DIY Bucket Polisher Project.. best Buffer?

buckshotshoey said:
Here's a little secret I discovered... If you overlap the carpet lining the bucket wall, the balls will re orientate themselves every time they come up on the overlap. It makes them jump a little. I'm using thinner carpet than what the picture above has.

Determine Which way the balls want to rotate and overlap the carpet against the direction of rotation. You can overlap it both ways and see what works best for you.
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That can also make the polisher a lot noisier (if that matters to you). The best way I've seen to get the balls to rotate on all axes is to offset the spinning platter to the center ring. About a 1 inch offset center to center should be good enough. This is how it's done on the diamond polisher, and the sprocket they use ensures the balls also rotate around the platter, so they are constantly rolling around on the offset platter which will cause them to roll on every axis. This is how I (and rexus) made our polishers.
 
Sheldon said:
I've never had an issue with the balls banging together. The centrifugal force spreads them apart and they don't touch each other.

https://imgur.com/a/wikVeqy
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They also don't rotate properly. In that entire clip the tops of those balls never came close to touching any polishing surface. Just watch the 13. Before I made a diamond style polisher I used a bucket style like that and to try to help that problem I made a top plate, covered with microfiber, that I would let sit on the balls
 
justnum said:
A cheaper alternative to an orbital is a power drill, a bit that houses a cylindrical shell and fits a ball inside it. Line the cylindrical shell with fabric for buffing. Voila, single ball polisher.

The power drill is more fun to operate than the orbital sander.

Your welcome.

next time you ask if I realize something, you get charged extra.
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Are you serious?? A one ball polisher because "power drills" are "more fun to operate"?? I bet your mom still cuts the bottoms of your pockets off so you have something to play with. (y)(y)
 
rexus31 said:
What do you do when you need the top sides of the balls cleaned? When I had my bucket polisher with the microfiber divider, I would just give the bucket a shake (while running) to change to orientation of the balls. Can't do this without a divider of some sort. I'm also pretty sure when the balls are unevenly dirty, all will not spin at the same RPM due to varying friction on each ball. The cleaning solution will also cause varying degrees of friction on each ball. This may cause collisions. In your video, it appears all the balls are clean and dry so they should spin in the same place.
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They tumble around well enough for that to have never been an issue. Like you said, they do spin a little differently when I hit them with the cleaner. I have tried a divider, but they tended to tumble even less, and since they aren't hitting each other without it, I decided to remove it.
 
Sheldon said:
They tumble around well enough for that to have never been an issue. Like you said, they do spin a little differently when I hit them with the cleaner. I have tried a divider, but they tended to tumble even less, and since they aren't hitting each other without it, I decided to remove it.
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I stick my hand in there and swipe at them if they aren't spinning well enough. I've also overlapped the carpet like someone said above, that seems to work pretty well.
 
fastone371 said:
Are you serious?? A one ball polisher because "power drills" are "more fun to operate"?? I bet your mom still cuts the bottoms of your pockets off so you have something to play with. (y)(y)
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In a city and room with limited space, I refuse to create a stationary object for a ball polisher. My power drill single ball polisher is low form factor.
 
RussPrince said:
That can also make the polisher a lot noisier (if that matters to you). The best way I've seen to get the balls to rotate on all axes is to offset the spinning platter to the center ring. About a 1 inch offset center to center should be good enough. This is how it's done on the diamond polisher, and the sprocket they use ensures the balls also rotate around the platter, so they are constantly rolling around on the offset platter which will cause them to roll on every axis. This is how I (and rexus) made our polishers.
Click to expand...
Didn't change the noise level on mine anyway. I couldn't tell a difference. And not sure what you mean by offsetting the platter. These are Orbital buffers we are using. They are already offset.
 
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