Hi folks,
I haven't used my Beal Buffing System for quite some time and can't remember
the optimum speed. The Beal web site says something about 1725 RPM but that
seems awful fast for buffing ?? Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

I found it interesting to find recently that Russ Fairfield and I had
independently come to find that a speed around 1200rpm was most suitable
for each of us.

In the end, it is not a specific speed, but the interaction of the
static characteristics of the wheel (stiffness due to number of plies
and amount of stitching; coarseness or the fabric), the dynamic
characteristics (surface speed determined by both the size of the wheel
and the rpm;centrifigal force developed), the compounds or lack of
compounds loaded on the wheel surface, and how hard you are pressing
against the wheel that will effect your buffing.

For the 8/9 inch wheels of the Beall and Wood N Things buffers, I've
found 1200 rpm to be optimal, but anywhere from 900 to 1800 is probably
acceptable, depending on your presentation technique (i.e., don't push
so as hard at either the very low (the wheels will collapse or deflect)
or very high (the friction will excessive and excessively burn and/or
abrade your finish) speeds.

Keep in mind that almost no dedicated stationary buffers are multispeed,
and that most motors are set up for approximately 1725 or 3450 (often
rounded to 1750/1800 and 3600). Beall is really saying use the slower of
the two standard fixed speeds for your 8/9 inch wheels and the faster
for his small diameter bowl/goblet buffs. If you are using the lathe for
your buffing drive, you have the choice of a wide variety of speeds, and
can just select the one which gives you the most desirable
characteristics. For me, that is around 1200 for the bigger 8/9 inch
wheels and around 1800-2400 for most small bowl goblet buffers.

Lyn

Alan wrote:
Hi folks,
I haven't used my Beal Buffing System for quite some time and can't remember
the optimum speed. The Beal web site says something about 1725 RPM but that
seems awful fast for buffing ?? Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

It's very much like grinding. It depends on how fast you move your turned
piece/tool-to-be-ground and how much heat you want to generate. While you
don't want to generate much heat in the grinding process, you do want to
generate enough heat to melt the various waxes used in the compounds so the
polishing agents (or just the carnauba in that case) will do their thing.
The faster you can move your turned piece around to buff it, the faster you
can have your RPMs. In fact, the faster you move your turned piece around,
the faster you *need* the RPMs so that enough heat will be generated to
work. ahhh, but not TOO much heat or you'll go right through your finish!

Generally, I buff at 1000 to 1500 RPM but may drop down to 500 on the
insides of hollow forms or in particularly sensitive areas like sharp edges
where it's really easy to go through a finish. I'll go up to the 1800s on
flat easy areas when I'm in a hurry or using a high-carnauba wax mixture.

- Andrew


"Alan" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I haven't used my Beal Buffing System for quite some time and can't
remember
the optimum speed. The Beal web site says something about 1725 RPM but
that
seems awful fast for buffing ?? Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.