Homemade Ball Cleaner is the nuts

Johnnyt

Johnnyt

Burn all jump cues
Silver Member
I just followed the directions from an old thread on AZ to make a ball cleaner/polisher in one hour and ten minutes at a cost of $43.00 (I had to buy everything). It does 9 balls in 4 minutes and the other 7 in the same amount of time. The balls look like new when they come out and play great. http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=71033&page=4

Above is a link to the directions I used. I used the two bucket instructions. Johnnyt
 
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Johnnyt said:
I just followed the directions from an old thread on AZ to make a ball cleaner/polisher in one hour and ten minutes at a cost of $43.00 (I had to buy everything). It does 9 balls in 4 minutes and the other 7 in the same amount of time. The balls look like new when they come out and play great. http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=71033&page=4

Above is a link to the directions I used. Johnnyt
Click to expand...

I have seen WAY to many posts about how great the 5 gallon bucket polisher is. I fell into the hype and purchased the materials and built one too.

How can anyone say that this is a good idea. THE BUFFER HITS THE SIDES OF THE BUCKET. Not only is this going to shorten the life of the buffer, but the thing jumps around and makes a heck of a lot of noise.

This design is flawed. Either the buffer needs to be raised in the bucket or some type of larger bucket needs to be used. It is an orbital buffer and has a diameter of 10". The bucket in turn cannot be 10" in diameter. The buffer needs room to "orbit"

Also, the balls should not touch each other. Not a huge issue, but you can see "lines" or polish marks on the balls that touch each other.
A divider is needed like this one http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=160013

I would not recommend this to anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Johnnyt, I made one of those about a year ago when I was not working so I had plenty of time on my hands and everything I need right here in the garage laying on the floor collecting dust. I put in together in about an hour and man it is the bomb! I was creaming in my jeans over one of those Diamond ball cleaners before I put this one together and there is no way and I mean know possible way you could tell balls cleaned on my home made one and balls cleaned on one of those high priced ball polishers. They have to be laughing every time they sale one of those to some poor smuck.
 
Chi2dxa said:
I was creaming in my jeans over one of those Diamond ball cleaners before I put this one together and there is no way and I mean know possible way you could tell balls cleaned on my home made one and balls cleaned on one of those high priced ball polishers. They have to be laughing every time they sale one of those to some poor smuck.
Click to expand...

Unless you have the balls separated so that they don't touch, there are people with a trained eye that could tell if you used a flawed 5 gallon bucket polisher or a very nice Diamond ball cleaner.
 
I made one about 6 months ago and it is great...
We have six tables where I play and I clean the ball most times when I
play and it works great... No marks on the ball or lines on them .
They touch as they polish but no problems. I love it !!!
 
No problems with mine either. I do wonder what people who have problems use for ball polish? I've so far only used the Aramith polish in my cleaner.

Brian
 
Like I said...mine works great. No seperater and no marks. Mine is not that loud either. I must have got lucky like "Bata" and got the buffer in the middle and the rug 1/2" above the buffer wheel. Even if the buffing wheel hits the sides of the bucket it's no big deal. It will last for a long, long, long time. A new buffer is $24.95, not $500-$800. Johnnyt
 
I built one last year and have zero problems with it. There is a gap around the buffer of about 1/2" so it never hits the sides.

I made sure the carpet on the walls of the bucket was above the buffer as there is no need to overlap.

I also went with the Velcro route in holding the carpet on the sides. I can remove it easily and wash the residue off whenever I want.

Make sure to put enough vent holes in the bottom bucket to leave some air flow and you are set.
 
Mantool said:
I have seen WAY to many posts about how great the 5 gallon bucket polisher is. I fell into the hype and purchased the materials and built one too.

How can anyone say that this is a good idea. THE BUFFER HITS THE SIDES OF THE BUCKET. Not only is this going to shorten the life of the buffer, but the thing jumps around and makes a heck of a lot of noise.

This design is flawed. Either the buffer needs to be raised in the bucket or some type of larger bucket needs to be used. It is an orbital buffer and has a diameter of 10". The bucket in turn cannot be 10" in diameter. The buffer needs room to "orbit"

Also, the balls should not touch each other. Not a huge issue, but you can see "lines" or polish marks on the balls that touch each other.
A divider is needed like this one http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=160013

I would not recommend this to anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10-20-09008.jpg


10-20-09009.jpg


10-20-09011.jpg
Click to expand...


ManTool, I am looking at your photos and it appears that your carpet is actually touching your buffer pad. This is your first problem. Move the carpet up away from the buffer pad just a tad so that it clears. Second you can't put the buffer on Orbit because it throws it off balance and yes it will hit the side of the bucket because that's what Orbit does, moves off Center. Hey on a side note anybody that comes to my house to play and stares at my balls so hard that they can tell if it was done in a bucket or a Diamond polisher had better be a chick if you know what I mean.
 
Chi2dxa said:
ManTool, I am looking at your photos and it appears that your carpet is actually touching your buffer pad. This is your first problem. Move the carpet up away from the buffer pad just a tad so that it clears. Second you can't put the buffer on Orbit because it throws it off balance and yes it will hit the side of the bucket because that's what Orbit does, moves off Center. Hey on a side note anybody that comes to my house to play and stares at my balls so hard that they can tell if it was done in a bucket or a Diamond polisher had better be a chick if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

Not sure who's this is, but this is unacceptable. Listen how loud this thing is. Even the dog doesn't know whats going on. You can't tell me that this is not hard on the buffer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKE9_iUOeWA

The carpet is above the orbital pad. Just looks like it is under the buffing pad.

I did not know you could switch the "orbiting" feature off on a Ryobi 10" buffer. I sure would have turned it "off " before making this post.


My point is this: How could anyone be happy with this design and recommend it much less give directions on how to build one, when the Orbital buffer hits the sides??????????

My next step is to move the buffer higher in the bucket. Maybe to 3" from pad to top of bucket. I just haven't spent the time on it. I believe a 5 gallon bucket has a diameter of 11 1/4" or something close. Not sure how much travel is on the orbital buffer.
 
Mine is just as loud as yours but the buffer does not hit the sides at all.

As for it being loud... I use it for about 7 minutes total about every 2 weeks... If that loud noise is the price I pay for being able to have an automated ball cleaner for $40 so be it. I'll take the loud noise and it's vibrations any day over sitting there for 20 minutes with a microfibre cloth pollishing by hand...

Even if it is touching, if I use it every 2 weeks for 7 minutes each session, that's 3 hours of use per year, thats not so much. Say the average MTBF of the buffer is 200 hours (a low guess). Say sticking it in the bucket takes 90% of the life of it away (a high guess). That would still be 20 hours of use, at 3 hours a year, thats almost 7 years of life, which at $40 is $5.71/year.... The Aramith microfiber cloth is about $10 and I'd guess would last you about 2 years if you use it bi-weekly. So for that 7 year span you'd spend $35 on microfiber cloths... Given the very conservative numbers I picked I'll hand over that $5 extra to have the balls cleaned automatically despite the noise...

Brian
 
btoneill said:
Mine is just as loud as yours but the buffer does not hit the sides at all.

As for it being loud... I use it for about 7 minutes total about every 2 weeks... If that loud noise is the price I pay for being able to have an automated ball cleaner for $40 so be it. I'll take the loud noise and it's vibrations any day over sitting there for 20 minutes with a microfibre cloth pollishing by hand...

Even if it is touching, if I use it every 2 weeks for 7 minutes each session, that's 3 hours of use per year, thats not so much. Say the average MTBF of the buffer is 200 hours (a low guess). Say sticking it in the bucket takes 90% of the life of it away (a high guess). That would still be 20 hours of use, at 3 hours a year, thats almost 7 years of life, which at $40 is $5.71/year.... The Aramith microfiber cloth is about $10 and I'd guess would last you about 2 years if you use it bi-weekly. So for that 7 year span you'd spend $35 on microfiber cloths... Given the very conservative numbers I picked I'll hand over that $5 extra to have the balls cleaned automatically despite the noise...

Brian
Click to expand...

I have to disagree. Hand cleaning all the way because I only have one set of balls. Plus the noise from using a homemade cleaner would drive me nuts.
 
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btoneill said:
Mine is just as loud as yours but the buffer does not hit the sides at all.

Even if it is touching, if I use it every 2 weeks for 7 minutes each session, that's 3 hours of use per year, thats not so much. Brian
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That youtube video is not mine. It is an example of how flawed the design is. Every polisher posted on youtube makes this noise because the buffer is hitting the sides of the bucket.

If yours is as loud as the one in the video, but the buffer is not hitting the sides, than what is making that noise and vibration?
 
Mantool said:
That youtube video is not mine. It is an example of how flawed the design is. Every polisher posted on youtube makes this noise because the buffer is hitting the sides of the bucket.

If yours is as loud as the one in the video, but the buffer is not hitting the sides, than what is making that noise and vibration?
Click to expand...

The buffer itself vibrates. Take the buffer out, put it on the floor the same way it's in the bucket and turn it on. The noise is the buffer rattling on the plastic and is increased as it echo's inside the bucket.

Just look at how much the Ryobi buffer vibrates in someones hands in this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb2astqIt8g

Brian
 
The home made ball cleaner rocks. I made one. Yeah it's noisy. Yeah it's not perfect. But it didn't cost $500+ either. I am more than happy with mine.
 
All you need for cleaning a set of balls at home is some Aramith Billiard Ball Cleaner, a couple rags, and a few minutes of your time.

To use the product, just put some on a cotton cloth or a microfiber cloth, rub it on the balls, let it dry a bit, then wipe off the haze with a clean, dry cloth. The balls come out looking great. An entire set can be done in just a few minutes, and it makes a ball-polishing machine for home usage completely unnecessary.

no expenses for machine parts
no noise from a machine
no space requirements for a machine​
 
btoneill said:
The buffer itself vibrates. Take the buffer out, put it on the floor the same way it's in the bucket and turn it on. The noise is the buffer rattling on the plastic and is increased as it echo's inside the bucket.

Just look at how much the Ryobi buffer vibrates in someones hands in this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb2astqIt8g

Brian
Click to expand...

This sounds like a good theory. You are claiming that the buffer its self vibrates and moves so much inside the bucket that this is what is making the noise.

When I turned on my newly built bucket polisher for the first time, I was like WTF is that noise and investigated. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the noise is coming from buffer wheel and pad hitting the walls of the bucket. The buffer is secured very tightly with the tywraps I used.

Even if your theory is correct, how could someone claim that this is a great idea and give directions on how to build such a piece.
 
AtLarge said:
and it makes a ball-polishing machine for home usage completely unnecessary.
Click to expand...

Who said anything about having a home ball polisher as being necessary?

We are men! We build things for no reason! We find a use for them! It's a damn power tool!

Do I need that 18v cordless sawzall? Nope, I have a good old fashioned saw that works just fine. Do I like having the sawzall? Hell yeah! :)

In the immortal words of Tim "The toolman" Taylor: You're darn right, more power!

Brian
 
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