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Hello,

I did some expansion in the main shop area and now I don’t have a closed off area for buffing.

I’m curious what, if anything, folks are doing for dust collection on their buffers? I’ve seen some pics of dust hoods that surround the wheels, but they all seem to be 6” and used for jewelry, etc...

How about just a dust hood? Top mount or behind?

If you are set up and can share a pic that would be helpful too.

Thanks!
Brad


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Here's my setup. It works pretty well. I do end up having to vaccuum up residual compound directly below the buffer and I still wear a mask. The hoods aren't permanently attached to my collector. I manually swap the hose between my portable planer and the buffer hoods.

That’s slick, I get that stuff all over me.

Michael, thanks as always. I was pretty close to just making one. Your looks awesome but I think is still built by you, correct? I have built a mobile base for the buffer because it has to be pushed out of the way when not in use, so I too would just steal a hose from somewhere else temporarily.

Thanks much.


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Yes, I made the setup. It’s the old SM arbor which is garbage, and SM 14” buffs. At some point I’d like to make my own arbor. I’m thinkin a 4’x 1” go-cart axle could be interesting

Add a 5hp motor to the 4'x1" axle and you'd see a real improvement...

I've never added hoods or dust collection to my buffers but Michael Greenfield did share with me that after he added hoods and dust collection to his, he felt that the guitars buffed easier. His guess was that the buffing wheels were cooler because of the air being pulled through and therefore made the buffing better. Too much heat is definitely an enemy when buffing any finish so if the hoods and collection cool things down, then I can see how it would help.

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jw ( o)===:::

Michael

Did you bend those hoods on a fox or a hot pipe?

Ed

Neither...

M

Yeah, thought they were guitars too!

New username, same ole Pat Mac

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Pat

Brad - Here are the photos showing how my buffer hoods went together (from the discussion here: http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=53056&p=696815#p696815)

My hoods are made from 3/16" plywood. My buffer wheels are 14" in diameter and the hoods are 16" in diameter. The 1" inside clearance works fine. To make the curved part I had to kerf the plywood to make it bendable. I used a 1/8" bit in my Dremel and cut kerfs every 3/4" using a block with sandpaper on it as a guide. I also drilled a 1/2" hole at the center of the location for the future shop vac port. On the first one, the kerf was about 0.90" deep and I had to use the hot pipe to get it bent to an 8" radius and it was a bear to do. On the second one, I cut the kerfs 0.110" deep and it was almost flexible enough to bend it the radius by hand. I did one quick pass on the hot pipe to get it all the way with out cracking the outer ply layer.



I clamped the piece down on a sheet of paper with an 8" radius half circle drawn on it and glued scrap pieces of kerfed lining to it. (I knew I had been keeping those around for something.)



I cut out a side and glued blocks to it to locate the curved piece accurately when gluing it to the side.


Here's the clamping arrangement. The hood side is clamped to a rectangular piece of plywood. There are several clamps that are clamped to that piece of plywood and butted up to the outside surface of the curved hood piece to push it tight against the little blocks on the hood side piece. You can see those clamps if you look close. After unclamping. I popped the locator blocks off with a chisel.


The assembled hood with the dust port cut in using a Colt router.


I don't have room for the buffer to set up permanently so I made the hoods so that they can be clamped in place to the buffer base and removed for more compact storage of the buffer. I glued an arm to each hood that was made by cross cutting the end off of a scrap piece of 2 x 10. Cross cutting means that the arm is glued to the hood on side grain instead of end grain.


Here's how the hoods are clamped to the buffer base. There are locator blocks on the base to make sure the arms go in the correct location and stay put. You can see one of the locator blocks if you look close. I considered more elaborate ways of attaching the arms to the base, but I like this because it's simple and fast to set up and take down.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Awesome. Thanks, Jay!

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I buff outside, simples.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I should make Ben carry my buffer out of the basement on buff day!! Before you know it he will be buff. Sorry, not sorry.


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If one was really buff, one might buff outside in the buff.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

The key to making them work is having enough suction to pull in the light fluffy particles. Unlike heavier sawdust which collects easily with a little help from gravity this stuff wants to just drift away. I experimented with hoods and without an industrial dust collector could not get them to work well enough. They would clog up with fluff and then randomly throw chinks of it out at me.

Another consideration is shrouding the buffs limits access and this can be a problem on tight waisted instruments, cut-aways or anything being done with the neck attached.

Most factory production hoods are like these. Notice the side doors that can be removed for tighter work, these are set up for backs and tops..... removing the door for access drops efficieny way down. Also notice the blue tape, That is to stop those fluff balls cause even with big suction it's a dirty job!

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Other safety considerations!

1; collection system and buffer and operator should be grounded. The static charges that can develop are truly shocking!!

2; I would not recommend using any of the same ducting that carries sawdust etc. from any other machine. One hot smoky little piece of sawdust in a high draft with this stuff and you will have a fire! A completely separate collection system would be best.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Brian, the pic seems to not be loading?


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I can see it but here is a direct link. Pic is from the Taylor factory.
https://roadslesstraveled.us/blog/wp-co ... ks-631.jpg

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Thanks for all of your valuable input Brian!
The link above shows some lovely travel pics, bit no Taylor image....

Funny, I click it and get just the picture I posted.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Here is what I ended up with. Not nearly as cool as Michael’s or Jay’s, but I broke in two new buffs today and it certainly helped a lot. I started putting compound on the first one and buffing a hunk of maple and it did a pretty good job. Still some ending up on the floor but better than before.

I picked up one of the wall hung dust collectors from Rockler. Each box has the dust port attachment on its bottom which accepts their dust handle. The collector is dedicated to this so should be ok.

The two knobs that attach the box are in a router slot so I can slide the box forward and back quite a bit in case I need more exposure.







Everything is so much more work doing this in the house. I can’t wait to move to a space with a garage for a shop.

Brad


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You can put foam pipe insulation on the front edges of the hood to protect your guitars from bumps and bruises.

That’s a great idea, I will do that!


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