LArge buffing wheels
Designed for All Applications
These large buffing wheels are designed for all applications and work perfectly on the Pinnacle Auto-Sense Buffing System.
Pinnacle Technologies offers a full line of Large Buff Wheels to suit all of your belt polishing needs. Whether your process is robotic, automatic or an off-hand application, we have the wheels that are right for the job.
Time-tested Performance, Reliability, and Durability:
Every Large Buff Wheel we carry has years of time-tested performance, reliability, and durability. They are extremely flexible, which makes them perfect for contoured parts. They also last longer than competitive large buff wheels of comparable softness.
New Technology Takes The Skill Out of Hand Buffing
Reduced Workman’s Compensation Claims
The Western Europeans have been experiencing a labor shortage for the past few years. It has been difficult to find people who are willing to learn the art of hand buffing.
The problem is that manual buffing, as we know it in the United States, requires a long training period, six months to a year before the average trainee is able to master the art of hand buffing. After making this investment in training, the employer has a high risk of losing these people after a few months.
Manual buffing is a dirty, injury-prone, fatiguing job. There is an increased risk to the employer of costly compensation cases because of the repetitive motion resulting in disabling carpal tunnel problems.
The normal method of buffing employs a relatively small buffing wheel, from10 inches in diameter to a maximum of 16 inches in diameter. The hand buffing lathe is normally running at fairly high speeds for cut buffing, anywhere from 1600 Rpms to 2300 RPMs. At these speeds, the operator has to be extremely careful how he presents the part to the wheel.
If the part is presented below the center of the buffing wheel, the part can be easily ripped from the operator’s hand often resulting in injury. It is not easy to master the art of hand buffing with a buffing wheel traveling at these speeds. It is time-consuming and tedious to buff all areas of the part. The contact area of the buffing wheel on the part is relatively small.
Out of need, the Europeans developed a totally revolutionary concept for manual buffing. They have developed a hand buffing lathe that is capable of using wheels up to a maximum of 40 inches in diameter. The theory is that at low RPMs 250 to 400 RPMs, the arc of contact is large, completely engulfing the part. Since the speed is low, the operator can completely immerse the part in the buff without having it pulled from his hands.
The time required to cut and color buffs parts are dramatically reduced. Much less effort is required by the operator as compared to conventional small wheel buffing. The part remains much cooler.
An unskilled operator can be trained in a day to produce good parts. The large buff is capable of finishing small as well as large parts. The "mush" buffing allows the buff to reach areas that are normally difficult to buff. The finish is much more uniform than conventionally buffed parts.
Normally color buffing requires a higher skill level than cut buffing. The presentation of the part to the wheel is more critical in order to obtain a scratch-free, grease-free, and non-directional finish.
With the large buff, low-speed technology color buffing becomes a simple process. The operator can completely immerse the part in the wheel producing a bright scratch-free surface. The only problem with this large-diameter low-speed buffing is that the wheel runs so cool that the conventional buffing compound is not well suited to this technology.
The binders and greases in the conventional compound have a relatively high melting point since they have to withstand higher temperatures generated when using high speed and pressure associated with conventional buffing. Consequently, if one uses a conventional bar compound the binder and greases in the compound tend to deposit on the part as black streaks.
New buffing compounds have been developed that melt at lower temperatures. These new compounds eliminate the deposits caused by conventional bar compounds. The new compounds have the added benefit of much easier removal in subsequent cleaning operations. The residual compound film on the part melts at a much lower temperature facilitating removal in aqueous cleaning baths.
Another benefit is the extremely long buff life, 4 to 5 months, depending on the job. Longer life translates into a much cleaner buffing operation.
For more information on Large Buffing Wheels and custom formulated buffing compounds for your specific application, contact us and we will be glad to help and answer any of your questions.