My home-made ball polisher.

Have you tried a polishing compound?

Also as to the response to the question "does it matter if the ball touch each other"

Ever heard of a diamond cutting blade? Materials of equal or higher density will shear the lower density.
This machine will make micro abrasions between the balls, but a compound that is designed for polishing balls will make quite a difference as it has a higher density micro grit to take out the fine lines.

my 2 cents.
Andy
 
swest said:
I just finished building thelanz's version of the ball cleaner.

First off: Thanks, so much, for a nicely detailed writeup!

I added a star separator (MDF, with simonis 860 wrap!) that just floats on the surface of the buffer. In my opinion, this is not just a nice addition, it is a requirement to make this polisher work at its best.

Question: Why use carpet on the buffer head rather than a polishing bonnet? I haven't put carpet on there yet (I may not), and am just using the bonnet that came with the buffer. It works great! I don't see why carpet would work any better (?). Now, having said that, the bonnet is not replaceable without removing the buffer, whereas the carpet could be replaced with the buffer in place.

Thoughts?

As to performance, I couldn't be happier with the results.

And, while I haven't done the mathematics yet, I have come to believe that the randomization of motion produced by an orbital buffer (like the ryobi) with a 1/2" orbit, will be superior to that produced by any method that relies solely on offset circular motion. In short, I'm not so sure of the claims that some of the commercially available cleaners are inherently superior to this home-built model. On the contrary, I have a sneaking suspicion (which I hope to quantify) that, with a little care in construction, a pair of home-builts (one for cleaning and one for polishing) will outperform their commercial counterparts. Again, the star separator is a requirement, IMHO.

More later.
Click to expand...
Where do you think you're getting all these ideas from, if not for the Diamond polisher I designed...LOL good luck with the changes, hope your time working on it turns out well for you in the end, glad my ideas helped you design your polisher:smile: not everyone is willing to build their own;)

Glen
 
swest said:
I just finished building thelanz's version of the ball cleaner.

First off: Thanks, so much, for a nicely detailed writeup!

I added a star separator (MDF, with simonis 860 wrap!) that just floats on the surface of the buffer. In my opinion, this is not just a nice addition, it is a requirement to make this polisher work at its best.

Question: Why use carpet on the buffer head rather than a polishing bonnet? I haven't put carpet on there yet (I may not), and am just using the bonnet that came with the buffer. It works great! I don't see why carpet would work any better (?). Now, having said that, the bonnet is not replaceable without removing the buffer, whereas the carpet could be replaced with the buffer in place.

Thoughts?

As to performance, I couldn't be happier with the results.

And, while I haven't done the mathematics yet, I have come to believe that the randomization of motion produced by an orbital buffer (like the ryobi) with a 1/2" orbit, will be superior to that produced by any method that relies solely on offset circular motion. In short, I'm not so sure of the claims that some of the commercially available cleaners are inherently superior to this home-built model. On the contrary, I have a sneaking suspicion (which I hope to quantify) that, with a little care in construction, a pair of home-builts (one for cleaning and one for polishing) will outperform their commercial counterparts. Again, the star separator is a requirement, IMHO.

More later.
Click to expand...

Pictures! Gotta have pictures!! :groucho:
 
The one I posted a few pages back finally burned out and it used the stronger (14amp?) polisher from Harbor Freight. I probably used it 30 - 50 times before it quit. I now think that with this type of machine the polisher should use a top mounted buffer because there will be less strain.

I have both the power buffer and the mechanical polisher and when it is all said and done the mechanical works just as well or better. It takes little effort to make your own crank with a 12" bolt and a bench vise. Bar stool swivels are available for about $10.00 on the net.

I have now burned out three buffers and have given up on electric motors.
 
JimS said:
Pictures! Gotta have pictures!! :groucho:
Click to expand...
Well, the basic polisher looks the same as thelanz's (except that I used a pair of HD buckets), and the separator is of the star variety, but could probably take any reasonable form. I will post a picture, however.

Again, I want to stress that the fundamental advantage of this type of ball polisher is going to lie in its enhanced randomness. It'll take some time to demonstrate that mathematically. More on that later.

p.s.

Did anyone have any commentary on the use of the polishing bonnet vs. carpet for the surface of the polisher?

Thanks.
 
JoeW said:
The one I posted a few pages back finally burned out and it used the stronger (14amp?) polisher from Harbor Freight. I probably used it 30 - 50 times before it quit. I now think that with this type of machine the polisher should use a top mounted buffer because there will be less strain.

I have both the power buffer and the mechanical polisher and when it is all said and done the mechanical works just as well or better. It takes little effort to make your own crank with a 12" bolt and a bench vise. Bar stool swivels are available for about $10.00 on the net.

I have now burned out three buffers and have given up on electric motors.
Click to expand...
14amp!?! Yikes!

Do you think that this kind of failure is inevitable? And, if so, why? Is it from overheating? What is their life expectancy when used as designed?

I am inclined to try and work out the power buffer solution (specifically, of the orbital type), because, again, I think that circular motion alone, even with an offset, is suboptimal to producing the kind of random polishing needed for the best results.
 
Last edited:
swest said:
14amp!?! Yikes!

Do you think that this kind of failure is inevitable? And, if so, why? Is it from overheating? What is their life expectancy when used as designed?

I am inclined to try and work out the power buffer solution (specifically, of the orbital type), because, again, I think that circular motion alone, even with an offset, is suboptimal to producing the kind of random polishing needed for the best results.
Click to expand...

The platen has to be built so that it is within 1/2" of the wall and because we make and mount by hand there is a tendency for the platen to rub against the wall especially at high speeds. The buffer must be stabilized and a platen that is 17" wide is a lot of wood to move around. A 12amp buffer burned out in less than five minutes so the load is substantial on my 16 ball polisher.

Holes were cut in the bottem of the bucket to provide sufficient air for cooling so this was not the problem. I think the load of 8 pounds of balls and 2 pounds of wood + rug was just too much. There is of course drag on the carpet as the balls move around the walls. The balls are often not evenly distributed when the machine is started up and this also causes a significant strain.

With the buffer on top of the balls I think the weight problem can be addressed by the operator who can raise or lower the buffer as needed. The problem here is making sure the balls rotate and this will require a smoother cloth on the base that allows the balls to rotate.

I did learn with my mechanical polisher that I can move the balls nearly as fast as a power motor when a bar stool swivel is used for the base of the platen. A wrinkle in the towel used on the platen makes the balls shift off axis and this could be used in a power system as well.

In the power system I had a 3/8" gap in the side wall rug and this did make the balls rotate of axis.
 
JoeW said:
The platen has to be built so that it is within 1/2" of the wall and because we make and mount by hand there is a tendency for the platen to rub against the wall especially at high speeds. The buffer must be stabilized and a platen that is 17" wide is a lot of wood to move around. A 12amp buffer burned out in less than five minutes so the load is substantial on my 16 ball polisher...
Click to expand...
Ahhh. Yes, I can see that deploying a polisher that is designed for a lightweight, 7" or 10" disk/platen, to use a much heavier 17" wooden platen would exceed its limitations.

For an 8 ball, 12" diameter system, I think the 10", unmodified, polisher should expect a long life.
 
I realize that this might take all of the fun out of making it yourself, but... for $60 all ready made....

One of these with corncob media in it would probably to 5 balls at a time or you could do the rug thingy.

400-Tumbler.jpg
 
swest said:
Well, the basic polisher looks the same as thelanz's (except that I used a pair of HD buckets), and the separator is of the star variety, but could probably take any reasonable form. I will post a picture, however.

Again, I want to stress that the fundamental advantage of this type of ball polisher is going to lie in its enhanced randomness. It'll take some time to demonstrate that mathematically. More on that later.

p.s.

Did anyone have any commentary on the use of the polishing bonnet vs. carpet for the surface of the polisher?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

When you say the seperater is of the star variety do you have a picture of what you are talking about?
 
I saw the instructions on YouTube!

I saw a video on YouTube a few months ago with instructions on how to build this ball polisher..

I am going to make one for myself.

:p :smile: :grin:




mattman said:
Here are some pics of my home-made ball poslisher. The Ryobi buffer/polisher cost $25 from Home Depot. I had the two buckets and carpet. I polish 8 balls at a time, but it will hold about 12 or so at one time. I got the idea from somebody here on this site....I think it was Strokerz....something like that. I used two buckets instead of one though. The top one is a little smaller. I did this so that the motore could breath. This first time I used it, it worked very well. The balls looked like that were new and fresh out of the box.

Pic one is the complete set-up.
Click to expand...
 
Update:

I decided to build a more permanent version of the bucket polisher (MDF box, dual buffers, switches, etc. I'll get some pictures posted eventually.) Anyway, while working on this, I wanted to try to velcro a piece of carpet to the buffer pad to replace the ryobi-supplied bonnet that I had been using while the buffer was in my bucket polisher.

Well, the 4 1" velcro circles I used worked great for about a minute, and then the carpet circle just seemed to detach from the buffer pad. I took out the balls and divider, and removed (easily) the carpet circle, and discovered that the 4 velcro circles had torn loose from the pad, taking a small amount of pad with them.:(

I don't know if that means that the velcro is a bad idea, or if I need larger pieces of velcro...

Anyone else try this?

- s.west
 
Ball Polisher

Hi
I just made my bucket polisher this weekend also!
I used velcrow strips about 3" long on the polish wheel four of them 90 degrees apart pointing from the center to the edge, it worked fine.
I am making a divider setup out of packing foam for the balls in ride in.
I will post after I make and test it.
Thanks for the post
Good Luck
 
Bluey2King said:
Hi
I just made my bucket polisher this weekend also!
I used velcrow strips about 3" long on the polish wheel four of them 90 degrees apart pointing from the center to the edge, it worked fine.
I am making a divider setup out of packing foam for the balls in ride in.
I will post after I make and test it.
Thanks for the post
Good Luck
Click to expand...
Thanks for responding.

Did you use a matching area of velcro on the carpet circle? i.e. 4 pieces 3" long?

Did you use the industrial strength velcro from HD?

Did you use any additional adhesive, or just the adhesive on the backside of the velcro?

While I see now that the pieces of velcro I used were too small, the surface of the buffer pad is not very strong, and I worry that, over time, even larger areas of velcro might rip away.

Please keep us posted about this.

Thank, again.

- s.west
 
Another carpet question:

For those who glued a carpet circle directly to the buffer pad, do you regret doing so? Does the carpet circle need replacing, or does it look like it's going to last forever?

Thanks.

- s.west
 
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