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I didn't want to hi-jack Mike's thread on his new buffer, but I'm about to order the 1100 rpm Caswell plating
buffer, and I wondered which wheels to use, both material and diameter. It looks to me like I would want loose
cotton, Canton flannel, or Momet flannel. And what diameter? I'll be buffing both Nitro and EM 6000. The spfm
for each wheel diameter would be:

4"==> 1152 ft/min
6"==> 1728
8"==> 2304
10"==>2880
12"==>3450
14"==>4032

TIA for any advice

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

You don't want smaller than 12" or you have too much heat build up in a small area I preffer 14"

I used 10" on 1725 rpm and found it too aggressive so I slowed down to around 1200 with a smaller pulley on my arbor and to me it is real nice does a good job and is very safe. I would not go larger than 12" the wheels can generate a lot of heat if too fast. The larger wheel is nice though to get the guitar farther from the shafts and motor to prevent dings happening. I like my belt driven arbor with the belts a little loose as advised by Robbie O'Brian on his youtube buffing video, less chance of accidents. As for wheels the airway buffs run the coolest but I use the cotton flannel wheels.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I use 12" at about 1000 rpm. I have flannel, soft cotten and domet (really soft).

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Hank Mauel

I use the Canton Flannel.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

The wheels in my picture are 14". Along with increased linear feet/min, a larger diameter means more surface area NOT in contact with the surface. I think it would be hard to estimate optimum diameter, and lpf characteristics other than by empirical evidence. At less thn 900 rpm on my buffer, I never noticed any heat build up. But 1100 rpm is more so Fred is probably giving you good advice. They are cheap, so try 12 & 14.

One other thing to consider is applied torque on the motor through the buff wheel. Yours is a direct drive (no gear reduction via a pully system) so the motor torque determines how big a wheel you can use as well.

Mike

OK, thanks for all the helpful reply's and advice. I'm rethinking the Caswell direct
drive motor in favor of going to an arbor with a belt drive. Looking at the advice,
looks to me like the Caswell setup is a bit more compact, but the arbor has
advantages in speed variability and torque variability(more to drive bigger wheels,
less to allow a little belt slip if needed). So I'm considering the Grizzly arbor, even
though it may be a bit more expensive once the motor cost is figured in. But...I
have a rental house where I left a 1 horse craftsman motor- even though it's 3450 rpm,
I can knock that down with pulley size. Looks like the way I'll go.

Thanks again- this is such a great forum

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

I was not knocking the caswell system... just so everyone knows. I wanted one of those 1100 rpm motors for some time. In the end, I decided on the arbor system. And with arbor systems, a lot of folks will tell you to go with lower HP motors (1/3 to 1/2 hp). The Grizzly can handle higher power. But after taking it apart, I can see why less than 1/3 might be a problem (to much bearing friction).

The 1/2 hp on mine creates plenty of torque... almost too much. And I think my motor is 1750 rpms (no way to know for sure). The more HP, the more end torque you will feel. And this is where you have people talking about buffers throwing guitars across the room and making toothpicks. Of course, speed in lfpm is a big factor since it determines over what time period that torque is experienced! Lower speed, higher torque, and you can recover from a "grab".

Check your local Craigs list or heating cooling contractors, used 1/3 and 1/2 HP motors can be had quite cheap with a little searching. I have seen furnace blowers at the curb on garbage pickup day.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Well, if you cannot find one, try this: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=92104

You won't have to build a housing like I did and with local pickup, you save $$.

You still will need a 1" pitch v-belt pulley. AceArdware on-line has them for cheap (Amazon.com). The belt that comes with the Grizzly arbor is too short (for me) so I ordered one twice as long (McMaster, I think)

Mike