lookin to do so with most of whats available to polish and buff on the fds...

should i just go ahead and get the motor or will the 3inch wheel on a die grinder do...

 

At the very least you need a 3/4 hp bench top buffer with about 28" arms. Anything less powerfull than that would be a serious pain in the *** to use. I use a 1&3/4HP buffer with the 30" arms. It cost me about $400 The 3" wheel you mention will not do anyting except frustrate you when you see that it won't polish ****.

 

I polished my UIM by hand. I don't recomend it though.

 

what size wheel..

and how do ya get to the nooks and crannies of somethin like the tb..

felt cones perhaps..

 

felt cones are good for the corners, and listen to dave about the bench grinder. I tried to polish with some crappy one I had. the lack of power caused it to either go slow as hell or completly stop when I put the metal to the wheel!

 

i use the felt wheels and have that attached to an old black and decker corded drill that can spin 5000 rpm. The bearings on the chuck are dead but it doesn't matter.



I use 350 then 400 then 600 then 800 sand paper all wet sanding then final buff with the 2 different compound bars. Then i finish it off by hand with mothers metal polish in the little can.



If that doens't cause alzhiemers i don't know what does

 

Yea the nooks and crannies have always been a pita. Felt cones, and thinner buffing wheels are generally your best bet. I like to use 10" x 2" pads and I will drop down to a 3/4" pad for the creases and what not. You can do the rough sanding with some 120 grit and a hand sander, after you get down to 320 you can switch to the gritted compounds and get good results. Either way hang in there, it's alot of work.

 

You ****** pansies! I polished mine with a 3/8" drill haha!

 

what's what i use.

 

and it looks wonderful