[Fuchs] Anyone ever build their own buffer?

[zymurgist]

I'm going to be polishing my Fuchs sometime in the near future, but one of the things holding me back was the fact that I don't own a buffer. I buffed a Corvette wheel (simpler shape than a Fuchs wheel) with a buffing wheel mounted in a drill a few years ago, but it sure seemed to take forever.

I was at Carlisle last Friday, and I found a really neat piece of hardware... it's an axle with two bearings and a pulley that is designed to be bolted to a surface, connected to a motor via a V-belt, and used to mount two buffing wheels. I remember when I was a kid, a friend's father had built a bench grinder using a similar setup, but I've never built anything like this before.

I have the axle assembly and a 2 horsepower motor (came out of my old air compressor). Has anyone here ever built a similar device? I'd appreciate any tips, tricks, etc. The guy who sold me the buffing supplies said that I will want to keep the RPM around 3000 (if I remember correctly)... this is the approximate design speed of the motor.

[dweymer]

Don't worry, have a homebrew. For wheels I would make sure to extend the shaft at least 10". If the motor design speed is what you want to run, then each pulley should be the same diameter.