Electric Burnisher

[RD Ranch Leather]

After reading about the burnisher made using and electric motor, I'm wondering if the same thing could be created using a desk fan with the fan removed and replaced with a burnisher of suitable material? You would have to secure the fan base to a sturdy surface. Would the fan motor be strong enough?

Ruth D

[cgleather]

Could be, the one I use is 1/4 hp and that is more than enough. I built one for a firend out of a old 1/6 hp and it works well to. Not as well as the 1/4 hp though. I like the 1725 rpm motor, it was to was to easy to burn the leather with a 3450 rpm motor. Hope this is of some help.

[wvcraftsman]

One thing about using a fan motor is that it will get too hot if used for very long. A fan motor has air moving through it while running, so it keeps it cool. Just my .02

[RD Ranch Leather]

Could be, the one I use is 1/4 hp and that is more than enough. I built one for a firend out of a old 1/6 hp and it works well to. Not as well as the 1/4 hp though. I like the 1725 rpm motor, it was to was to easy to burn the leather with a 3450 rpm motor. Hope this is of some help.

You're right. That may be too fast. It was just a thought that it might work. The 1/4 hp sounds like a better deal.

Ruth D

[RD Ranch Leather]

One thing about using a fan motor is that it will get too hot if used for very long. A fan motor has air moving through it while running, so it keeps it cool. Just my .02

You have a good point there; I hadn't thought of that!!!

Ruth D

[Johnny B]

Mine I made to use in a drill press. I can adjust the speeds of the press to my liking. I took a simple hardwood dowel, 1/2" X8" long, and mounted in my press. I then turned it on and took different diameter bolts and used the threads of the bolt to cut different sized grooves into the dowel rod. After that I took some fine emery cloth to polish up the grooves a little and applied some wax to the grooves. I can burnish any thickness of leather at any speed necessary. It takes a few seconds to burnish a long belt with this method.

This works when space is tight and you simply so not have anymore room for another bench mounted tool.

[dragonspit]

some great ideas here, Im gonna have to use some of this somehow.

[bstomper]

I made my electric burnisher out of an old electric compressor motor. Not sure how many rpm it does, probably to many or not enough. Attached a bolt to the shaft and bored a hole through a piece of mesquite, slid it on and clamped it on with a nyloc nut. I then used this like a lathe and turned it to the desired shape. It seems to work good but I don't have much to compare it to. I ended up glueing a piece of canvas around it to see how that went. With my tool (maybe I designed it wrong I don't know) I've found thats it's good for cleaning up but to finish the job I add more wax or soap and finish by hand any way. It sure makes it quicker though!!