How to Build a Metal Buffer

Strip any pulleys or wheels off of the drive shaft on your electric motor to expose the drive shaft from the side of the motor. The selected motor should be capable of reaching speeds between 1500 and 2000rpm.

Mount the motor to a fixed surface such as a table using some nuts and bolts. The drive shaft side should extend beyond the edge of the mounting surface to allow you to have a good range of motion around the buffing wheel.

Mount your selected buffing wheel onto the drive shaft by screwing a nut onto the end of it, using washers as spacers to hold it in place as necessary.

Apply an appropriate grade of rubbing compound to the buffing wheel. Use rougher grits first and move on to finer grits to finish. For example, you may wish to use Tripoli Buffing Compound as a starting place, then move to a finishing rouge. Start the motor, and while it is spinning, touch the rubbing compound stick to it to transfer some compound to the wheel.

Buff the metal using the edge of the buffing wheel, letting the wheel do the work and without pushing it into the surface of the metal. Go over the entire piece before switching to a lighter grit of rubbing compound.

Clean the surface of the metal using a soft cloth and the grease-removal spray to clean the previous layer of rubbing compound between each application. Continue moving to finer grits of rubbing compound until you attain the desired shine.