RD Ranch Leather Report post Posted March 14, 2011 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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cgleather Report post Posted March 14, 2011 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wvcraftsman Report post Posted March 14, 2011 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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RD Ranch Leather Report post Posted March 14, 2011 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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RD Ranch Leather Report post Posted March 14, 2011 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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny B Report post Posted March 15, 2011 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragonspit Report post Posted March 15, 2011 some great ideas here, Im gonna have to use some of this somehow. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bstomper Report post Posted March 16, 2011 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!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
