Polishing machine

Hi
Not much done today as I have again been waiting for the wing piping to arrive but no such luck so I got onto other bits that need doing.

First off was the new seat mechanism covers, all these required was to be drilled and painted so I marked of the holes using the original as a template and drilled. A good coat of acid etch primer and two coats of satin black and they looked great.

I am very pleased the way the seats turned out and have given them a couple of coats of leather conditioner, one coat of the cream I bought from The Furniture Clinic and another of Meguiars Gold.  Another couple of coats and the leather will be as soft as when they where new.

Look like new, I am still a little worried that the bolsters of these seats are a little wide as they are around 2" 50mm wider than the originals and when the underlay and carpets are fitted I may have trouble moving them back and forth, not a problem with the passenger side but the drivers may prove problematic.

In preparation for the stainless steps and all of the other polished parts I bought an 8" Wolf grinder, this was around 3 months ago and got it for only £12 on eBay, great bargain.

 I bought this with the idea of converting it to a polishing machine which I have completed today, it is a simple job to do and most machines that are a bit more heavy duty than the very cheap ones you can buy will do the job, either 6" or 8". You can tell if the grinder is man enough simply, if it stops turning when a little bit of extra pressure is applied while grinding a bit of metal then starts turning again when the metal is removed is just not up to the job, I have two of these both 6" and cost very little and are ideal for the smaller jobs but not for this.

I ordered the polishing kit from a company on ebay called Perfect Polishing they sell everything required from the grinder to the polish, I bought an 8" kit for £47 inc £7 p+p.

The kit includes the all important pigtails both left and right, three polishing wheels from coarse to fine plus 3 polish sticks and ultra fine powder, the sticks run from coarse medium and fine to use with each wheel.

 

I started by stripping the end covers and wheels from the machine and with this machine I was able to remove everything back to the motor.

I gave the motor a good clean and rub down then masked off before spraying.

The pigtails are just slide onto the shafts and secured with an allen screw so its important to get the correct pigtail for your grinder, they are scrolled left and right with a long taper so you can screw the mops on and as the machine rotates they get tightly secured onto the pigtail.

It is very important to get the correct pigtail onto the correct shaft otherwise as you apply pressure the mop will spin off at a great rate of knots.

And that's the finished polisher.

I have yet to try polishing anything but have run it up and it is smoother than I thought it would be, I shall screw on a base and just clamp it to the bench before use.

I have saved quite a bit of money by building the polisher myself as it would have cost in the region of £150 for an 8" model and this cost £52 plus the fun of making it.

see ya Paul