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Well I finally got myself a buffing arbor, set up my little 1/4 hp motor and went to town on my 2nd guitar, The finish is KTM-9. Because I have read horror stories about guitars being ripped from people's hands while using buffers, I was very cautious while doing the neck first, holding tightly, slow now...RIP, tore that thing right out of my hands, threw it to the ground(concrete)bounced around a bit and I just sat there looking in horror as it sounded pretty bad. I was very upset at myself as I got the neck in a binding situation with the wheels and those things have no mercy I'll tell you that! Anyway, after what seemed like 5 minutes, really 5 seconds, I picked the neck up to survey the damages, not too bad, a days work fixing binding, resanding, refinishing, wait 2 weeks and buff again....really lucky, and boy do I respect that thing now. The cool part is the finish after buffing was amazing, I am so excited to know that I can finish a guitar that will look pretty darn good....the KTM-9 looks great. I'm going to do the body next, after I put down some foam rubber matting on the floor, just in case the buffing beast tries to eat something else. Oh yeah, the little 1/4 hp engine that could, well it couldn't, it died right after the neck was propelled elsewhere, I'll have to replace it before going onward.

Any of you guys have buffer blues stories?

GregGregG38925.859375

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Gwaltney Guitars

Everyone has buffer horror stories, don't let them kid you. Except me.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

What size wheels and rpm are you running. I've thrown things caught on
some high rpm wheels (around 1100rpm) but have set my own buffer at
abour 700 rpm with 12" wheels. This feels much safer, and is plenty fast
enough to get the job done.

Still, good enough is never enough for me,
so my new variable frequency drive should be here by early next week.David Collins38925.9057291667

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Greg, you got me scared now, thanks for sharing this, i sure will treat that tool with a lot of respect!

Serge

a quarter horse? a bit small.

Consider 3/4 or 1 HP and you got you a buffer.

David's right on the rpm and buff size. Very important.

You gotta use a finesse on a buffer that can only come with practice. Glad to see you found the real joy of buffing in the process. There is hope for us all, ay?

What you did was the big "faux pas" of feeding an edge to the buff. With the buffer NOT running, study how it can, and cannot, grab an item, and you'll quickly see how to not have this happen again. If you don't feed an edge into the buff, it will never rip anything from your hands.

basic rule is, if you're looking down at the edge you're about to present the buffer, it will grab. Only buff the surface you -can't- see.

Thanks for the tip Mario!

     I've thrown aluminum and brass parts but nothing for a guitar! What Mario says is right, the edge your buffing to should face away, ALWAYS!!

   Just turn it around, It's easy!

    I've practiced on less important items first and got the hang of it, maybe you should too! IMHO

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll be much more careful next time. I'm getting a bigger motor next week, then finish this guitar which seems to never want to "go away"

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Bigger motor ??? I have a 1/5 on mine, and it DOESNT slow down. Why would you need a bigger one - it wont turn any faster - its 1725 after all ????

here it is - cost - 20 bucks without the buffs, and I traded a guy a homemade fretbender for those !!! If you wanted to do the belt slip thing, its easy with this kind of hinged motor setup - simply wedge the motor up until the belt gets a tad loose. But like Mario says,. if you present the right way, nothing ever gets tossed. Hasnt happened to me (crossing fingers, toes ... knocking on brazrw)

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I run 14" wheels at 800rpm for fine compound and 1100rpm for extra fine. As Hesh said I set my belt tention to slip if I try to dog the wheel. A good buff takes really very little pressure. by allowing the belt to slip if you put too much pressure on the wheel you help keep burn throughs down.

Three times in on day I have had the buffer grab on me. Thank goodness it was not guitars. You have to watch what you are doing every second the buffer is on is on

Tony, it's hard to believe that's just a 1/5 hp. Nice looking buffer. I guess I based my motor requirements on the real motor buffers by Baldor that I saw Charlie Hoffman using.

Frank Ford has one too I believe and those are 3/4 direct drive motors. Which is different than belt driven shafts somewhat. All that said, I'm very happy with my 1HP 110 V. unit. I do have 12 inch buffs and wide, so maybe it takes more power if you have wider and bigger buffs?

Frank does something cool, he uses CA to harden his buff core, then threads it with a tap. He then threads on the buff as the final protection on the shaft end. Frank is a brainy guy.

For some reason I have never had a problem buffing guitars on my buffing arbor. I don't know why. It seems I read about it often but I've never had a problem. Maybe it has something to do with using a 1/3HP motor... I don't know. But I do remember several years ago when I was just a teenager buffing my 2nd guitar. I was using a 10" random orbit auto buffer. That buffer slung that guitar right off the table and skidding across the floor. I was kind of upset about it but not devastated. I was able the repair the finish. Back then my guitars looked so rough I don't think a little sliding across the floor could hurt 'em much.

I'm fairly certain that I had the wheels turning approx. 900 rpm. 12" wheels, 2" pulley on 1725rpm motor, with a 4" pulley at the arbor. I just stuck a sharp edge from the fretboard into the wheel and it grabbed it with gusto. But boy does that buffer make it look good, really glad I went this route.

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

That looks like a weight bench.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

I'm no buffing expert. I've never buffed a guitar with buffing wheels. However, I did color sand and buff out my 66 Mustang. One of the rules when buffing with a hand held buffer is to buff off the edge. I'm sure it would be appropriate with buffing wheels too. This is what Mario was referring to. This mean to have the wheel spinning off the edge, so that it's won't catch the edge. Secondarily, but just as important, it wont build up heat and burn through your finish. Glad your neck wasnt too badly damaged.

I used to read a custom knife making forum, and occasionally someone would have a close call when buffing out their newly finished knife. That has to be a hair raising experience having a sharp knife catch and fling at you.