Is HF buffer any good

Did you read the book, or see the movie of Stephen King's "Pet Sematary"? Well, imagine you took a dead Baldor buffer and buried it in the old Indian burial ground. Next day, you'd have an HF buffer. It would look about the same, but *something* would just not be "right".

Sorry, it just popped into my head and I could not resist ;)

Rex

I've had one of the HF buffers for a few years. It's really not bad at all, just not excellent like the Baldor stuff is. The left-hand arbor comes with a GWOUH (Grinding Wheel Of Undisclosed Heritage, pronounced "G-Woo"). Call me a coward, but I won't even spin up one of those to test, I just throw them away. I put a wire brush wheel on that side, which I've really gotten a lot of use out of. The tool rest that comes with it is quite flimsy, and the plastic eye-guard didn't cost a lot either.

If you want to buff and maybe do some wire-brushing, it's hard to beat for $49. For grinding purposes, though, it lacks a sufficient stout tool rest, eye guard, and dust discharge port.

HF stuff is great in the right context, but to paraphrase Mr. Eastwood: "A man's gotta know his tools' limitations."

Dave

I don't have one, but if I were buying one, I would assume:

- it's probably usable as is, but not very smooth (vibration)

- it could be made to be very nice and smooth with new bearings and balancing

- unless the shaft(s) are bent (easily checked and reason for return)

Bob

Keep in mind that if the unit fails, you can always cut out the windings, place a pulley on the shaft and drive it with a motor and belt from down below. You would spend more than $49 on a pair of pillow blocks and a shaft.

Ivan Vegvary

I have a Chinese 2 HP buffer, not from HF but I bet it's from the same factory though mine is green rather than orange. No complaints, twerks fer me. Can't compare it to a Baldor because I've never used one.

I bought one of these about a year ago.

The right side housing was not bolted down tight, so I tightened it. Now that side runs hot. That bearing won't last long.

On cold days (

...

Ah! That's the Achilles' heel. Not much you can do about it and you don't want to try to live with it - it would be too frustrating. Bob

Sounds to me like you got a bad one. Now that I think about it, my HF 8" bench grinder was that way at first. It eventually got over it, and now runs very powerfully. In fact, sometimes I wish it was a little less so. Like when the wire wheel slings that special part all the way across the shop and under the dirties bench - the one without casters.

I've got that exact buffer and it works great. I can't tell the difference between it and a Balder, and I've used both.

John P.

Dave,

I believe you're referring to the Grinder / Buffer which is a different machine:

With this machine beside the buffer you can have three different buffing wheels, one for fine grit, one medium and one rough.

Works really well for a fraction of the cost of Baldors.

John P.