# Crankshaft Polisher Gift!



## Cactus Farmer (Feb 27, 2015)

I have a gifted polisher that was "broken"?  I thanked the guy and took it home. It didn't turn very well and there seemed to be a mechanical issue. I took it apart and (surprise, surprise, surprise ) , one of the internal screws had backed out and was hammering the cooling fan impeller. I put some low strength Locktight on it and it's twin. Reassembled the motor and "vawalla" , it runs like a Swiss watch. I even found some used belts at the local automotive machine shop (I worked there when I was going to college.) I made a guard to keep my fingers out of the belt and wheel. It sure makes parts pretty.........great barrel polisher!  I love it then a plan comes together.  Pictures are coming.......warmth needs to come first.


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## kvt (Feb 27, 2015)

NIce,   I would like to see that one.   Has been a long time since I used one but they did polish things up nicely.   So it should really do some nice finish work for you.


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## Rbeckett (Feb 27, 2015)

I too have been away from the automotive machining scene for too many years to count, but I do remember the great jobs that came out of the shop I used all the time.  Every part they ever did for me was picture perfect and the old guy they had working in the shop was an old world master.  A few years after the machine shop closed I found him down in an older section of town with all of the machinery that the parts house had, still turning out some seriously beautiful work.    He never retired, he had a massive MI and died one day at work while turning a crankshaft, but had the presence of mind to turn off the machine before he slipped away.  In the few years I spent getting to know him he taught me so many things that it was simply amazing.   He had such a vast and deep knowledge of automotive machine work that he was sought out to solve every one else's "unsolvable" problems.  He is sorely missed even today some 30 years later, because he was a one in a billion kind of fellow who would bend over backwards to help anybody he could.  Unfortunately the machine tools went at auction for next to nothing and his estate spent the next ten years in probate, but he did leave a legacy behind in his youngest son who I hear is becoming quite the aerospace caliber machinist on his own. Time will tell if he remains in the field or moves into something more lucrative since he did get a degree in engineering from the University of Fla in the mid 80's, and he is getting on up in years.  Auto machining is hard physical labor even with all the lifting and materials handling equipment available and it isn't really an old mans sport anymore...  One thing the old man did teach me was, You will never get rich doing this, but you will feed and raise a family nicely and have a comfortable place to lay your head at night.  Truer words where never spoken.

Bob


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## Cactus Farmer (Feb 27, 2015)

The shop was run by two cousins. Old men in my eyes ,but they did know all the tricks. I was amazed to find out how much precision machine work was done with a hammer, and some things like cylinder liners a BIG hammer. That and the fact that I could feel a 0.0001 step on a crank journal. I had musles like I have never had since too, lugging the cast iron around the shop. Now days there is a lot of aluminum parts so the loads would be somewhat lighter. One of the cousins had two boys and the shop is run by one of those boys. And they still do great quality work. FYI, that's where I got the belts for the polisher. And the smell is still the same.........


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## kvt (Feb 27, 2015)

Oh those were the days,   I was still in High School when a machine shop offered me a job for the day I graduated.   They did race engines and I took some stuff in to have balanced as I did not have the equipment in my town.    When I went to pick the stuff up, they keep me there for almost an hour asking questions on who did the work, where I learned it, what tools I used etc.   The owner said I had done the blueprinting of the engine to a higher degree than they did their race engines and offered me the job.   I should have taken it as I wound up working as a mechanic for a local dealership then joined the AF for the next 25 years.   Most of mine was learning from a couple of old machinist and old time mechanics, but what they could do with what seem like simple tools now days.  But now I wish I had some of those old tools again.


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## kd4gij (Feb 27, 2015)

What no picture?


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## Cactus Farmer (Feb 27, 2015)

Pictures will be tomorrow, I had to drive 100 miles with frozen roads and Texans not versed in driving with no traction. Evidence of unplanned excersions thru the bar ditches were abundent on the way to my drilling rig. The dually trucks were a hoot to watch. Twice the tires does NOT equate to better grip on hard packed snow and ice. My Prius got here just fine........Front wheel drive and the electric motor( synenergy drive?) with the gas motor make for awesome control.
I just had to avoid the other drivers as they spun their tires all the harder to try to move. Makes for poor gas mileage I'm guessing............braking suffers too......


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## kvt (Feb 27, 2015)

It depends on where in Texas,  I'm originally from an area in the Panhandle and they get snow and ice every winter.   But I agree other areas it is fun to watch, but hate to have to try and drive with them.   In San Antonio,   it seems they can't drive on dry pavement, look out when wet, and you take your life in your own hands if it freezes.   Unless you do like me, and go in at a time when no one else is really on the road.    So I feel for you.  
I like watching them try to pump their brakes real hard to get it to stop,   like the faster I pump will make it stop sliding.
Looking forward to the pics when you get a chance.


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## Cactus Farmer (Feb 27, 2015)

I was at Lackland for 2 1/2 years and saw a 60+ car wreck at 410 and I10. Airforce busses have a case of flares and we used em all just trying to get folks to stop or at lease slow down. 25% of the damage was done after we were stopped. Ever see a flare run over with tires at 50+MPH? fire goes everywhere! I have to wave a flare and we backed up about 1/4 mile to an exit. We were headed out to Camp Bullis to shoot long range with the USAF national team. We were supporting them. Great job!


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## Cactus Farmer (Mar 6, 2015)

The perforated guard is my add on idea. It is held on with one thumb screw for fast belt changes. It is just forward of the motor pulley. The three silver spots around the edge are allignment pads. It allows air movement and keeps stuff (read ,my fingers) out of the works. The trigger is a on/off switch, ie, not momentary. I don't find a speed on the motor but it is fast, so the on/off switch is a little scary if you aren't fast on the trigger. It sure makes shiney parts, gun barrels being my big usage these days. I rebuild some air cylinders from a sheet metal shops shear and they were afraid the shafts were toast,but with a little TLC and the polisher they came out super. I just love free tools!


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## kvt (Mar 6, 2015)

What you need to do now is build you some way to mount it that way you do not have to hold it up there to do the polishing.    Then put a foot switch in the power cord.   That way you turn it on and off with a foot peddle or adjust the speed,   almost like a sewing machine.


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## Cactus Farmer (Mar 6, 2015)

I've thought about a foot/dead man switch, just haven't done it. As for a mount, I like being able to angle the polisher to get the cross hatched pattern on some parts, (gun barrels), before blueing them.


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## ironmonger (Mar 6, 2015)

A buddy of mine use to run an automotive machine shop. Seeing that brought back memories of ground up truck wrist pins. He would hold them on the belt as he followed the rod journals up and down and steer the belt into the corners to finish the radius.

I used to scrounge the used belts for polishing anything. When he got done with them they were real smooth...

paul


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