Polishing With a Dremel Tool?

[Crazycoonass]

Ive read plenty of subject matter in these forums about how restore and polish estate pipes and I know that a bench polisher is your best bet, however there have been several mentions of useing dremel tools to do the work but no real tips on how to get it done, any thoughts as to what works and what dosent?

[strongirish]

I have used a Dremel to polish mine but I have to admit, is been so much easier since I learned about Halcyon II and Paragon waxes. They do a better job too.

[Mad Hatter]

Even using a low speed its still pretty easy to screw up a stem if the pad grabs and pulls around to the other side of where you're buffing. Some guys use them though, I think with the polishing compound you can get that's designed for a dremel. IMO, if you have a variable speed drill its better to buy the linen polishing pads with a bolt run through the center with a washer on either side and nut to hold the pad tight. Then chuck it in your drill and polish away

[Crazycoonass]

I was thinking of using my electric drill and building a jig for it so I can hold the stem instead of the drill, whats turning me off about the bench polishers is I cant find one localy Id have to get one shipped and thats fairly expensive... LOL this hobby of mine is becoming an obsession and my GF starting to give me funny looks. Might have to slow it down, but I keep telling myself, "Just one or two more."

[Mad Hatter]

Originally Posted by Crazycoonass

I was thinking of using my electric drill and building a jig for it so I can hold the stem instead of the drill, whats turning me off about the bench polishers is I cant find one localy Id have to get one shipped and thats fairly expensive... LOL this hobby of mine is becoming an obsession and my GF starting to give me funny looks. Might have to slow it down, but I keep telling myself, "Just one or two more."

I wouldn't chuck the stem in the drill. I tried turning a stem that way once and the tenon ended up snapping off due to the stem being unbalanced. A better way to do that is to take a 9/64 drill bit and run it into the airway as far as it can safely go and then turn it that way. I cut and polish my stems that way but the drawback is that wherever the stem begins to taper it becomes impossible to use this method to polish it, saddle, taper or whatever.

[Crazycoonass]

No no no LOL u misunderstand, I mean build a jig for the drill so I could mount it on the table and be able to use both hands to hold the stem, whoooo, Id never deystroy a good stem like that, If I built a good jig I could use the drill just like a buffing machine, Im actually making some rough drafts on scratch paper right now.

[Mad Hatter]

Originally Posted by Crazycoonass

No no no LOL u misunderstand, I mean build a jig for the drill so I could mount it on the table and be able to use both hands to hold the stem, whoooo, Id never deystroy a good stem like that, If I built a good jig I could use the drill just like a buffing machine, Im actually making some rough drafts on scratch paper right now.

LOL. Let us know what you come out with

[strongirish]

For a bench polisher, go to pawn shops, good deals are to be had there. Also, try NorthernTool.com, they are pretty reasonable and ship pretty cheap.

[Crazycoonass]

Through experimentation Ive descovered that a small round tipped grinding bit on the end of a dremel at a low speed will make short work of cake in an badly caked up estate pipe, its fast and u can easily and precisly control excactly how close down u ream the pipe.

I suggest useing a worklight and imobilizing the said pipe while u do this so u can focus on what the bit is actually doing. Also I used the "pencil" atatchment so I could see what I was doing.

[Crazycoonass]

Lol, OK so Im to cheap to go and buy a benchtop polisher and the dremel dosnt work, so this is what I came up with.


It works great and all it cost me was a 4$ polishing disk.

[Mad Hatter]

Crazycoonass, you're as crazy as a pet coon's ass. I have three drills and only one has a lock on the trigger and its throwing chunks of something out of the motor right now. For a final polish try using Mother's aluminum polish. IMO it blows white diamond out of the water. A bar of red tripoli will probably help your cause too for removing tough oxidation.