Bench polisher

[Lucie]

The hoover idea is a great one I usually polish for a few hours at a time and polish sculptures as well as jewellery, so fire rubbish everywhere.
A box positioned behind the motor is usually helpful, as is setting yourself up near an open door.
They're lovely handy things to have even for small amounts of polishing as the finish you can achieve is fab

[ShinyLauren]

The guy I did my stone setting course with had an ingenious Henry hoover extraction solution. I asked if I could take pictures for future reference, he happily agreed.

[Lucie]

That's really impressive. Thanks for posting the pics.
Sure my other half will really appreciate it when I give him this as his next job (after repairing the boiler)

[ShinyLauren]

That's really impressive. Thanks for posting the pics.
Sure my other half will really appreciate it when I give him this as his next job (after repairing the boiler)

Sadly my boy is useless with anything practical, so if I'm ever going to set up this system I'll be doing it by myself!

[Patstone]

yeah me too

[caroleallen]

It's worth thinking about the Foredom bench polisher and extractor. They're very small and neat.

[Lucie]

I think I might have to Carole. I just asked the other half & he looked at me like he was contemplating divorce or murder

[Aurarius]

I'm thinking about a polishing motor myself too. I initially considered the converted grinder James links to earlier in this thread, and low cost is certainly on its side, but my main reservations about it are its low power (150W) and possibly rudimentary engineering. The Foredom polishing motor (the little white thing) may end up being more durable, but again its low power (125W) puts me off somewhat. Does anyone know who the manufacturer is of these polishing motors sold by Cooksons, and whether they are manufactured as dedicated polishing motors or really as grinders?

[CJ57]

I'm thinking about a polishing motor myself too. I initially considered the converted grinder James links to earlier in this thread, and low cost is certainly on its side, but my main reservations about it are its low power (150W) and possibly rudimentary engineering. The Foredom polishing motor (the little white thing) may end up being more durable, but again its low power (125W) puts me off somewhat. Does anyone know who the manufacturer is of these polishing motors sold by Cooksons, and whether they are manufactured as dedicated polishing motors or really as grinders?

It's a full horsepower which should be more than enough. My first polisher before I got the Dustmaster was a 1/2 hp I think. I think they are sold to be both but it doesn't have any extractor which was why I upgraded when I could. Tried all sorts of Heath Robinson extraction and it never really did the trick.
HS Walsh seems to have a good variety of polishing motors.

[camalidesign]

Sorry to put a dampener on your polishing motor dream but is a polishing motor really the one thing you need the most? If you are only making a few pieces a week perhaps there might be another tool that would be more useful, especially since you already have a Foredom you can use for polishing? What torch do you have e.g.? Any tools you have that are cheap ones that might be worth replacing with some quality ones that will make the process of making much more enjoyable?!

On the other hand, those ones in James's link look tempting, there is a 370W one which takes 6" mops which shoudl be more efficient than the 4". It's "only" £67.95 which sounds very good. No idea what speed they run at or if they have variable speed or not (think not), but looks pretty good otherwise. You can get hoods to go around polishers like this too. Or make your own, that one pictured was cool!

Carin