to a saw-horse and held the part and worked it over the pad. so if you do a windscreen, I suggest doing the same thing. you need a pad like i have in the photo above. just be gentle because that kind of pad will heat up a ws. when that happens, it will actually have the opposite effect and start making it cloudy. so like I said...be gentle.

2nd...the speed. honestly, no clue. at least not as exact as chinto. I have a different method than rpms. on a low setting, my biffer goes "whirrr". one a medium setting, it goes "whirrrrr". on full it goes "whirrrr" I run somewhere around "whirrr". Hope that helps.

as far as if they are all standard, I think pretty much so. I can't say for sure because when I got my buffer, I got 25 pads with it. I bought everything from a guy who closed up his body shop. there are no lables, no brand name, nothing...just a box of pads......so i can't tell you exactly what I am using. at least not for that buffing.

for polishing metal......forget the buffer. it aint going to work. at least not that efficiently. if you have any amount to do, you will end up burning out the buffer eventually cuz you will always be stalling it, unless it is a heavy duty grinder. even then, in order to keep that from stalling, it would be running too fast. not to mention the fact that the pad will be too large to get into any corners. polishing metal requires a different machine. sure, you can do it with a drill, grinder, or even by hand. someone on here proved that with their frame not too long ago, but it takes a long time. I am sure he can vouch for that. I don't have that patience, so I have a buffing machine. it is a 2hp electric motor with a 3 step pulley (for different speeds) that runs a 1in diameter shaft with 5 different wheels. more actually, cuz some are double and tripled up to give a wider cutting area. the shaft is at least 4 feet long. it has lots of room and you can manipulte the part around more this way. I use spiral sewn for first cuts or rough stuff. it is is already somewhat smooth, I use a sisal wheel to start. then I shine it up with a loose cotton wheel.

there are many ways to polish metal. if you have the patience, it can all be done with sandpaper. I would suggest reading the "how to's" on caswell's site. this link should take you to the page with all the wheels. in the middle is a "Pick-A-Buff Helper" link...in the gray box up top. it will tell you what wheels to use with what compounds according to what you want to polish.

one thing I want to warn you about.....don't use the same wheel for the hole job. you can't use black emery to make the intial cutting, then slap blue compund on the wheel for final polishing. your pad will be contaminted with the black and you will have a hard time getting it nice.

read on caswell site....visit the forums. 75% of what I learned came from there. the other 25% is trial and error.

for the windscreen, I used this wheel with the Mopar polish. it is made specifically for plastic to reduce heat. even then you have to be careful. what I did was loosen the tension on my polisher drive belt so that when I reach a certain pressure, it would stop the wheel and the pully on the motor would just spin on the belt. it seemed to work. you know...one of those trial and error things.

anyway....do like I said....go read up on caswells. they have all kinds of advice on all kinds of methods. you don't need to invest alot to do some basic polishing. my set-up is to reduce time. when I am stripping down a bike and need to clean up some parts, I don't want to be spending all my time doing that. 10-15 mins on a windscreen is plenty.

[Mojoe]

Thanks, I check what speed it runs at. I guess I can find the tread size too,
how would I find the thread size of the buffer wheel?

usually you don't need to know the tread size or pitch. just the diameter of the shaft. then get a pad with the same diameter.

and like chinto said, you may need an adapter. and seriously....get the right kind!!!! don't just get an adapter to accept a larger hole size pad. most grinders have a metal washer/nut that holds on the pad. you need to ditch that. all you need to do is lay the pad just a bit too flat on the surface so that metal nut runs across your fresh paint job to understand why I am telling you not to use it.

[Mojoe]

Could I find this stuff at the chrysler/dodge/plymouth/jeep dealerships? I'll give them a call..

Can you polish the parts without a buffing wheel? How much of a difference would it make?

actually, one other member on here went through all that with the chrysler dealership. they did not have it listed. I really don't believe it is available in the US. I need to pick up some more for myself, so if anyone really wanted some, I guess I could grab some extra while I am there and ship it to you.
however, it would be better if there was interest from maybe at least a dozen folks. this way I would just pick up a case of it.

and ya, I guess you can do it by hand, but I imagine it would be kinda slow, as with any polish. I have never used the stuff by hand except for one final coat after the buffing was all done. this stuff also works like a wax. you use it wet to buff, then let a final coat dry like you would any wax, then buff it off by hand with a soft cloth.