Wire Brush / Buffing Wheel - Mess and Distress!

[short stack]

Hey guys, great forum here. I am in the process of setting up my garage and one thing I hate is all the mess left behind by my wire brush wheel and buffing wheel. I am curious what you all have come up with ideas to control the cleanliness in the area around it? I am thinking about some type of vacuum system, but I run my with no guards and attack it from different angles depending on the shape of the piece.

What do you do with your dust, rust and crust, besides having a splattered up wall?

I have used the search function, but have not found any threads addressing the issue. I just cant bear the thought of my new clean walls and floor covered like my bare concrete and plywood walls are now.


Many thanks, and I give extra points for photos!


short stack

 

[Kevin54]

Try keeping a cardboard box around and put it around the wire brush/grinder when in use. After using it, most of the debris will be in the box. The box can then be shoved under the bench or wherever when not in use. It won't catch it all but will catch a large portion of it.

 

[Jackfre]

the hopper referenced above is a good idea. I made mine from 1/4" masonite and it will knockdown for storage. You have to either move it or the work to keep it effective. I would tie mine to either my Delta dust collector for big jobs or my shop vac. When using the DC I would replace the 1mc bag with the 5 micron and keep the 1mc for the woodworking for which it is intended.

 

[Full Size 66]

the card board behind the wheel works great. If the work is dustier the the shopvac hooked to the guard of the grinder. I do my chipper blades and bolts ETC. on the wire wheel and hook up the vaccum, it keeps the mess to a minimum.

 

[larry_g]

Take that 'mess' and use it as a sign that your not a tool polisher, but do some real work in the shop. Another option is to put a easy to clean piece of sheet metal or plastic on the wall behind the wheels. Sometimes easy to clean can beat out keeping clean as the option.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[IH82BL8]

I've just accepted it as a fact of life. It just so happens that my trash can sits below the wheel. It probably collects some of the mess, but not much. Also, if the wheel takes a part out of my hands, it usually goes into the trash can so I know where to find it. I just clean up with the shop vac when I'm done. If your wheel is free-standing you could move it to the middle of the floor to use it and then just sweep the floor when you're finished.

 

[G_P]

I hung some thick plastic sheeting on the wall behind my old grinder/wire wheel. the debris would hit it and slide to the floor where I would **** it up with the shop vac.

 

[BADSIX]

i just take mine outside with a hand truck and buff outside when i can

 

[Greatbear]

My grinders all have collection ports built into the wheel guards, these get attached to a shop vac, but even some of the dust still ends up on the floor. For polishing, I use a funnel-style dust collection hood that comes attached to an adjustable stand, I park this behind the buffer and connect it to my shop dust collection system, This helped a lot in keeping the splatter of compound and loose fibers from the wheels from messing up the shop.

 

[BBQ&Love]

In the shop I am finishing out this will be a very real issue so I am watching this thread with interest. I not only will have a grinder and wire wheels, I have a belt sander I sharpen knives on.

 

[cnc-me]

In the same boat here.
Rebuilding a 16" Queens Machine 5HP buffer, dreading the king size mess this
thing is going to make.
Thinking of hooking it into the woodworking dust collector, but don't like the idea
of running a 10 horse blower just for a buffer...

 

[brslk]

Take that 'mess' and use it as a sign that your not a tool polisher, but do some real work in the shop. Another option is to put a easy to clean piece of sheet metal or plastic on the wall behind the wheels. Sometimes easy to clean can beat out keeping clean as the option.

lg
no neat sig line

This ^

 

[browntown]

Old thread, but I had the same problem, so I mounted the polisher on a stand that I can pick up and move to the front of garage so it throws the mess outside.