John, You could easily put an arbor in the drill chuck and run a buffing wheel on that. The Shopsmith's speed dial will you get you much slower than most motors intended for buffing. Speed is important but I think that contact time and pressure are even more important. best, Greg At 01:34 PM 3/6/2005, you wrote: >Re the speed thing. >I have a ShopSmith, I should be able to rig up something on that. It is a >very versatile machine. >I wonder what the optimum speed should be, or does it depend on the >compound you are using? >John M. Ross >Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada ><mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca>jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca >----- Original Message ----- >From: <mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net>Joe Garrett >To: <mailto:pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech >Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 2:19 PM >Subject: Re: Moulded Key Tops > >John Ross asked: "Joe had mentioned problems buffing. >I also have problems in this area. >I had thought on a softer buffing wheel, but have been unable to find a = >source. The selections available at my suppliers, are limited.=20 >Any ideas? >I had thought on slowing the wheel down. Would that help?" >John, >I suspect it would, as "slow" hand buffing will eventually remove the >scratches in that stuff, but it is very labor intensive. The time it takes >to do this, I'd best spend replacing the entire set with something that >can be buffed! Yikes! >Another problem, for key covering, is the fronts. IMO, anything over .040" >thick, is not acceptable. The only supplier that offers material in this >dimension, is Piano Tech. Their material is the same as the moulded key >top material! It will scratch very easily and has to be corrected with >hand buffing, as it won't buff, even with extremely light pressure and a >slow buffing motor w/soft wheels. (In Portland, there is a company that >specializes in plastic, of all kinds, plus all the necessary stuff that is >necessary to achieve good results. It's call Multi-Craft. I got some >really fantastic extra fine buffing compound from them!<G> (Pastel Blue, >in color) Really works great. BTW, my buffing wheels turn at 1735rpm or >less. As it's not a good idea to put a speed reducer on an electric >buffing motor, I haven't tried that. (It will prematurely burn out the >motor.) I do have one set (2) of buffing arbors that are belt driven. I've >put different drive wheels on them, to reduce the speed somewhat. I >usually use that set up for brass/metal. Hmmm? perhaps I'll try buffing >the next set of keys, (with appropriate "clean" buffing pads.), with the >next set I do. It's a thought.<G> >Best Regards, >Joe Garrett, R.P.T. >Captain, Tool Police >Squares R I Greg Newell Greg's piano Forté mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net
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