Tool recommendation for polishing polyester finishes ...?

[John R Fortiner]

On Mon, 01 Nov 1999 19:11:59 -0600 Vanderhoofven <dkvander@clandjop.com>
writes:
> Greetings,
> 
> I am in the market for a electric polisher for the final step in 
> polishing
> out some scratches in a high gloss black polyester finish piano.  
> During
> the PTG convention in July, 1999, in Kansas City, I attended a class 
> taught
> by Phil Glenn.  This hands on class  involved polishing out 
> scratches in a
> high gloss black polyester finish.  The final steps involved a 
> handheld
> electric polishing wheel with a soft buffing wheel
The "electric polishing wheel" referred to above was nothing more than a
high quality automotive style buffer.  The biggest trick is to realize
that you cannot stay in any one spot without causing an enormous amount
of heat to build up.  I own a variable speed Makita sander/buffer which
serves my purposes very well, whether on poly or lacquer.  Likewise as
another tech has written in tonight Milwalkee is good, so, for that
matter is Black and Decker and who knows how many others.  You canNOT
purchase a buffer that is too good for the purpose.
As to the soft buffing wheels - those were canton flannel wheels which
are available from a variety of sources - including better hardware
stores and industrial supply houses.  They are also available from
speciality automotive catalogs - Eastman as an example.
 and a bar of 
> polishing
> compound.
> 
> Today my quest for a handheld electric polishing tool took me to 6
> different hardware/discount stores.  The only polishers for sale in 
> most of
> these places were designed for polishing car finishes.  
> Unfortunately, I
> couldn't find what I was looking for.
> 
> Tool Requirements:
> *Heavy Duty
> *low RPMs (1000-1400)
> *accepts 6" or 8" bench grinder polishing wheels
> 
> Does anyone know where such a tool can be purchased?
> 
> If not, does anyone have experience (good or bad) with using one of 
> the
> polishers designed for use on cars (the random orbiting polishers 
> with a
> lamb's wool bonnet).
* A random orbit polisher is going to polish exactly as its name suggests
- RANDOMLY.  With an automotive style buffer there is work being done
ONLY where you put the wheel.
btw. Those soft canton cotton flannel wheels generally come with a 1/2"
arbor hole.  The automotive buffers have a 5/8" arbor.  Don't worry about
it - the wheel material is soft enough to slide over the arbor.
The foam wheels - available at any automotive paint store - should be
absolutely great for poly work IF you are using the correct compounds and
not getting the wheels contaminated by differing compounds.  IOW use one
wheel per compound and wash them frequently - never assuming that they
are still "clean" from the last time.  It is really frustrating to find
out that your final wheel has a single piece of coarser abrasive on it. 
Not as serious when doing all the work by hand - BUT an automotive buffer
is designed to do a lot of work in very little time so that one little
piece of contaminent can do a lot more damage in much less time.

John R. Fortiner
jfortiner@juno.com
> 
> Thanks for any and all responses!
> 
> David Vanderhoofven

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