Motorized Edge Burnisher

[Ferg]

Excellent! Thank you all very much for the help.

Some clarification needed: What do you use for burnishing, wax or something else?

Chris:

I'll order from you, this is a fastest solution for me at the moment. I assume this will be USPS shipping? This is very good for me. Are you sure that listed sum is enough for across the continent?

Radar67:

What lath do you have? With variable speed, 500 - 3500 rpm? They are available in hardware store around the corner. My main concern was possible noise of speed reductors, if they are there.

Ferg:

Do you know, by any chance, where the washing machine motors could be bought? In repair stores they seems sell only machines, not parts.

Ellen,

Try a motor repair shop. If that fails W.H. Grainger has thousands of motors. They are on line.

Also: Access Bob Park's burnishing edges tutorial/information on this forum.

ferg

Rick:

What could be an alternative to using wax in mechanized burnishing? EBay burnisher seems uses wax too. For manual work I can use Gum Tragacanth, but will it work or not with a burnisher?

K-Man:

What do you use for burnishing at 3600 rpm? Is it possible to order somewhere attachment to the grinder like you have?

Mike:

Good idea, thanks.

[particle]

I think something like K-Man's or 50YL's approach is what you're after. Those big motors are powerful, and quiet. There is usually a motor repair shop in most towns - swing by and check them out and tell them what you're after. I have a large motor mounted vertically in a home-made table - the drill chuck is mounted directly to the motor's shaft. I haven't really paid attention to "how" - my father-in-law had it laying in his storage building and just gave it to me last summer. I keep a sanding drum mounted in it to even my edges. It's very quiet, and VERY powerful. I'm sure you can get a much smaller motor that will work very well for you.

Personally, I use a bench-mounted drill press that I bought for like $99 at Lowes. It works okay, but can be a little noisy from the belt wobbling around. A direct drive is probably your best bet - especially if you can put a speed regulator on it to slow it down if it's always burning your edges.

[radar67]

I run a JET 1410 mini lathe. It has a six step pulley to let you change speeds. I burnish at about 1200 rpm. Not sure if your hardware store would have one or not. I got mine from Penn State Industries online. The rubber feet on mine cut the noise down to near zero. When I turn wood on it, the only sound I hear is the tool cutting the wood.

[Ellen]

Just curious, how to protect vertically mounted motor from leather dust during sanding?

And we have similar mini-lathe here, only different brand. Ryobi grinders in HD. Never have seen motor shops though, but maybe it will be not necessary.

I read Bob Park's burnishing edges tutorial, including eBay burnisher results photos, thank you for the pointing me in the right direction. He favors wax finish, and I thought that this is the only option for mechanized burnishing.

Thank you all, I appreciate your help .

P.S. If you will have time, post, please, what compound are you using during burnishing edges: wax, gum tragacanth or something else? Especially at high grinder speeds.

What final finish do you apply over it (Resolene?) and how (air brush, sponge, brush?)? To get a good result in reasonable time.

Edited January 26, 2011 by Ellen

[particle]

My motor is not protected from dust. I just try to keep the dust away from the shaft. But, I didn't build this setup - it was given to me and it's been working just fine. If you wanted to build a setup like that, I'd just build the top in two pieces - a left half and a right half. Make the hole in the top slightly larger than the shaft on the motor, build your box around the motor, then attach the top pieces that fit around the motor shaft - that should be enough to keep the majority of dust from getting down into the motor. And of course, you could always build a dust collection system into it as well, but that's just more noise. Since you'd be building your own setup, you could just as easily flip the motor 180 degrees so it's oriented like a drill press - and if the box was enclosed on three sides, you could attach a vacuum to the back of the box to help suck up some of the floating dust particles.

[Ellen]

Thank you!

[mike59]

I have been under the impression that you do not want to exceed 1750 rpm on a motorized burnisher as it will burn the leather?

[Big G]

i have the three mutts dremel powered burnisher, works great , not a lot of noise

[K-Man]

I have been under the impression that you do not want to exceed 1750 rpm on a motorized burnisher as it will burn the leather?

Mine spins at 3600 rpm all day long. Never had a problem.