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I haven’t taken any photos. I can upon request, but this feels like something most folks can visualize.

For years, I have been storing an old Shop Fox buffing arbor that I had not tried to use since my poorly conceived first attempt at a buffing station (opting for a handheld auto buffer instead).

This past summer, I bought a whole bunch of guitar making stuff from a fellow getting out of the hobby. Among the things I bought from him were a StewMac shop stand and matching angle vise. Hmmm, this turned into an idea on how to get back into big wheel buffing. I can’t bolt the StewMac shop stand to the floor of my shop; I just don’t have room for a permanent installation. But I could put it on a mobile base, if I could get it to be stable.

Toward that end, I mounted a 16” x 16” x 2” concrete patio pad (roughly $2 at Lowes) onto a leftover Bora mobile base using Tapcon screws. Then I mounted the StewMac shop stand and angle vise onto the concrete pad, also using Tapcon screws. This made a very sturdy, but relatively small footprint, mobile stand with a vise on top.

I had a thick laminated Poplar chunk just sitting around; I also got this from somebody closing up their guitar shop (I am a bit of a ghoul). I bandsawed that into the right shape for holding the buffing arbor and a motor, cut the right holes for adjusting pulley tightness through moving the motor, and put a foot on the Poplar for the vise to grab.

Presto chango, the whole thing put together makes a dandy mobile buffer stand.

You might worry about stability, and rightly so. But there is a simple way to make it stable. The trick is to work facing the two fixed wheels on the mobile base, instead of facing the cam-operated casters (and feet). In other words: Work at the back of the mobile base, not the front.

If you work facing the cam-operated casters, any force you apply to the top of the stand (i.e., where the work is) will tilt the whole thing back onto its back wheels and off of the feet in front, which allows the base to move away from you. But if you instead work facing the fixed wheels, then any force you apply to the top of the stand will tilt the whole thing back onto the front feet (assuming you have lifted the casters via the cams). The base is super solid when you apply leverage in this way, and it won’t move. You can raise, lower, and swivel the StewMac stand, so it gives great access to the buffing wheels.

When done, I walk back around to the front, lower the front wheels, and move the whole contraption against a wall, out of the way. If I ever need the stand for some other task, I can take the Poplar chunk holding the buffing arbor and motor out of the vise.

Just thought I would share this idea with others who struggle to find room for everything.

Similar setup here. I've got my StewMac buffer mounted on a repurposed cabinet that is on castors. That way I can move it out of the way easily when I 'm not using it which is 99.9% of the time. I just back it up to my work bench and lock the casters, it is stable enough for me.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

We need photos, gents.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Stability comes with the motor underneath. While I "upgraded" to a 1" shaft, the stand is my original that I had my StewMac arbor on.

Not a pic, but figured a vid would suffice?

https://youtu.be/UyW1qcHgimk

Edit: here’s a pic, low COG. Believe me, works a lot better than it looks, and way better than the SMD arbor with 3/4” shaft and smaller buffs. Bigger (and wider) is better.

I’ll take some pics and post them later today. I wanted to clarify that by stability, I’m not talking about the danger of tipping over. The stand I put together would be pretty hard to tip over. I’m talking about the fact that the mobile base I used has two straight wheels that are always on the floor in the back, and two casters that are lifted up via cams to set the base onto two rubber feet in the front. When I push at the top of the stand (where the work is), it matters whether I am pushing front to back or back to front. Front to back allows the weight to shift to the back wheels, which allows the stand to roll backward, despite the cams being thrown. But if I push back to front, this shifts the weight to the front feet, which makes the base stay put. It’s more about leverage and where the wheels are, not so much how high the weight sits. I hope that makes sense. Anyway, I’ll post pics later today.

OK, here are some photos of my buffer stand. Here is the whole thing from the front:



Here is the concrete pad base, Tapcon screwed to the Bora wheels and the StewMac stand:





Here is a view of the buffer and the Poplar laminated chunk that I bandsawed to fit the job. Ignore the state of the 12" buffing wheels; they are having a bad hair day after being stored a long time. New ones for finish buffing are on the way, and I will relegate these for cleanup and metal work:



Here are two photos of the back of the motor, both from the top and from the bottom. I bored 1" holes for each mounting bolt and used threaded knobs below, so that I can easily shift the motor around for tightening the belt:





The motor is a recent purchase from StewMac. I waited until they had one of those 30% off everything sales, which made this the best deal I could get on an appropriate motor. I was using a salvaged one before, but this one is much better. Here is a wider shot from the back:



As I mentioned earlier, this contraption won't tip over, but it will ride on the back wheels if you apply pressure at the work area from the front. It's just a leverage thing. But that doesn't happen when you apply pressure from the back, so I will turn the buffer around and work facing the back wheels.

It's a bit of a Frankenstein's monster, but I'm happy with how it is running. No shimmying around, etc. Definitely better than the first time I tried to build one of these.

Hi Don,
It looks top heavy (high C.G.) - I would put some out riggers on the base or maybe a kick stand off the back of the motor mount.

Clay—

Looks in a photo can be deceiving. It really isn’t in any danger of tipping from normal use. The concrete is pretty heavy. For a buffing stand, it works well. If I were trying to muscle something into place or hand plane something big, I would use my workbench to hold the work. I don’t see myself leaning into the buffing wheel that hard.

Ok, here's mine. Like I said it is on a repurposed cabinet I made for the shop probably 20 years ago. All of my benches and mobile stuff are the same height. The drum sander, table saw/jointer, buffer and lathe are on mobile stands so they can be stored on the wall under the lumber rack. Plastic trash bags keep the buffs clean between uses.



I just push the buffer cabinet up against my little sander and lock the casters. Plenty stable.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I originally mounted this Shop Fox and 3/4 Balder on a carriage that I just bolted onto my workbench when I wanted to use it. I had this wheel with pipe welded onto it sitting around from a garage sale waiting around for a purpose.

I realized that I really needed dust extraction with the buffer so I got the idea to mount it on top of the tire/pipe which is very stable and fairly portable and just use it in front of the garage. I cut a bunch of appropriately sized donuts from plywood and mounted on bottom with a veneer wrapped around it to make a perfect fit. One screw keeps it from swiveling. The tire stays outside the buffer stays inside and only takes about a minute to set it up although I am getting tired of the weight!

I could cut it down a little since I'm not using it on the workbench anymore or I might just try to make something with casters

Pat

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Pat

I once visited a friend who had a special room for his buffer with the walls and such lined with mattresses.... Don't laugh buffers sadly throw guitars at times. He was and is an expert in buffing which is something that does have a learning curve.

Since builders rarely get much practice buffing like fret work you have to build another guitar to have the opportunity a buffer's environment does benefit from some additional things.

Anyway here's our's, not mobile and my comment above if you consider it suggests that buffing is something that may need a dedicated area that has been "safed" in various manners so that there are not accidents waiting to happen.

Additionally there is some finish dependency here too. For example Cat poly not only may benefit from leaning into the buffer pretty firmly... it may also require it at times. So things need to be very sturdy if using cat poly for example.

Of course not everyone can dedicate space but you can ensure there are not things that you can inadvertently hit, etc.

Considering my advice here's ours where none of my advice has been taken I never said that we were very smart.... But if I was doing it again and had the space the mattress room where a guitar can fly across the room and not be damaged is attractive.

Here's mine. It hangs from the ceiling, so I call it my Bat Buffer. The ropes hoist it up to the ceiling when not in use.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Pat, that is impressive! Does it brace against something when it is in the down position?

Pat

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Pat

Pat,

There's no bracing when it's down. There's a wood dowel visible below the pipe that the thing pivots on that locks it all in place. I originally used the dowel to lock it in the up position as safety measure in case the ropes somehow fail, but getting the dowel out before lowering the buffer was almost impossible. Now I have a spring-loaded hook that engages when it comes up.

The key to this design was stiffness to counteract the force pushing at the end of a lever. The longer 2 x 4s on the ceiling span three joists for that reason. It was all seat-of-the-pants, but if I did it over, I'd keep it all closer to the ceiling for more head clearance. It's no problem for me, but I'm only 5'4". Maybe I should provide a helmet for my taller visitors.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

My StewMac buffer lives on a 24" x 24" x 34" tall cabinet mounted on locking casters. I simply don't have the space for a fixed mount; I just back it up to my central bench when I use it. I got my experience working with large wire brushes so probably not a good idea for beginners but it works fine for me.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"