School me on stationary buffers

[Wamsutta]

Clear plastic. I'd be using the buffer on clear plastic such as welding hood lens covers; both the inside and outside lens covers.

Yes I know it makes more sense to just replace them, but they're starting to get kinda pricy.

I imagine an optometrist must be using something to buff scratches out of people's eyeglasses, so something like that is probably what I'm after, but I have no clue what the optometrist uses.

So probably some kind of Baldor buffer, but what RPM motor and what buffing wheel? What kind of buffing rouge?

 

[The Cobbler]

I don't know, but I'm buying packs of protector covers for about $1 a pc. I think they come in 5 outers & 2 inners for about $7
I'm not sure how effective buffing the burn pits would be. interested to hear the results

 

[scooby074]

Spending $500 on a buffer to save $5.00 on consumables.

Any damage likely wont be buffable anyways. My lens are always pretty pitted as opposed to just dirty/hazy. Dirt will wash off with windex or eyeglass cleaner.

 

[Wamsutta]

I don't know, but I'm buying packs of protector covers for about $1 a pc. I think they come in 5 outers & 2 inners for about $7
I'm not sure how effective buffing the burn pits would be. interested to hear the results

I do save some money from buying off eBay, but they're way more expensive than what you're paying.

3M 04-0280-00 Inside Covers - Pack of 5 $18.00

3M 04-0270-00 Outside Covers - Pack of 10 $17.00

I don't get any burn pits from just MIG welding, but I know what you're referring to.

 

[seber]

I polish plastic by hand with toothpaste. But anything more than haze is a no go. Opticians will tell you the same. Scratches are not going to happen.

 

[cib]

You'll want a low speed buffer to prevent overheating the plastic. I'm not sure you'll find it worth it for those items unless you go through a lot of them and even then that's a tough turn around.

for smaller items buffers are probably the most dangerous thing in the shop. They'll grab an item from your hand and fling it across the shop in seconds.

If you want a bench one the HF one is decent, low powered and easy to stall but that's not a bad thing for this application.

 

[rlitman]

Spending $500 on a buffer to save $5.00 on consumables.

Any damage likely wont be buffable anyways. My lens are always pretty pitted as opposed to just dirty/hazy. Dirt will wash off with windex or eyeglass cleaner.

I guess it sounds nuts, but I have lots of buffing supplies, and they get used on all sorts of things, though not much on my welding lenses.

As you said, pits don't buff out (without creating huge optical issues), and if you're scratching your welding covers, you're doing something wrong.

For my part, a soak in some warm dish-soap sudsy water and sponge bath followed by microfiber towel off fixes most of the clarity issues with my helmet cover lenses. From mostly TIG welding, I think my lenses collect more dust from hanging on a hook in the shop than from welding. But they sure do need a deep cleaning every time I pull out my FCAW. The condensed smoke washes off easily, and the pit marks, well there's no good fix for those.

I've never heard of opticians polishing out scratches. That would kill the optics. Scratches run far deeper than the lens tolerances would allow to be polished out.

 

[LopezBart]

I've found Meguiar's plastic headlight cover polish (PlastX) to work very well in restoring the clarity of both my motorcycle windshield and helmet visor.

 

[dr_clyde]

Learn to hold your head correctly and out of the smoke. Your lens and your lungs will thank you. New welders always like to hold their face right in the cloud of fumes and it really messes up their helmets.

I weld daily at work, a mix of TIG, MIG and stick welding. I might change my outer lens once a quarter, inner lens once a year. I occasionally wipe them off with an alcohol wipe if I get some smoke on it or something.

FWIW, I worked for a huge cheapskate who would try to buff welding lenses. It doesn't work nearly as well as you'd think. We had all the tools, we did a lot of buffing and high end finishing, and even with all the fancy tools, it still didn't work as well as just popping in a new lens. From both a time and financial perspective, you're far better off just buying the replacement lenses.

You do you, clearly you don't value your time or your money the same way I do if you're buffing $3.00 welding lenses and grinding off practice welds to save the scrap plates.