Kirby 508 Restoration Complete

[lux1521]

Yeah, but how much sanding do you need to do before you start buffing?

I have to sand out all the scratches, right down to the smallest ones, and then move on to fine sand paper before I even think about using a buffing machine. Even on a buffing machine, after all that work, I'm still spending a serious amount of time getting to the finished product.

I just get the feeling that I'm not doing it quite right. I get there eventually, but it takes a very long time.

 

[charles~richard]

Well, I do not sand at all! One of the things I learned when rebuilding machines for a Kirby dealer is that the buffing wheel will do 99% of the work if you let it.

The trick is, you have to have a motor that's powerful enough and with lots of torque so that you can, when necessary, really bear down on the metal.

You don't want to bear down hard too much or all the time because that just makes the work more difficult, and indeed it's easy with a powerful wheel to heat up a piece of aluminum housing hot enough to burn a hole into it! I've actually done that!

For most of the work, you only want to bear down hard enough to just let the buffing wheel and the polishing compound gently burnish away the tarnish. But when you need that extra power to buff out scratches and "liver spots," it has to be there.

 

[lux1521]

Sounds like I need an equipment upgrade. I can actually stall out my buffing machine, which is really a converted bench grinder.

I might have one more trick up my sleeve before I start saving up for a new machine. I've been tempted to use greaseless buffing compound. The claim is it will turn your buffing wheel into a flexible grind stone. I'd only use the milder 300ish grit and not the 80 grit stuff. I don't think it would be a good idea to try it for the first time on a prized machine, but I think it might be worth a shot.