Thread: Convert a bench grinder to a polisher?

Some photos of my set up & the thread is here.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Seems to work a treat on my brass shells as well as the acrylic pen blanks Bob, but haven't tried any other metals.

I agree slower speed will be fine with acrylic and wood, and brass can be made to shine even with a bit of brasso on a rag and some elbow grease.

Expert metal polishers start polishing with the piece already very smooth and depending on the shape and size of the piece don't hold the metal on the buff for any long period - they use multiple short sharp (quite high pressure) jabs.
This helps keep the wheel speed up and means the metal won't get as hot. They also frequently rotate the piece so they don't get preferential polishing marks . This method doesn't work quite as well with slow speed buffs.

Hi The Bleeder,
A suggestion for a speed controller, if you were to use a Three Phase Motor connected in Delta to a VFD which has a Speed Pot then you could adjust the speed of the Motor.
This would mean building a dedicated Polisher but if you were doing a lot of polishing it would be worth making. The mandrel could be made to over hang giving good clearance for difficult or long parts and the mandral could be made to accomodate wire wheels as well for cleaning up bits.
I had made a wire wheel buff with a good over hang and since reading this Post will look at adapting polishing wheels to it.
Thanks for the link to Schaffner BobL, good site for Polishing Wheel information.

Regards,
Keith.