Old school poishers (just for fun)

tuscarora dave

tuscarora dave

"Luck" Residue of design
Anyone have photos of old school, antique, heavy duty, Mammoth polishers or any stories of folks trying to use these things nowadays? Just for fun if you have any stories to tell or photos of these tank polishers, post up.
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The first machine I ever used was my dads Milwaukee "buffer". It was a 1 speed sander with a wool pad that turned at about 9000 rpm and had to weigh 15 lb at least. My dad was good with it because he was used to it. Me being 13 or 14 at the time...you can imagine the results from it. Thankfully it was a junk car. He used it for buffing fresh paint and as far as I know he still has it. When I bought the Makita I had, he picked it up and said "hell, that's just a toy. It won't last a year". Its safe to say the old man is as old school as it gets but I got an education in detaiing and body work at a very young age that money can't buy.
 
mrclean81 said:
The first machine I ever used was my dads Milwaukee "buffer". It was a 1 speed sander with a wool pad that turned at about 9000 rpm and had to weigh 15 lb at least. My dad was good with it because he was used to it. Me being 13 or 14 at the time...you can imagine the results from it. Thankfully it was a junk car. He used it for buffing fresh paint and as far as I know he still has it. When I bought the Makita I had, he picked it up and said "hell, that's just a toy. It won't last a year". Its safe to say the old man is as old school as it gets but I got an education in detaiing and body work at a very young age that money can't buy.
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Thanks for that story, This is exactly the type of response I had hoped for. It made me laugh:rofl My first experience with buffing was in a body shop too but not with such a midevil machine. I wetsanded and buffed orangepeel out of fresh paint using a Chicago Pneumatics air buffer that ran probably in the area of 2500 RPM.

I have a buddy named Dennis that a few folks here at DC have met at the Poorboy's World detailing weekend. I went to where he was staying one day where he was about to try buffing the paint on his car with the first plastic housed Black and Decker high speed rotary sander polisher. This thing had a thick plastic backing plate with a big nut sticking down through it and a piece of a bath towel secured to it with a twisted up piece of bailing wire.

The bath towel bonnet had spider webs and some sort of red clayish looking dirt all over it. It's a good thing I showed up when I did becuase he already had the electric cord all stretched out and was plugging the thing in when I pulled up to the garage. I pulled my Makita out and gave him a hand.
 
I did a Ford Ranger and a Cavalier for an old man last week and while I was working on the truck he said "Dave, here's a gift for you" and calls me to the back of the truck where this piece of history was laying on the driveway. No Story with it other than back in the day he used to polish his own cars.


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tuscarora dave said:
Anyone have photos of old school, antique, heavy duty, Mammoth polishers or any stories of folks trying to use these things nowadays? Just for fun if you have any stories to tell or photos of these tank polishers, post up.
Click to expand...

First polisher I used was a Wen. Tried using that stoopid bonnet they give you with the string that won't stay tucked in. Caught it on a wiper blade and ripped that sucker right off. :wall Graduated to mild wool and used it for years to basically remove polish and wax. I thought I was "buffing" the finish.

The Wen took a dump on a Sunday in the middle of detailing my ride so I ran down to the local NAPA which was about the only thing open then on Sundays. Same place I'd go after dumping oil through the crankcase after forgetting to reinstall the drain plug. :D ALWAYS happened on a Sunday in the days when almost everyone was closed!

Anyway, the only thing they had was an ATD 7" polisher/sander. I discovered it was a real serious tool and figured I better learn how to use it properly before I screwed something up. Ditched the center-mount backing plate and graduated to velcro, foam pads etc and the rest is history. (as was some of my clear coat while I was learning how NOT to use that brute!

I've still got the ATD and after using a Makita was surprised they're almost identical. According to the ATD Web site it looks like some of their stuff may be made by Makita. Rarely use the heavy brute any more as the Flex lightweight is my choice in rotaries. Flex, PC, GG 3" and Metabo round out the machines. Probably should've kept the Wen and mounted it on the wall as a testiment to what NOT to do!

TL
 
I have a Black n Decker that I bought in 1965. When I do any buffing thats the machine that I use even though I have another buffer.The B and D handles like a dream.
 
Here's an encore performance of an old thread featuring my first "buffer":

I bought a 1951 Chevy Panel Truck in 1964, at age 15, for $100. Her gas tank was rusted out, so I punched a hole in the firewall, attached a hose to the fuel line and ran it into a five gallon gas can that was held securely between my brother's feet on the passenger side floorboard. (You can't make this stuff up!)

Since neither of us had a license, we ran the beast exclusively on woods roads, venturing onto blacktop only at night.... DARK nights.

Note to Pennsylvania State Police: What is the Statute of Limitations for Driving With Head Up A$$?

I made some monumental "detailing" and "restoration" screwups. The floor and walls of the cargo compartment behind the front bench seat were lined with plywood. I painted the wooden parts with a mustard yellow, oil-based house paint that I found lying around. (I was ready for Woodstock!)

Here comes the obscene part... I wanted to get her painted, so I figured she needed sanding. I would save oh so much money by doing the "prep" work. So, I grabbed Dad's Singer brand rotary sander and put some 40 grit paper on the disk (lying around... you know the routine.)

After about a six inch swipe on the hood, even I knew that couldn't be right. So I drove it to the body shop for an estimate.

I'm sure that those guys are still laughing!
 
LOL, JH that is why I started this thread!!!:rofl Thanks for sharing.

One day I was watching TV and outside the window I saw the neighbor sanding away at his rusty oil tank in preperation to repaint it. Being the nice neighbor that I am, I attached a 80 grit sanding disc onto my Makita Rotary and took it over and said, "Here ya go, this should make this job about 100 times faster."

He started running it, or maybe it was running him:rofl. Back to my movie and I looked out and he was using his little palm sander again. I went out and he told me he couldn't handle the rotary, that it scared him. I got a little chuckle out of it but fully understood.
 
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