Stop wobbling of buffing wheels?

[gunnut_69]

Can anyone tell me how to properly stabilize the spinning buffing wheels on a low-end buffer made in China? (I know, I know- I should have bought a Baldor!)

The machine came with inserts to adjust the larger buff wheels (5/8" holes) to the 1/2" arbor, but the wheels are still wobbling (up and down - not side to side) somewhat erratically and its hard to control the buffing operation without wearing out one side of the buffer that comes in contact with the blade.

What am I doing wrong, what could I do different to smooth out the spinning motion...?

-Troy

[Osprey Guy]

I've tried twice to move this thread from the Knife Network Community, over to the Tooltime forum, where I figured it would get a better response. Both times I redirected it to the Tooltime forum...but both times it showed up in the Custom projects forum.

Andrew (Garrett), if you see this please see if you have any better luck and try to move it over to the Tooltime forum. In the meantime I'll try and get hold of Alex to find out what the heck's going on...

Thanks.


Dennis Greenbaum

[Osprey Guy]

Now the thread is showing up in Tooltime...but still being redirected to here?!?

I've contacted Alex and am waiting for help.

Sorry for the confusion Troy...I tried to help and it just made matters worse. We''ll get it straightened out.

Dennis

[gunnut_69]

No problem..I feel like an idiot for asking the question, but I'm sure someone else has run into this problem before me.

[NJStricker]

Sounds to me like either the hole for the shaft is too large, or was drilled off center.

[Ray Rogers]

I agree with Armory414. If the shaft itself is turning true then either the hole in the adapter or the hole in the buffing wheel itself is probably off center. If the buffing wheel is Chinese, try a new wheel that has a 1/2" hole in it so the adapter isn't needed....

[AUBE]

i agree with armory414 and Ray. the problem is probably the buffing wheels hole being too big or off center. buy better wheels and clamp them tight when you put them on. a loose wheel will move around and over time develop an oblong hole, then it will wobble like mad. using wheels with a larger hole(as long as you have a good adapter) will help prevent this but isnt needed. smaller diameter wheels will have less of a problem, but also buff slower.

if your hole is stretched out you might try wrapping some tape around your mandrel before putting the wheel on....this helps center it and sometimes helps with the wobble.


i use a cheap chinese buffer and as long as i have good wheels it works fine.

[SamLS]

The arbor is probably bent. Take the wheel of and turn the buffer on and see if the shaft wobbles. If your careful you can take a pencil or similar and just barely touch the shaft if you hear a clicking sound the arbor is bent or not machined true. If you have a dial indicator check the shaft runout. If it has runout send it back. If the buffing wheel is drilled off center you can true it. If you have a poor fit between the wheel hole and the shaft it will also wobble you may need a bushing.

[Carey Quinn]

If the shaft isn't out of true and your bushing is a tight fit, you can probably true the buff up with a buff rake and you can get one of those from the knife supply catalogs. Don't be afraid to get real firm with the rake. Sometimes buffing wheels are lopsided and need some ruff treatment to get them to co operate.

Carey

[gunnut_69]

Thanks for the input, fellas! I'll try several of these ideas later today.

-Troy

[george tichbour]

I have had them wobble if the nut was not keeping the buff from spinning on the shaft.
This has happened usually when I have use a shim for oversized hole buffs then the tightening nut has clamped down on the shim instead of clamping down on the buff to keep it from slipping.

[tim37]

I have 3 of those Chinese buffers. 1 vibrated so badly the table moved all over the garage - I returned it for one which is very smooth running. The others all vibrated with the buffs that came with them so I tried truing them (didn't work) and rotating them (didn't work). Threw them all away and bought wheels from TruGrit which work fine.