I have been looking off and on for a buffer/polisher for a little while. Today, I happened to be looking for something unrelated when this one popped up for really cheap on Facebook marketplace. I sent the guy a message and went to get it after work.
It's a beast!
43" wide, 43" tall. The wheels that are on there look to be about 9"+. It's 110v which is awesome, but it definitely needs a new cord.
The nuts that are holding the wheels on are 2", so I'm going to have to get a tool to get those off and replace the wheels. Either way, I'm hoping to keep this cheap and and just get it back to safely usable. I would love to know the information that's on the tag but I think it's too rusty to read through. Maybe soaking it in some kind of rust reformer would be good.
Anyway, I'll be wide open to advice/tips and tricks on the buffing wheels themselves as well as re-doing the wiring and how much I will need to touch - given that it goes through the back to the starter in front (buttons need a little tweaking), and then back in to the actual motor.
Brian
MegaDork
1/10/19 10:32 p.m.
Yeah, that is rather large. Good luck.
What the hell is that a polisher for? A Battleship? Does that say 21 amps at the bottom of that chart?!
Have you looked on Grainger? Those buffer wheels seem to be in an industrial size.
In reply to classicJackets :
I think a pencil rub will get most of the text from the nameplate.
That looks about the size of the polishers at the chrome shop. I'm betting wheels are completely available when you figure out where to look.
"Motor Generator ?????" Curious
aircooled said:
What the hell is that a polisher for? A Battleship? Does that say 21 amps at the bottom of that chart?!
Have you looked on Grainger? Those buffer wheels seem to be in an industrial size.
What's worse, I Can't tell whether the Specs plate reads "30/15" for (115/230) or not! If it's 30amps I can't even test it in my garage! cool thing is the cover comes off on one side, and I can see some spring loaded components inside. Not sure what they are, but all the springs seem to be solid, and the connections look good.Lots of dirt on the "inside" of that, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking at either.
That's pretty cool. I have no real input for you, but I like seeing old, overpowered tools being put to use.
iceracer said:
"Motor Generator ?????" Curious
Motor Generator Corporation
Troy, Ohio
Was looking at the label inside the switch cover . Think I would be concerned about "Phase 2 & 3" - I'm fairly sure that the motor tag says 3-phase as well.
Don't know about the power where you live is like, but the residential service where I live is single phase. There are phase converters that will let you run 3-phase equipment on single phase 220. It looks like a digital version of one can be had for less than $300 on flea bay that will handle up to an 8 hp motor with a 22 amp draw.
You are going to have to get the motor tag cleaned up enough to determine it's specs before you do anything else.
If you can get it to work, it will be a monster!
Edit - I believe that the motor can be rewound to single phase, but I have no idea how expensive that might be.
CJ said:
Was looking at the label inside the switch cover . Think I would be concerned about "Phase 2 & 3" - I'm fairly sure that the motor tag says 3-phase as well.
Don't know about the power where you live is like, but the residential service where I live is single phase. There are phase converters that will let you run 3-phase equipment on single phase 220. It looks like a digital version of one can be had for less than $300 on flea bay that will handle up to an 8 hp motor with a 22 amp draw.
You are going to have to get the motor tag cleaned up enough to determine it's specs before you do anything else.
If you can get it to work, it will be a monster!
Edit - I believe that the motor can be rewound to single phase, but I have no idea how expensive that might be.
I do think this is something that the starter could be run with 3 phase (maybe?) but the guy I picked it up from ran it off a 115V in his garage in a fairly rural area. The tag is clear on showing that this is a single phase motor, even if the "Starter" inside cover shows that it's intended use is for 2 & 3 phase
Either way, i heard/saw it run on 115v before I handed over any money. Still would like to get the Tag cleaned up a little better. Anyone have a favorite Heavy Duty 115V power cord? I would like to get about the heaviest cord possible. Grainger had some 14-3, don't know if I need more robust than that!
'Spring loaded components' are the motor brushes...which wear out and are replaceable (that is, if you can find replacements).
You could probably get by with a breaker that's smaller than what you need, and it won't pop until you really lean into it.
Wide buffing wheels are often just regular wheels stacked up.
We have about a dozen of those things at work. I don't know a whole lot about polishing myself, but if you have any questions regarding wheels or compounds or anything I'd be happy to ask some guys who do know what the hell they're talking about.
Since you're in Michigan, you should get your wheels from Abrasive Brokers on Rochester Road in Troy.
I don't know what wire sells for locally to you and if it's worth shipping, but I might have some nice 12/3 cord (12 gauge) if you want it. How much length would you need? 14 gauge should work, if you're plugging it into a standard outlet the limit is 15 amps anyway. A 20 amp outlet has the sideways pin. 14 gauge is good for 15 amps, 12 gauge is good for 20 amps, at 120v.
In reply to dculberson :
That's a really nice offer. I bought two extension cords today that are 12/3 - any harm in cutting one in 1/4 and saving you the hassle?
I visited my parents this past weekend, and realized i had the tool I needed stashed on the wall from several years back! It's a trusty 2" x 1 5/8" Herbrand wrench. Had to check a bag to get it back, but now I have it..
As jamscal mentioned above, the wide wheels turned out to just be several skinny ones stacked up. Looks like the arbor/inner diameter is about 1.25", and these discs were ~9" O.D. Hopefully won't be too bad to replace.
One side was all stacked up with washers to keep the nut on threads. My next move is to try and get off that inner "disc"/thicker circle of steel. They've been soaking in PB Blaster for 2 days now, but still on there pretty good. They don't need to come off for the Buffer to be operational, but I'd like to clean up the arbor some (especially on the right side), and clean/protect all this hardware.
All in all, still progress...
Awesome wrench!!
There's no harm in cutting up the extension cord, it's a perfect cord to use for this thing. I did dig up about 10' of 12/3 cord, but it sounds like you've got it covered.
That is a cool find! They sure don’t make them like that anymore.
The label in the cover is likely generic to all the models they made. It tells us to look at the motor nameplate to figure out how it needs to be hooked up. And it has that handy table for sizing the overloads.
I don’t see it in the pics, but on that motor somewhere there has to be a pecker head. That is where the wires from the starter connect to the motor. If you can get to the pecker head and open it up, the leads from the motor will tell you if it’s single phase or polyphase.
paranoid_android said:
That is a cool find! They sure don’t make them like that anymore.
The label in the cover is likely generic to all the models they made. It tells us to look at the motor nameplate to figure out how it needs to be hooked up. And it has that handy table for sizing the overloads.
I don’t see it in the pics, but on that motor somewhere there has to be a pecker head. That is where the wires from the starter connect to the motor. If you can get to the pecker head and open it up, the leads from the motor will tell you if it’s single phase or polyphase.
behind the starter "box", the wires go through the pedestal and up into the grinder. I'm sure that's where that happens. I do know it's single phase, though, or at least runs on it! I heard it run before I bought it.
I also found large buffing wheels with the right arbor size through Caswell Plating. I think I'll get a spiral sewn 12" wheel, as that looks like it would put the sfpm around 5500, which seems like it would be good enough for some aluminum! I may get loose cotton wheels for the other side.
Another supplier here: https://www.bright-works.com/store/html/buff.html
Hoping to get the new cord on this weekend, get those inner "washers" off, and get new wheels ordered next week.
Got the inner washers off today, and ran the buffer for the first time (Still on the original cord). I put the cloth wheels back on and got it up to speed to try a test buff on an aluminum piece.
I'm sure I didn't have the right compound, and I believe the wheels are too small, so not getting up to the right speed.
The machine runs great, though. Far better than I ever would have expected. No shakes or noises, and it does come "fully" up to speed after running for a few moments. Video below.
I'm hoping to de-rust the nuts and the inner washers, along with the little bit thats on the spindles. After that, add a new wheel and learn the compounds and run it!
https://youtu.be/OIttbCjM3Nc
Since embed doesn't work.
Here's the piece I put on the buffer. It turned out fairly well, but you can definitely still see the scratches. I think a new wheel and the right compound could eliminate that?
