Cleaning Buffing Pads

[TomG]

I have one of the Harbor Freight buffers.  Great tool for cheap.  I have stacked 2 or 3 of the firm pads to one side and mainly use it to buff straps that I have dip dyed black.  It does a great job of removing the loose dyestuffs from the flesh and grain sides of the leather.  After that, I finish with Black Leather Balm with Atom Wax and get virtually no ruboff..

After I buff, I use a piece of stainless strap and push the end of it into the wheel to try and knock the dyestuffs out of the wheel.

I'd like to use it to buff other color straps, but not with those wheels, I think.  Is there a way to clean them on the machine to use on other colors so I don't have to constantly swap out wheels?

Thanks

 

[Nuttish]

Maybe a buffer rake or ask at a guitar building forum. They use enormous buffs that I imagine eventually get clogged.

[Colt W Knight]

There is not a good or efficient way to clean those buffing wheels. You can remove built up gunk and fluff them easily.

1. Some folks will say to use some coarse sandpaper- Horrible idea as this can embed grit into the wheel, plus it is basically removing the outer portion of the wheel If you did this regularly you would prematurely shrink the wheel. 

2. The old school way to remove buffing and rouge and compound is to use a hack saw blade. Again, This is just stock removal, but the blade wont shed sand particles.

3. You can take the wheel off and soak it some warm soapy water and give it a scrub, but who the hell is going to go through all that trouble?

Plus, removing the wheels or adding new wheels you quickly realize how hard they are to mount centered, and you end up cutting a bunch away to get them to run true again.

4. A buffing wheel rake basically just helps remove gunked up compound and fluffs up the wheel. It wont actually clean the dirt and dye off.

Folks who do serious work with buffers have a buffer with wheels set up for every rouge and compound so they dont get any contamination and dont have to swap wheels.

 

[TomG]

Thanks. I kind of feared those would be the answers.  I guess I'll just keep using my stainless strap to scrape them and maybe put a set on the other end for browns and such.

 

[Art]

On line finisher machines, they have one spot for brown and black for each of brushes, burnishers, and buffers.  Ain't no way to clean them, you never would get it all and it will transfer.

Art

[RockyAussie]

Among all of the polishing wheels on my finishing machine there is one used for clear wax application. The best way to clean it I have found is when it gets really dirty i use a coarse sandpaper until any contamination color is mostly gone then I finish up with a wet rag and really push into it. Give it a dry of with a dry rag and go back to polishing.

[atom1]

HI, I'm new to this forum but vary old to this topic. As a old jeweler I would use a hacksaw blade griping it with leather gloves firmly on each side with the middle teeth gently moved back and forth horizontally to the wheel turning ( if possible at the slowest speed ). With that know we never used the same wheel for different abrasives to prevent contamination of the wheel. The solution to this is in jeweler buffing we have a tapered adapter that is placed on the motor shaft and the taper shaft has a screw thread tapered to a point. You can unscrew one wheel then place a different wheel on the pointed shaft. The wheels we use has a small hole in the center and will self align when the motor is running. With this setup you can have wheels for different abrasives and a fast change of the wheel if needed.  Also the tapered shaft comes in right and lefthand thread for right and left shafts on the motor   Hope this helps,  Art