New Pro Edge Burnisher

[Hooper26]

I'm looking for some advise on how to properly mount my new burnishing drum to a bench grinder. More specifically, I'm trying to figure out what brand of grinder or bench polisher I should buy and what piece of hardware I will need to mount the burnisher to the machine. I would like to mount a sanding drum on the opposite side of the machine. I thought I had this figured out, but no one at my local hardware store seems to know what I will need to modify a grinder to accept the burnisher. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Hooper26

[Ferg]

You have some experimenting to do.

Shaft for grinder is probably not going to match the hole in your burnisher. If this is true, you need to have a shaft made with male end to match burnisher, female end to thread onto the grinder shaft with a "reverse" thread so your extended shaft won't unthread.

What you place on the other end of grinder may throw it out of balance and in a short time wear the bearings of the motor.

Simplest set-up is a separate motor mounted on a heavy board or work bench with a shaft that will match the hole in the burnisher mounted in pillow blocks. More to it than that but maybe you get the idea.

Has it occurred to you that you began this endeavor from the wrong end? There are burnishers available with a shaft epoxied into them so they can be mounted in a drill press or Dremel. Saves a lot of time and money.

ferg

[dikman]

I turned my own wooden burnisher on my lathe, and while it was mounted in the lathe I bored the hole slightly undersize and then turned it by hand onto the threaded end of the grinder shaft, effectively cutting the thread into the wood.

[Ferg]

The thread you slightly cut into the wood won't hold real well but that said, your burnisher will "back off" the grinder shaft because it is not a reverse thread.

Remember the wooden tool with a cutting "V-Groove" blade in it? You can make children toys and furniture with them, they come in different sizes. Deep threads in hard maple.

ferg

[dikman]

Ferg, in my case it is a reverse thread - one end of the grinder shaft is a right-hand thread, the other is left-hand so anything screwed onto the threads will tighten with the rotation (this appears to be normal, as all my grinders are like this). I made a couple of these burnishers and haven't had any problems with them. They don't need to be ultra-tight, so the thread in the wood doesn't have to be deep.

[Ferg]

What ever works. lol

ferg

[LumpenDoodle2]

I got the husband to turn a burnisher for me. I've also mounted it to one side of a grinder (a very cheap one)' using the cone threaded shaft thing they use to keep polishing wheels on with.

I did see on youtube, someone who made one of these burnishers, who nailed on a disc of heavy leather with a hole through it. The leather gripped the cone, and seemed to give it a more exact fit.

Edited October 26, 2015 by LumpenDoodle2

[dikman]

Another great idea! I didn't think of using the buffing wheel cone!