BYO Buffing Machine...
 
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BYO Buffing Machine.

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mikeyrjiom
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Having been to Marks workshop twice to build guitars, I'm always amazed at the quality of the finish he gets on the guitars. I realised since and have had it confirmed, that there is a lot of work to complete a guitar to "showroom" quality as he does. I'm not brilliant a spraying but now have a HVLP setup that gives good results with Nitro, as I can't afford the USA UV stuff mark uses. (She who must be obeyed stamped her foot when I asked 😆) 

So I looked at the end process of buffing/polishing. Whilst trawling the internet I came across a guy in the USA who did not want to spend huge amounts with StewMac for his buffing machine and he built one. Looked quite professional / sturdy and seemed reasonably priced for all the parts.

Here is the link to his article for those interested:-

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/buffing-machine-build.780914/

Anyway took me a good few lock downs to source the parts and put this together but I am very pleased with the results. In view of Mark's new finishing course on the

forum thought you guys may be interested in this.

IMG 3909
IMG 3904
IMG 3908
IMG 3907
IMG 3906
IMG 3789

Rough price was around £300 including the mops

Regards

 Mike

Trying to make a living out of a hobby doesn't work 🙂


   
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mattbeels
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@mikeyrjiom

Wow, that thing looks awesome!

I‘ve seen some other plans for a byo buffer from Highline guitars for example but that one looks sturdy as fook. I‘ll check the link, great job and thanks for posting!

Practice on scrap...


   
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Clinton
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Wow! Solid looking Diy. Awesome!


   
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Bill Flude
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A tempting idea to build something - I have watched the YouTube videos for the Highline one.

Measure once........
Measure again.........
Sod it - make tea!


   
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mikeyrjiom
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Thanks for the comments guys. I will post pics of the latest Acoustic later.

Anyone want the details of pulley sizes or where the parts are from etc let me know.

Bill Flude I looked at the highline one but the gap between mop and pulley didn't leave enough clearance so I was afraid if catching the body when using it.

 

Trying to make a living out of a hobby doesn't work 🙂


   
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Bill Flude
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Cheers Mike - having never buffed I wouldn’t spot the kind of vital detail.....

Is yours bolted down, if not does it stay put when you are buffing a guitar?

Measure once........
Measure again.........
Sod it - make tea!


   
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darrenking
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Hi Mike,

That looks great, I love DIY machines! I would be interested to know the length of the spindle and the speed that the mops are spinning at as I can see that is geared down quite a lot by the size of the pulleys. Do they spin up or down as you stand in front of them?

Are you planning on having any kind of extraction behind the mops to catch the polishing compound?

Cheers

Daarren


   
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darrenking
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I came across this company who may be of use to us for sourcing mops, polishing compounds and other accessories.

https://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/guide-to-menzerna-compounds-for-woods-plastics-and-lacquer.

I haven't watched the finishing course yet so maybe Mark has already described the stages of mop polishing that Lewis goes through. If not then it would interesting to know.

Darren


   
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darrenking
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And this is the company that I have used in the past for bearings, pulleys and belts.

https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/


   
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Bill Flude
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Thanks for the links Darren - thinking through building something - wondering about wall mounting something - pivoting an arm with the wheels, motor and pulleys so that it swings up when not in use......

 

Measure once........
Measure again.........
Sod it - make tea!


   
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Bill Flude
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What speed should the mops ideally turn at?

 

Measure once........
Measure again.........
Sod it - make tea!


   
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Boo
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What speed should the mops ideally turn at?

@forcesterbill You could perhaps base everything off the StewMac one, the spec is in their website. 

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Boo
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If someone could figure all of this out then I think we would all benefit from it, it’s something I’ve wanted for a while but never done it because of all the expenses involved with StewMac. 

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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darrenking
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Hi Bill,

The wall mounting option was my first thought also. Instead of the welded steel I was thinking of a birch plywood structure, which would still be plenty strong enough for mounting the bearings. What I don't know is how far from the wall the mops would need to be mounted in order to give decent access to the instrument or how far apart the two mops should ideally be. Anybody got much experience of this process who can give some pointers?

Darren


   
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mikeyrjiom
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Hi Guys

Sorry for the late replies was finishing off some acoustics. Thanks for all the comments.

The spindle length is 1mtr and is a 25mm steel shaft. Ideal speed should be between 750-900 rpm (@boo) according to stewmac, Robbie O'brien etc or you burn the polish and paint off. Not sure what @mark bailey's take on this is. The motor is a 4 pole 1400 rpm 1/3 Hp (too little I now know). The motor pulley is 40mm (SPZ040/1) and the shaft one is 75mm (SPZ075/1).  Mops spin towards and down and I intend to fit some extraction when I commit to a permanent space for it, so for now it has small wheels under the front to help move it around once tilted @frocesterbill. It needs a couple of wooden 4"x4" pieces at the front to level it off as the floor in the workshop isn't as level as I thought but when its on, it doesn't move at all. If it does you're pressing too hard and burning lacquer 😥 

The mops fit to bushes my friend made so I didn't have to use left hand threads, big nuts etc. They fit to the Stewmac mops with 3 allen bolts. my friend made me a drilling template that fits his bushes so once the mops are on, you just slide onto the shaft and tighten 2 allen keys on the bush and its done. Makes swapping over easy in the future.

Because there is an angle on the main upright it moves the mops far enough forward making catching the work quite hard but I suppose it's still possible if you're not careful. Watch the Robbie O videos he's good at explaining

The two links Darren has given are the places I've used. Pulleys, flanged bearings (UCFL205 Dunlop 25mm Flanged Bearing) & belts https://www.bearingboys.co.uk/ and https://www.thepolishingshop.co.uk/ for the Menzerna compounds and some of their mops but stewmac do 14" ones at a good price.

Mike

Trying to make a living out of a hobby doesn't work 🙂


   
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