The Armour Archive

I saw a thread about this SOMEWHERE....it may have been here.
Anyone have any info about where to get plans/parts to make a buffer from a washing machine motor?
Thanks guys!
VvS

First thing you want is the wiring diagram from the washing machine. Figure out how you will turn the motor on /off (Light switches work good). Check what speed the motor is 1750 and 3600 are the 2 most popular.

You will need an arbour. These can be bought at alot of places, check you local area electrical stores, if not they can be found new on the net.

Big thing is make sure its got some good HP behind it. I can bog my 1/3 hp buffer really easily. I have a washer motor I am going to eventually get going as a buffer so I can put my bench grinder back to just grinder, or maybe wire wheel stuff. (Not for armour, from cleaning fire scale off stuff).

Brandr

Becarful with the wire wheel on your motor
the wire wheels have a tendency to throw a piece of steel Quite hard. I find that it is a bit safer to use wire wheel on a die grinder or a drill and hold the piece in a Vice this seems to work safer that holding the piece in your hand and using a wire wheel on a pedistal or shop grinder.
work safe

Another not on shop safety with Buffers. Yeah those high horse power buffers may seem great, they work fast and all that but you have to be careful. It is very easy for a high power buffer to yank a piece out of you hand and then throw it back at you. This is especially dangerous with blade smithing. I have known a couple of smiths that have ended up with sliced hands, legs, etc. I have a blade smith friend of mine who only uses a 1/4 horse power buffer. Granted it takes him longer to do his buffing, but he doesn't have to worry about getting sliced and diced by a flying blade.

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Kiernan Delaney
The Drunken Irishman

Hi, here's an idea for a variable speed buffer, look around for an old portable home sewing machine with a working motor and foot switch. The motor is variable from 0 - 1700 rpm roughly. An adapter for the motor shaft can be purchased from McMaster & Carr, as well as a wide variety of buffs and buffing compounds. They also sell a small buffer which looks surprisingly like a home sewing machine motor. It should work great for fine detail polishing. Check it out, let me know what you think.

[This message has been edited by Grayson (edited 04-19-2001).]

I trust any tool like buffers and wire wheels the same way I trust rabid dogs. Before I start them I remember the following pictures. This guy is a long time smith and look what happened.

http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor/safety/index.htm

As for the variable speed thing. My biggest concern would be the fact that the motor wouldn't have enough oomph for doing armour, might be a good option for trim/jeweller type work, but a drill does that sorta stuff already.

Another option for variable speed is to use a light dimmer switch. You can set it to one speed and just click it on and off, very handy for doing stuff like coiling copper wire, for bracelets and such.

Brandr hinn Rusli

You can get a good buffer for around $100.00
from harbor freight.
The washing machine takes me back (way back)
Some friends of mine used the gear box for
a mini-bike HAH HAH they got it on the wrong
gear! BACK AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH
sort of like trying to ride a bucking bronco.

For the time you'll spend, buy one you will save money.

ABHAMMER

A foot-controlled deadman in addition to the main power switch sounds like a good idea to me, especially for a higher hp motor.

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<B>Gundobad,
Wise Ogre Armory
Wise Ogre Pic of the Day
Wise Ogre Armory T-shirts & more</B>

Rhetorical Executioner-at-Large

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

Gundo,


Foot switch a great idea. As I ducked to avoid the 9lb T-face boucing back from the ceiling, the demon in question ( 1hp wwheel) grabbed the welding cap from my head and consumed it. 'Course, without the cap I'd have lost 8 years of braid at the minimum.
Anyone have plans for a shop-built deadman's footswitch?


Alail

I think we need to put a page up for how to
buff safely, and thing not to try. Even a low
hp motor can grab and throw.
I'll start some photo's for that purpose, and
get with Gundo and other's for that purpose.

Hay Gundo you in?

How about it?

ABHAMMER

http://www.creative-net.net/~armour/

Well, I looked into the Harbor Freight buffer, and I think I'll probably go for that.
The price is right, yet I can't help wondering, WHAT am I getting for that low price?
Anyone here have one?
How is it?
Thanks to all who responded to my question!
VvS

A friend of mine has an HF grinder... thing takes about 5 minutes to get up to speed. Don't grind for too long or too hard, or it'll bog the engine down.

I had the use of a harbor freight grinder/buffer, the 3/4 HP longer mandrel 8" model that they sell for $79.99-99.99 it lasted 2 1/2 years of heavy armour production work. Also look on e-bay under baldor, you can get the best grinders made for around $150 used.

Eric

A shop-safety page sounded cool at first...then I thought about what could happen if somebody read the page, and still injured themselves. Especially if they lived in Alabama. I think it's too risky to help people be safe, in this case.

What I do, that helps me [I've never had a piece snatched out of my hands by a buffer or grinder, this way], is to keep the piece below the horizontal center line of the wheel, and always buff off the edge, not into the edge.

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<B>Gundobad,
Wise Ogre Armory
Wise Ogre Pic of the Day
Wise Ogre Armory T-shirts & more</B>

Rhetorical Executioner-at-Large

A position worth taking, is worth defending.

Every time I see this thread, I would SWEAR that it says Washing Machine Boffers.

Well a page showing safety tips as suggestions for safety won't have that problem.
But there are things that people can do that will greatly reduce the danger.
A fling shield, for instance, will stop a piece from flying back at you.
Don't make buffers out of 15hp motors, I've seen people wound up in those.
Never wrap a belt around your neck when polishing a buckle (take the buckle off).
Don't buff with loose clothing or unrestrained hair.
I use the harbor freight 3/4hp grinder buffer converted to both buffers.
I don't suggest any tougher buffer for the beginning armourer or apprentince.

With these better guidelines, what do you think?

ABHAMMER

It's easy to avoid liability with a shop safety page.

Make it anonomusly.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

I used to use a HF 8" grinder converted (guards removed) to a buffer. It worked ok, but it would bog down if you leaned into it.

Now I use a HF 3HP (yeah, right!) motor (about $70 on sale) with an arbor (about $5 from ACE) attached. I've pushed into the buff pretty hard and I don't think it even slowed down. I did stall it once, though, when I was buffing my helm and it grabbed the chin strap and wrapped it around the arbor.

If you want to do some serious buffing, this is a good option.

- Scott