Motorized Edge Burnisher

[Ellen]

I'm looking for a way for finishing vegtan edges faster and easier. I have read about Weaver's edge burnisher (can't: wholesale only, and $600+) and eBay edge burnisher (cheaper, that's good, not sure how quiet it is and resulting quality). Or, if DIY could be faster (from HD), cheaper and better, I'm ready for this too.

Can you advise on:

- is there another ready made, quiet, not too expensive, retail device,

- quietness of eBay edge burnisher, in the living room, not a shop,

- what quiet motor of acceptable RPM is readily available, and where. (Drill press is noisy and a head rotation is not even, slightly off center, I have it. Variable speed mini-lathe?).

- what else is needed to attach to the motor (chuck, as on drill press?), where to get this,

- what slicking and burnishing heads are you using?

I'm working at home in the city, it has to be quieter than a belt sander, drill press is borderline. And much cheaper than Weaver's burnisher.

Any chances for find or make this?

Thank you.

[radar67]

I turned a piece of oak on my mini lath with grooves for the edges of different weights of leather. When I want to burnish, I put this piece on the lath, turn her on, and burnish away. It hardly makes any noise at all and I can customize another piece of wood if I need to get into tighter places on the edges.

I'm looking for a way for finishing vegtan edges faster and easier. I have read about Weaver's edge burnisher (can't: wholesale only, and $600+) and eBay edge burnisher (cheaper, that's good, not sure how quiet it is and resulting quality). Or, if DIY could be faster (from HD), cheaper and better, I'm ready for this too.

Can you advise on:

- is there another ready made, quiet, not too expensive, retail device,

- quietness of eBay edge burnisher, in the living room, not a shop,

- what quiet motor of acceptable RPM is readily available, and where. (Drill press is noisy and a head rotation is not even, slightly off center, I have it. Variable speed mini-lathe?).

- what else is needed to attach to the motor (chuck, as on drill press?), where to get this,

- what slicking and burnishing heads are you using?

I'm working at home in the city, it has to be quieter than a belt sander, drill press is borderline. And much cheaper than Weaver's burnisher.

Any chances for find or make this?

Thank you.

[Ferg]

I'm looking for a way for finishing vegtan edges faster and easier. I have read about Weaver's edge burnisher (can't: wholesale only, and $600+) and eBay edge burnisher (cheaper, that's good, not sure how quiet it is and resulting quality). Or, if DIY could be faster (from HD), cheaper and better, I'm ready for this too.

Can you advise on:

- is there another ready made, quiet, not too expensive, retail device,

- quietness of eBay edge burnisher, in the living room, not a shop,

- what quiet motor of acceptable RPM is readily available, and where. (Drill press is noisy and a head rotation is not even, slightly off center, I have it. Variable speed mini-lathe?).

- what else is needed to attach to the motor (chuck, as on drill press?), where to get this,

- what slicking and burnishing heads are you using?

I'm working at home in the city, it has to be quieter than a belt sander, drill press is borderline. And much cheaper than Weaver's burnisher.

Any chances for find or make this?

Thank you.

I am going to assume you do not have a mini lathe in your residence

I have all kinds and sizes of motors in my shop so that wasn't a problem. I believe a washing machine motor would suffice and they are quiet.

I am going to include a photo of my burnisher. I won't include a lot of commentary at this time, If you are interested in the particulars I will give you more explanation.

ferg

[K-Man]

I've had my own made up. I'll post some pics a little later. I took a grinder, stripped it of the pertinent pieces so I was left with the shaft on either side. Mounted two set ups that closely mirror Weaver's #9 and the burnishing wood piece on their larger set up. Made a couple of mods with respect to width and depth. Burnishers are made from stainless. Total cost was approximately $250. Runs as quiet as a mouse.

[rickybobby]

I'm looking for a way for finishing vegtan edges faster and easier. I have read about Weaver's edge burnisher (can't: wholesale only, and $600+) and eBay edge burnisher (cheaper, that's good, not sure how quiet it is and resulting quality). Or, if DIY could be faster (from HD), cheaper and better, I'm ready for this too.

Can you advise on:

- is there another ready made, quiet, not too expensive, retail device,

- quietness of eBay edge burnisher, in the living room, not a shop,

- what quiet motor of acceptable RPM is readily available, and where. (Drill press is noisy and a head rotation is not even, slightly off center, I have it. Variable speed mini-lathe?).

- what else is needed to attach to the motor (chuck, as on drill press?), where to get this,

- what slicking and burnishing heads are you using?

I'm working at home in the city, it has to be quieter than a belt sander, drill press is borderline. And much cheaper than Weaver's burnisher.

Any chances for find or make this?

Thank you.

Ellen,

I have the Ebay burnisher, it is very quiet, I mounted it on a Harbor Freight collapsable table (looks like a Black & Decker Workmate but only $20.00).

I do not like the wax finish it leaves on the edge. Once you use it on a piece of leather there are no other finish options for you to use because of the wax. I use it on occasion but not for everything. I might look in to a couple other arbors that will fit the moter and mount other materials to them, one with wood, one with felt, ect. and change them out depending on the job. I will put that on my list of things to do! #4534!

Rick

[mikeak]

I cut a 4" piece of oak with a hole saw and mounted it on a grinder motor.I've made several shapes and grooves with them. With the motor running you can use a file to shape and then sand paper to smooth.

good luck

Mike

[K-Man]

Here's pics of my set up:

Runs at 3600 rpms.

[Spinner]

I'm looking for a way for finishing vegtan edges faster and easier. I have read about Weaver's edge burnisher (can't: wholesale only, and $600+) and eBay edge burnisher (cheaper, that's good, not sure how quiet it is and resulting quality). Or, if DIY could be faster (from HD), cheaper and better, I'm ready for this too.

Can you advise on:

- is there another ready made, quiet, not too expensive, retail device,

- quietness of eBay edge burnisher, in the living room, not a shop,

- what quiet motor of acceptable RPM is readily available, and where. (Drill press is noisy and a head rotation is not even, slightly off center, I have it. Variable speed mini-lathe?).

- what else is needed to attach to the motor (chuck, as on drill press?), where to get this,

- what slicking and burnishing heads are you using?

I'm working at home in the city, it has to be quieter than a belt sander, drill press is borderline. And much cheaper than Weaver's burnisher.

Any chances for find or make this?

Thank you.

Hi Ellen,

If you have a Dremel, I make Cocobolo burnishers that are ready to use with them in various sizes. If you don't already have a Dremel, one can be purchased online or from Harbor Freight for $50-100. Just another option, many folks here use them with good results.

Here's the link to them: http://www.threemuttscustoms.com/Leather_Burnishers.html I can also make custom sizes to suit your needs.

-Chris

[Ellen]

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.

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.

[Spinner]

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.

Sounds good. USPS is normal but I can do faster shipping if needed. I just shipped a set to Ottawa last week via USPS and that covered it just fine took about 4-5 days.

The JET, Ricon, etc mini lathes will do the job just fine. Most of the run between $80-150 and are generally quiet. Even my big 24" lathe made very little noise, I used to give symposium demonstrations and you can have a regular conversation over most lathe noises.

Edited January 25, 2011 by Spinner

[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.