Polishing motor recommendation and advice

[Littlewhitefeathers]

I've been making a lot of silver cuff bracelets and hand polishing them is quite hard work. I have a tumbler which helps finish them off but I have to polish the stamp bruises off them before I tumble them so was wondering about getting a polishing motor..

For eg, I saw this one on Cooksongold but don't know what I'm looking for really and could do with some advice http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Economy-Bench-Grinder-Polisher-200-Watt-150mm-And-Spindle-With-End----Hole-prcode-999-AX8

Also, I don't know much about using polishing compounds etc, what and how do you use them? And how do you clean any residue off the piece afterwards?

Any advice appreciated.

[Faith]

Hello,

I'm not an expert at all, and have shied away from the big bench grinder / polishers because they take up a bunch of space. They probably are good for polishing bigger stuff tho, but i'll let others comment on the one you linked to.

I use a hand held dremel for my polishing (I have the 8200 which I like because it goes down to 5000 rpm, which is handy if worried about over polishing a particular bit). The dremel was from Amazon I think, not special for jewellery. You can get a flex shaft type thing for it but I must admit I haven't and I get on fine with it.

Then I use polishing mops etc from cookson. That means I needed the dremel collet kit because all the cookson mandrels are a different size to default dremel accessories, but one of the collet kit thingies is the right size for them.

Then for shiny finish (I only do shiny finish so far) I used to use Tripoli (more abrasive) on a calico pendant wheel for the initial polish, and then rouge (for final polishing) on a fluffie wool pendant wheel. You shouldn't use different compounds on the same wheel ever, and wash the piece after with warm soapy water and a soft toothbrush. I stopped doing all of that tho because its super messy. I used to use a big card box as a dust hood which protected most of the room, but the dust from the compound gets in the air and ends up all over you.

Now (based on recommendations on the forum) I use radial disks of various grades, which are super for uneven surfaces and tiny crevices. You generally use them with three on a mandrel (you'll see what I mean if you search for them on cooksons) but you can just pop one on for tiny spaces like under a ring bezel.

and most recently I got some silicon rubber wheels, which are great for shiny finishes, and again come in various grades. They can get worn to be uneven, but can be restored by running against a diamond sharpening plate (I just got a cheapish one from ebay).

The rubber wheels and radial disks are largely mess free so I'm pretty converted to them over compounds now :)

Hope that helps a bit and sure others will be along with more advice soon.

Faith

[Dennis]

Faith has told you most things, but if you have room for a polisher grinder, buy one with variable speed, or several speeds and the highest wattage you can afford. This will do you well into the future, but over the top if you do not make much large stuff.

You will also need bigger mops depending on the height of the machine and a hood to limit the spray of compounds. Two or three grades of Luxi compoudns are a popular choice, but some members have gone the route of Menzerna, which was initially intended as a car polish. Dennis.. Dennis

[Goldsmith]

I've been making a lot of silver cuff bracelets and hand polishing them is quite hard work. I have a tumbler which helps finish them off but I have to polish the stamp bruises off them before I tumble them so was wondering about getting a polishing motor..

For eg, I saw this one on Cooksongold but don't know what I'm looking for really and could do with some advice http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Economy-Bench-Grinder-Polisher-200-Watt-150mm-And-Spindle-With-End----Hole-prcode-999-AX8

Also, I don't know much about using polishing compounds etc, what and how do you use them? And how do you clean any residue off the piece afterwards?

Any advice appreciated.

check out this polishing motor, it looks very similar to the one you linked to, but with a lot more kit and a bit cheaper; http://www.metalpolishingsupplies.co.uk/pro-max-200w-bench-grinder-with-pro-max-6-metal-polishing-kit/

[Littlewhitefeathers]

Ah I have a Dremel! A cordless one.. I bought some bits to go with it from Cookson gold in a wooden block, but I have to admit, I've had a hard time working out what half of the bits are for.
I like the idea of the radial disks, which grades do you recommend?

[Faith]

Lol, I had the same problem with the actual dremel accessories that came with mine! They should come with a chocolate box style key. I'd have thought cooksons would sell all the ones in a set separately too tho, so you can probably find them all in the pendant drill accessories section and the individual descriptions might be more helpful.

Dennis posted a super little key to the radial disks - i'll try to cross link to it here: http://www.cooksongold.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=8962&d=1463883904

Hope that works. I use blue then pink then light green for normal polishing (and occasionally start with red first if I have any weeny file marks I couldn't emery). I haven't used stamps tho so don't know how severe the bruises are and whether you'd need to start with any of the more abrasive ones.

Anyone else? :)

Faith

[Petal]

For polishing I use radials, brown, blue, then pink. I used a Dremel when I first started, which now lives in a cupboard, then moved onto the Foredom, which I love. I also use the pointy Eve polishers and the Roll Sanders, depending on what I'm doing.

For your cuffs I would suggest you either get a modified bench grinder (its what I have and was free, as I nicked my hubbys!), or a polisher. I use Luxi polish and clean with soapy water in between. It all comes up beautiful and shiny.

[Patstone]

I was given a set of radial wheels as a present but only one pack, which I have been using, plus a couple of others that I have bought myself. With Dennis's link to the coarseness of them, the list goes from Brown 36 Grit to 220 Grit. Presumably the lower the grit number the coarser it is, so the Brown is very coarse and the 220 is softest, then you get to the microns.

[Dennis]

No, the yellow is the roughest and light green the finest. Same with abrasive paper-low numbers are coarser. It's counter intuitive I Know. Dennis.

[Lucie]

I think most things have been mentioned already. I love my Foredom, but also use my polishing motor a lot. I use Menzerna polishes.
Just one little thing:
Years ago I made the mistake of buying a cheap polishing motor from ebay. It only lasted a few rounds of polishing before it quite spectacularly blew up.

I went back to using my big old Crompton Parkinson AC polishing motor (company doesn't exist anymore). It works like a dream BUT, in my little studio the dust drives me insane, especially as I mostly work with wax.
I've use a home made cowl attached to a Henry hoover for extraction. It works well, but it doesn't collect everything and it is noisy. I'm now also on my 3rd (or 4th?) hoover.

Whenever I get around to replacing it, I'm definitely going to look at some sort of proper dust extraction (and a motor with 2 mops - just because I'm lazy & get fed up changing them contantly ;)

[Littlewhitefeathers]

Got my disks and am enjoying using them. Any idea how long they last before I have to change them?

[Faith]

Hello, these are your new little radial disks yes? Glad you like em :)

Dennis would know for sure, but my guess would be that you don't need to change them unless they drop to bits or get too worn down and miniature to use. That deduction is based on two things, firstly "the abrasive is integrated into the bristles" which makes me think the abrasive is all the way through, not just on the surface, secondly Dennis once advised me to keep worn down smaller ones for polishing the inside of rings. I haven't worn mine down enough yet - but not for lack of trying!

Faith

[Dennis]

Got my disks and am enjoying using them. Any idea how long they last before I have to change them?

'Till you are in danger of marking your work with the screw is the short answer. If you run a few concurrently and at moderate speed they will go on for a year or two. Dennis.

[Littlewhitefeathers]

Yes, the radial disks :)
I got yellow, blue and green. That's great then, will just use them till they wear down!

[CJ57]

When you can afford one, I'd be buying a bench polisher for items as large as cuffs. It's like night and day in terms of finish and time spent. You get fairly reasonably priced double spindle units now

[enigma]

I make a lot of cuffs and bangles and still haven't got a bench polisher, does it save a lot of time then?
I currently use the rubber silicone Everflex from blue through to green and like the finish they give.
What would be the equivalent attachments for a polishing motor please?

Thanks

[CJ57]

I make a lot of cuffs and bangles and still haven't got a bench polisher, does it save a lot of time then?
I currently use the rubber silicone Everflex from blue through to green and like the finish they give.
What would be the equivalent attachments for a polishing motor please?

Thanks
I've never had anything but Sarah but I would say yes purely because it covers a greater area with more force and I would think more evenly.if you are making a lot then I would think it would be cost effective. I only got a foredom micromotor for my Xmas and have only used it for more fiddly jobs so far but wouldn't contemplate for my cuffs. I started with a double spindle 1/2 HP motor nearly 40 years ago and eventually when I could afford it I got a dustmaster because I needed to get rid of the dust. There are now all sorts of smaller units available.
Not sure about an equivalent for those mops as I use mainly bristle for the first polish and then calico then wool but I recently bought the synthetic suede mops that everyone was going on about a while back and I see cookies are doing smaller ones now which are easier to handle.
Hope this helps

[enigma]

Very helpful thanks Caroline :o