grinder to buffer?

[1930artdeco]

Hello,

Just curious, can I turn my newish craftsman grinder in to a buffer by removing the covers? I have another grinder than I can use, but I could sure use a buffer.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[CJ7VFR]

Are you talking about a bench grinder or a hand held angle grinder, like a 4.5 inch sized one?

If you are talking about a bench grinder, then yes, you can remove the grinding stone, or the wire wheel, and replace it with a buffing wheel.

If you are talking about a hand held angle grinder, like the kind you would use to grind down welds or use to remove rust on vehicles, then probably not because they rotate too fast and you would be burning stuff instead of polishing it.

But you can always check Google to see.

Jim

 

[exmaxima1]

Of course you can. Most of my "grinders" are converted to polishing or wire wheels.

 

[1930artdeco]

Sorry. I have a 6" bench grinder from the 2000's.

Thank you all,

Mike

 

[EchoBravoSierra]

I took the 8" grinding wheel off of my relatively new Northern Tool bench grinder and put on a 6" buffing wheel. The buffing wheel was about half the thickness of the grinding wheel, and there weren't enough threads on the shaft to secure it. I used a hole saw to cut a little circular spacer out of plywood and put a small nail through the plywood so the point would hold the buffing wheel to keep it from spinning on the shaft.

 

[TriumphFan]

You can but bench grinders have short arms so it's tough to use on larger pieces. There are extensions you can purchase but I have not had good luck with those. The buffing machines made for that purpose have the arms extended so you can get underneath.

 

[rsanter]

Yes you can but the RPM is not ideal

 

[exmaxima1]

Sorry. I have a 6" bench grinder from the 2000's.

Thank you all,

Mike

If you take the guards off, you can likely run bigger buffing wheels and get the appropriate surface speed. Most grinders are either 1750 or 3450 rpm, so you change the wheels for different applications.

 

[1930artdeco]

Thank you for the info. I may be having some stuff 3-d printed and just need to polish it up.

Mike