# Polishing using lathe upgrade



## Divided He ad (Nov 16, 2008)

Some of you may remember the post I deleted a little while ago after some objections to the use of a buffing mop in the lathe chuck? 
Well I did listen and have made the necessary adjustments to make it as safe as any buffing wheel. IMO. 

Once again I am NOT telling you that this is perfect or totally safe.... You are still working with machinery and that is ALWAYS dangerous.

Well on with the post... Due to some donated parts and a little time in the shop (this is the first time I wanted to polish anything for some time) I made this little set up.... And in my eyes it is far safer to use than with the chuck attached. I can't see a dedicated buffing machine being any safer than this... Feel free to shout out any objections... I'll not remove this post. 


MT3 blank.... 






A bit of free hand shaping, ;D making sure to leave a collar the same size as the thread... A bit safer than turning it all down to 16MM  





A little flat to aid drilling. 





Drilled and tapped for grubscrew M6x1.0.





drill for pigtail shaft to fit, in this instance 6mm





And you end up with this.... 





Add a buffing mop and you are away ;D 






This not only provides a Great deal more safety but also allows you to get to both sides of the mop easily ;D 

Very happy with this mod  Just used it to polish a the mini ball turner ;D 

I am thinking about a cover for the threads.... Just a cylinder held in place by the MT3, there is enough of a gap between the arbour and the spindle to accommodate a cover.... Well that's for next time I'm going to polish something ;D





Ralph.


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## Powder keg (Nov 16, 2008)

Great job as always Ralph! Thanks for sharing;o)

Wes


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## Divided He ad (Nov 16, 2008)

Hi Wes, Glad you like it.

Good to see you around too ;D 



Ralph.


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## ksouers (Nov 16, 2008)

Hey Wes! Welcome back!

BTW, Ralph. Nice job around the chuck problem.

Now you need to do some internal single point threading to sleeve that spindle ;D


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## Tin Falcon (Nov 16, 2008)

Ralph Nice work Yes I would definitely cover the threads. My south bend came with a cover that I always use when turning with my 3-c collets. 
you may be able to find one one e-bay or just make one .it just screws onto the spindle thread good practice in internal threading you may want to make a copy of your spindle nose first to use as a plug gauge. A plug gauge is good to have anyway if you need to machine a back plate face plate or drive plate, in the future. 
Tin


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## CrewCab (Nov 16, 2008)

Ralph .......... ............. I can't see the join ..........  :bow: 

Great work and brilliant idea's as ever feller 8)

As for a cover for the spindle nose, I was looking at one on "That" auction site for the Boxford a while back but it ended up going for silly money  ...... I'll just keep have to keep looking 

CC


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## Divided He ad (Nov 16, 2008)

I wasn't thinking of anything too elaborate to cover the thread.... Just a sleeve!

Basically a tube with a smaller hole in the right hand end to slide over the threads and then be held in place when the MT3 is inserted.

It's only going to be used when I'm polishing parts, about an hour or two near the end of a project 


Still glad you guys like it, and I would take a go at the threaded version if I used my spindle for collets. If for no other reason than to protect the thread from swarf etc. I'll see how the mood takes me when I come to make the sleeve ;D 

(anyone ever noticed that swarf is not in the spell check??.... Dwarf appears to be the closest :big: )



Ralph.


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 16, 2008)

Did you know that a little wee short fellow covered in metal filings is a "Swarf Dwarf"??? Oh My God---Did I just say that??? Having polished a number of things over the years, I am curious as to what is going to happen the first time the buffing wheel grabs something out of your hands and propels it out the back side of the buffing wheel at 600 miles per hour. I hope you are good at ducking ricochets!!!


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## compound driver 2 (Nov 17, 2008)

What about the problem of polishing compound getting under the saddle and any other place it can find? 
Id think again before using a lathe for polishing like that you could end up with a lot of polishing in places you dont want it.
At the least cover everything with cloth to minimise any contamination.


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## Divided He ad (Nov 17, 2008)

I cover the bed and the saddle before polishing, I also clean the bed (using de-greasing agent) and then re-oil if a lot of polishing has been done before doing anymore work. 

I clean the bed and re-oil regularly anyway, so it should be ok ;D 



Ralph.


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## deverett (Nov 22, 2008)

Divided He ad  said:
			
		

> Well on with the post...
> 
> I am thinking about a cover for the threads.... Just a cylinder held in place by the MT3, there is enough of a gap between the arbour and the spindle to accommodate a cover.... Well that's for next time I'm going to polish something ;D
> 
> Ralph.



Why not just screw on the faceplate/catchplate?

Dave
The Emerald Isle


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## Tin Falcon (Nov 22, 2008)

> Why not just screw on the faceplate/catchplate?


A face plate would restrict the area one could maneuver a part. 
IMHO a simple solution would be to set up a 6" grinder with a wire wheel or de-burring wheel on one end and a buffing wheel on the other. 
But for limited space and funds and only occasional use Ralph has come up with an interesting solution.
Tin


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## Brian Rupnow (Nov 22, 2008)

I actually stole a page from Ralphs book.--I wanted to polish the log type intake manifold that I made for my twin horizontal, and its so icy cold in my main garage, plus the fact that my hotrod is stored in the garage---I dug around in my bolt box till I found a 1/2" bolt to use as a mandrel, mounted it in my 3 jaw chuck, brought in one of the polishing wheels from the garage, and polished it in my lathe. It worked good, but made a terrible mess in my little seven foot square machine shop. I probably won't do it again, but it certainly did work.


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## rleete (Dec 11, 2008)

I scrounged an old motor (furnace blower), and connected a cord and a switch to it. Mounted it to the edge of a small cabinet, and got an arbor/adapter for buffing wheels at Harbor Freight for about 4 bucks.

It works great, is a dedicated buffer (no setups except to change buffs as required), and has it's own corner of the shop to keep all the mess away from the machines. I hang a drop cloth behind it to keep the dust and dirt it throws from sticking to the wall.


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