Buffer!

I’ve wanted a buffer for a long time. They’re very useful. You can shine things with them. You can also use abrasive flap wheels and wire wheels with them. Great tools. But I was too cheap to spring for a used American buffer, and I had doubts about Asian. The most promising thing I found was a Taiwan Jet buffer for $400 or so.

The Jet would probably have been excellent, but I couldn’t get past my stinginess, so I waited. Recently, I found a used Baldor (American) online. They still make this model. It’s a 332B, with a 3/4-HP motor. It runs at 1800 RPM, and it takes 8″ wheels. It already had a sturdy steel pedestal on it, with shelves.

I offered $250 for it. I think I could have done better, but these days, I try not to be ruthless when I negotiate. Even if I could have gotten it for $150 or so, the $270 asking price was very modest, and $250 was a great deal.

I drove to Orange City today and picked it up. Here are some photos.

It appears it came from a school in Seminole County. A school won’t run a buffer 24 hours a day, and that’s good. On the other hand, a school will let Beavis and Butt-head impersonators run wild with quality tools, and that’s bad. It’s hard to hurt a buffer or bench grinder, though. Basically, three things can happen. The shaft can be bent. The capacitors can die. The bearings can die. If the shaft is okay, the other stuff is chicken…is easy to fix.

I was surprised to find that the person who was selling it online was actually a business. In fact, he was a pawn shop. Had I known that, I probably would have offered less. I pictured some guy selling his precious tools in order to pay bills. In reality, that guy had already sold the tool to the guy I was buying it from.

No matter. Still a good deal.

The buffer had two wheels on it. One was an abrasive flap wheel, and it looks very good. The other was a 4″ cloth wheel with red rouge on it. I don’t know if an 8″ wheel can be eaten down to 4″. I didn’t look closely. Maybe the previous owner had a practice of using 4″ wheels on an 8″ machine.

Took the wheels off and ran the buffer. I can feel a tiny amount of movement when it runs. It feels okay, but when I turn on my Dayton grinder, I can barely feel anything. I don’t know if the Baldor is running normally or whether it needs bearings. I’m working on finding out. It’s silent, so that’s good.

The pedestal has a base about one foot square. It will not be stable enough for buffing. I think I’m going to get two rectangles of plywood and glue them together to get a platform about 1.75″ thick. Then I can put casters under it, far enough apart to make the buffer stable. I don’t want to screw it to the floor. It would be a big problem, having a tool that big stuck in one location.

The buffer has a starter box. I don’t know why a 3.4-HP 115V tool would have a starter box. I’m trying to find out.

I don’t know exactly what I want to do, regarding default accessories. I was thinking I’d put a wire wheel on one side and a cloth wheel on the other. I suppose I’ll need several wheels and several types of abrasive. It’s very easy to change accessories, now that I’ve knocked the nuts off with an impact driver, so it’s not an important decision.

I would like to clean up and restore the buffer, but it’s pretty cool the way it is. It has an inscription on it, indicating it came from a school system down here.

I think I’ll really enjoy this thing. Buffing and wire-brushing are important parts of shop life. Without proper tools to do these things, life is glum.

It turned out the pawnshop was near the home of my goddaughter, so I went for a visit and took everyone for ice cream. She’s 6 now. Her oldest sister is making plans for college. Time just zips by.

I talked with her dad about prayer and so on. He and his wife are doing very well these days. They had some rough times a while back, but they’ve ramped up their prayer efforts, and it’s paying off. I’m hoping they’ll come up in July so we can pray.

Good tools, good friends, and a very pleasant drive. Hard to think of a better way to spend a Saturday.