Ball Polisher for 15 balls

[mattman]

any advice on what rug/carpet will work best?

I just use carpet you have left over or laying around. The carpet I used puts a little bit of lint onto the balls, but it's not too big of a deal.

What do you do to keep the balls from hitting each other while they're spinning around? I guarantee there's little marks all over the balls from touching each other while they're trying to get clean.
Glen

How can you make a guarantee? I used mine for the second time yesterday and I cannot see any little marks. If the balls do touch each other, it's not near the impact that the balls endure on the table....I guarantee that!!

 

[JoeW]

Revised Ball cleaner - polisher machine

I have revised my machine (see photo below) and I have learned a few things that may be useful to others.

1. There is no need to screw the handle of the buffer to the 3/4 inch bottom plate. All that is needed is to buy a 1.5 inche bolt and washer that will attach directly to the bottom plate. Counter sink the bottom plate (so the machine bolt does not drag on the floor). Remove the handle from the buffer and screw the buffer directly to the bottom plate. It may be necessary to shim the buffer so the spinning surface is level. I did place some strap hanger (from my plumbing supplies) over the buffer and screwed the strap hanger to the floor of the machine to stabliize the machine. The shims were also screwed to the floor. While the opposing hole is no longer required to screw in the top or spinning platten, I would suggest having such a hole anyway for ventilation and cooling.

2. The bucket does not have to be as tall as the one shown in photo one. I cut off the bottom of the bucket by placing duct tape on a line around the bucket and then I used a jig saw to cut a reasonably straight line. I left the duct tape on the bucket as reinforcement. Screw the bottom buffer plate to the bucket walls about every 8 inches with 1.5 inch drywall screws. The machine is now more stable, spins better and it is easily stored in a cabinet. See photo below.

3. When cleaning the balls I place a drop of Aramith ball cleaner on each ball. Spin for about one minute. There is a crack where the piece of wall carpet meets it self inside the bucket. This crack will turn each ball on its axis as it spins around the bucket. It might be a good idea to place two pieces of rug with two cracks for better agitation and to simplify installation. The single crack is sufficient to spin the balls on each ball's axis.

4. After the balls have cleaned, I hold a flannel cloth in my hand and allow it to lightly drag over the surface of the balls as they spin. This yields a high shine and is better than hand polishing. However, you can over polish and remove all cleaner so 30 seconds to a minute is sufficient.

5. Someone thought that the balls would knock together and mark each other. I have not found this to be true. Centrifugal force holds them to the outside wall and there is almost no clicking of balls. Any bumping that does occur has not caused any damage to my new Aramith balls.

6. The whole rig costs about $70.00 to build based on a $50.00, 9 amp buffer from Harbor Freight, a $6.00 bucket, a couple of pieces of 3/4 inch plywood and some shag or fluffy carpet. I think that a bathroom throw rug would work just as well. The fluffy type rug seems to work well as it is indented by the balls as they spin and this keeps the balls in the bucket (boy am I glad about that!).

While I have never used a commercial grade polisher I can't see how a $400.00 machine could do any better. I suspect that my machine is more powerful than some of the commercial machines. Even with the revised buffer attachment it is necessary to stay with the machine as it does tend to vibrate. I could fix this by bolting the machine to a surface but I prefer this "stow away" version: I simply pull it out of a cabinet, use and shove it back into the cabinet. If it were to sit in a room I would probably make a circular cover to keep the dust out of the machine.

 

[JimS]

Thanks Joe! Mine will be a winter project. Does the buffer have a variable speed switch and does it lock?

Could you maybe take the plate off the buffer and show us how you strapped the buffer to the bottom?

 

[JoeW]

Thanks Joe! Mine will be a winter project. Does the buffer have a variable speed switch and does it lock?

Could you maybe take the plate off the buffer and show us how you strapped the buffer to the bottom?

Yes it has a variable speed I use the lowest (slowest) for cleaning and then kick it a notch or two for polishing. If I kick it all the way up it looks dangerous

It can be locked liked a drill but I stay with it as it only takes a a minute to clean. Then I let dry for a few minutes. Sometimes I wipe out the inside with a cloth to get the moisture out. Then I polish with flannel.

Here is a link to Harbor freight and the type of grinder polisher I am using. The price has come down so its even cheaper than I thought. They call it a grinder now but it was a sander / polisher when I bought it. At any rate it is powerful and will more than do the job.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=46237

Inside picture
shims used to make spinning platten level. Strap hanger to stabalize.
After I cut the bucket the original base plate was too small so I used some foam door insulation to fill out the existing base -- just too lazy to cut a new circle.

The "other" hole is where I had the handle attached. I just moved across the diameter and measured the offset to within about 1/16". Worked fine as there is about 1/4" offse from the spinning plate to the wall.

 

[JimS]

Thanks Joe. I thought it was going to be a winter project but I can't wait. I ordered the polisher/sander/grinder this morning. I had to do a phone order but that was because they are having problems with internet orders. I'll get a bucket and the other stuff this weekend and be ready for the polisher when it gets here.

 

[JoeW]

I'll get a bucket and the other stuff this weekend and be ready for the polisher when it gets here.

Cool -- post a photo when you get done. Love to see it. I am very plesed with mine. Hope your turns out well.

If you have the tools it should take about two hours, maybe three ,to make.

 

[bsmutz]

Joe, I was thinking that if you attached a 1"x to the bottom plate long enough to stick out a little on each side, you could clamp it to a table/workbench with c-clamps or spring clamps to add stability.

 

[JoeW]

Joe, I was thinking that if you attached a 1"x to the bottom plate long enough to stick out a little on each side, you could clamp it to a table/workbench with c-clamps or spring clamps to add stability.

Yeah that would work. And you could cut a hole in the bucket for a 2 X 4 then route out about 3/4" so the support would lay flat for clamping with a C-clamp. Neat idea.

The machine doesn't vibrate all that much. I can hold it with one hand and it might move side to side an inch or two. My room is not all that big and I like to have it stored.

If I wanted to get fancy I could put a couple of drawer glides in a rectangular piece of plywood, bolt the bucket to the "drawer" and slide it in an out of the cabinet. I think that the drawer gildes would be sufficient to hold the bucket in place with out tearing things up. The nice thing about this approach is that it lets me walk away from the cleaner while it runs.

But then I only need to run it for a minute or two, dry and then run for a minute to polish. So I am done fairly quickly.

None-the-less, I like the attached bucket idea and I have sonme drawer glides laying around. Maybe I'll give it a try. Right now I am making doors for the cabinets in the pool room so this would be a good time to make the additions. Thanks for the idea.

BTW, I just looked at that Harbor Freight Ad I referred to and they are not showing a buffer head. I guess you could pick one up at Home Depot. My buffer head is about 7" and that is sufficient with fourwall board screws in the head to the spinning plate. Now that I think about it, I may have bought the buffer head later. Not sure as I have had this machine for three or four years.

 

[Ballistic Billiards]

should have used velcro instead of cement

 

[nineballman]

I just put my 4 year old in a bubble bath and give her about 4 balls to play with each night. She loves it and they are spotless.

 

[JimS]

I was out to Tractor Supply and looked at buckets. The ones w/the rope handles and about 18" in diameter at the top look huge!... like a 10 gallon bucket. I guess that's what you used though... huh?

 

[JoeW]

The outside diameter of the bucket is 22" After installing the rug the inside diameter (rug to rug wall) is about 17.5"

I think that most any kind of plastic bucket would work. If you look at the photos at the beginning of this thread you can see that there is room for two or three more balls. The extra room is nice and may (but I don't know) help to keep the balls from clicking.

BTW, I got mine at a Dollar Store for $6.00 and they may be a little cheaper. I cut the rope handles off because I did not need them. The lip is big enough for carting around.

Coopdeville's idea about using velcro may be useful. The rug wall will wear out after a few years and velcro would be easier to replace. In addition if a velcro strap is placed above the top of the balls it would insure that the balls stayed in the bucket. However, I haven't had any trouble with mine and I have now used about 10 times.

 

[JimS]

10 TIMES! You must be playing pool in the driveway!
Or you've started a sideline business

 

[JimS]

I've been re-reading Joe's ideas and wonder if....

When you put the bolt through the 3/4" bottom plate and screw it into the threads where the side handle for the buffer was, how about putting a large washer and a double nut between the buffer and the bottom plate so that the height of the buffer could be adjusted and then drawn up tight. Would this eliminate the need for the shims to level it?

I still like the strap on the back half to hold the buffer down against the double nutted bolt and to stop horizontal movement.

How much did you cut off the height of the bucket... or the better question is how tall is your bucket now? It seems like the polisher and the plate for the rotating plywood w/carpet ought to be about 6" high and the side walls about 6 " above that?

You mentioned perhaps a gap in the rotating carpet to help the balls spin but I'm afraid that a bump there might bounce the balls out of the bucket. I do like the idea of 2 or 3 gaps in the side walls to cause a bump and increased spinning of the balls.

 

[JoeW]

I have four sets of pool balls and have cleaned them all. I have a set of snooker balls, cleaned them too. Then friends wanted to see it run. And the list goes on

I've been re-reading Joe's ideas and wonder if....

When you put the bolt through the 3/4" bottom plate and screw it into the threads where the side handle for the buffer was, how about putting a large washer and a double nut between the buffer and the bottom plate so that the height of the buffer could be adjusted and then drawn up tight. Would this eliminate the need for the shims to level it?

I still like the strap on the back half to hold the buffer down against the double nutted bolt and to stop horizontal movement.

How much did you cut off the height of the bucket... or the better question is how tall is your bucket now? It seems like the polisher and the plate for the rotating plywood w/carpet ought to be about 6" high and the side walls about 6 " above that?

You mentioned perhaps a gap in the rotating carpet to help the balls spin but I'm afraid that a bump there might bounce the balls out of the bucket. I do like the idea of 2 or 3 gaps in the side walls to cause a bump and increased spinning of the balls.

With the shims I have three points of contact between the buffer and the base plate. This seems to make a stable machine. Your idea would work though two or three washers might be needed because of the way the buffer is built. I do have a large flat washer in the bottom between the bolt head and the plywood. A lock washer does not seem to be needed.

The crack can be seen in the revised bucket photo. It is not large enough to catch a ball and make it hit the balls behind it. It does seem to make the balls rotate. I am not sure what two cracks would do but I think they would not hurt.

The balls do not jump out of the bucket because the carpet is pretty thick and soft. It indents when the balls are forced into it and this must be sufficient to keep the balls in the bucket. I have run it at full speed for a few seconds. One ball did jump out one time and I have not run it that fast again. They do get moving too fast and could hurt someone. Half speed is about the max I use now.


I cut about three inches off the original bucket. Now it is 12" tall and slides into a cabinet.

 

[JimS]

Three inches isn't enough to warrant all the work of cutting it off, in my application and I don't have a cabinet to worry about so I'll probably skip that step... especially since that would be more work than any of the other steps.

Thanks Joe for all your help here. If I had the buffer I'd be up and running this weekend. I"ll just have to settle for getting all the pieces ready. Hmmm, I guess I can't cut the buffer platter until I have the buffer as I won't know the exact diameter until I have the buffer installed and can see where it will orient the platter. I'll have to be patient... I hate being patient

 

[JoeW]

Jim. From what I have learned I would suggest screwing the bottem platten to the bottom of the bucket. This helps stabalize everthing and reduce vibration. In fact if it is screwed to the bottom board it would not have to be all that accurate with regard to its fit.

If you have the bucket, you could place the carpet in the bucket, and cut the two circular boards to fit and place carpet on the top board. This is where most of the work is involved. Placing the buffer in the bucket is not all that time consuming.

 

[JoeW]

Revised again

I noted in a previous post that I used a strap hanger to stabalize the machine in the bucket. Today I found the strap loosens up over time. So I replaced it with two one inch posts 1/8th inch less than height of the buffer. A horizontal beam was then placed across the posts. Now the sucker should not loosen up.

I also placed a lock washer on the machine bolt where it attaches to the bottom of the bucket as it too had loosened some.

 

[JimS]

Revised again

I noted in a previous post that I used a strap hanger to stabalize the machine in the bucket. Today I found the strap loosens up over time. So I replaced it with two one inch posts 1/8th inch less than height of the buffer. A horizontal beam was then placed across the posts. Now the sucker should not loosen up.

I also placed a lock washer on the machine bolt where it attaches to the bottom of the bucket as it too had loosened some.

I gather that the "posts" you fabricated must be something like
5/16" blots about 6" long. What did you use for the horizontal "beam"?

 

[JoeW]

The posts are about .5 X 1 inch oak. I drilled from the inside out then counter sunk.

The beam is the same size. I use oak, as Grady says, "Because I can." Seriously, I have lots of oak lying around. I live on 40 acres in the woods and we have a saw mill near me too. There are advantages to living in the woods.

We have a Harbor Freight in the area and I am off to buy two more buffers to make a couple of machines. One is for my son. Perhaps I will place one on Ebay to see what they sell for. I will post a photo of the new one here with a set of instructions for anyone interested.

Suggestions and recommendations for the new ones are welcome.

Boys and their toys