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TOOLS Making a Better Dremel Buffing Wheel

Desiree's stitched polyester felt buffing wheel

Anita's stitchless cotton buffing wheel

Introduction

While I thought my main buffing tool was a Foredom bench model, I find, more and more that I'm favoring my variablespeed Dremel for its convienence, extreme portability and increased suitability for doing small to modest sized itemslike beads and pendants. IMHO, the key drawback with my Dremel, however, had been it's tiny cloth buffing wheel, athin little disc that's about 3/8th inch thick and 1 inch in diameter. The area that actually touches the item to be buffedwas very small - too small for my needs. Dremel's cloth wheel was also a bit too course for polymer clay. Which isunderstandable since it was not designed with polymer clay in mind.

On the page Make a Better Dremel Spindle, I describe how I made a spindle to accommodate holding more than oneDremel cloth buffing wheel. On this page, I want to share with you how I made a superior (IMHO) buffing system. Ididn't think this one up, Becca Crauswell did (the 'angel'), who told a wonderful email friend who suggested I try makingone. So I did! In fact, I made two. Then I tested my new buffing system on some unfinished polyclay eggs I had layingabout. (heh heh)

I must say I've buffed/buffed for quite a few years using various methods and machines, including a Foredom benchbuffer with a cotton wheel, not to be confused with the slightly courser muslin wheel. The trick is the polyester felt. Itproduces a wonderful shine in at least a 1/3 - 1/4 of the time. I highly recommend trying this, if you can. I went fromliking my Dremel to loving it and wanting to buff anything in site. (OK, I was a little excited in the beginning.) And forthose who have not buffed before, keep in mind you need to do a good sanding job first or no amount of buffing willhelp.

Don't get me wrong, I also find my Foredom bench buffer to be great. I use both appliances. But that blasted Dremel isso darn convenient. I find I use it most of the time. Plus, because I can make the wheels any size I want.

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Below are instructions for two different types of buffing wheels:

Desiree's stitched polyester feltAnita's stitchless cotton sheet

I considered Anita's technique so clever, I asked her if I could include it in this tute. Since I haven't tried ityet, you will need to direct any questions about it to her via her Esty store.

Desiree's stitched polyester felt

Here's what I used:

a square foot of polyester felt (make sure it's not wool felt -regular wool felt is too coarse). Make sure it's soft and atleast 3/16 inch thick ). For sources, try thefeltpeople -thickfelts (Durafelt) or talk to the nice folks at NancysSewing Basket.OR some possible alternatives to felt (any of these need tobe tightly woven)

a nice soft piece tightly woven aged denimsweat pants or shirtsyou get the idea ;-)

scissorsa 1" - 1.5" diameter circle templatea way to stitch (preferably a sewing machine)1" long spindle (click Make a Better Dremel Spindle, forhow to make your own)felt marker

1) Using your circle template, mark 1.5 inch diameter circles onthe polyester felt. Cut them out as precisely as possible. I usuallystitch 4 circles to make one wheel and join three wheels on thatmodified wood screw, so I'll cut out 12 circles.

2) Stack 4 circles on top of each other.

3) With a felt marker, make a spot dead center in the top circle.Make a hexagonal outline and a 5pt star outline on the top feltcircle. Stitch along those outlines. Since the felt material is sosoft, the stiffer and stronger you can make the wheel's core, thebetter. This outline pattern stitching provides minimalreinforcement for the wheel. More stitching within the hexagonaloutline can make it stronger.

4) Trim as best as possible with scissors. I usually make 3 setsand stack them together. With the type of felt I use, this buffingwheel lasts me at least a year, depending on how much I buff, ofcourse.

Note 1: These directions are for a wheel that can be mounted on a hand held rotary tool like a Dremel. I suspect youcan cut out larger circles for making a buffing wheel that would fit on a bench buffer. But don't make the wheels thatyou'll use on the Dremel any larger than 1.5" or you'll overwork the motor and shorten its life.

Note 2: Another method is to cut out squares instead of circles;about 1.5" square in size. Stagger their positions so 3-4 squaresstacked on top of each other looks like a 12-16 point star. Why astar? It spins cooler, which is better for polymer clay.

You'll need to stitch the set in the center area to make sure theyremain staggered. Make 2-3 of those sets. Caution - make surethe squares aren't too big. If you hear the motor pitch is lowerwhen running, the wheel is too big and is overloading the motor.Trim the squares a bit to reduce the workload.

Anita's stitchless cotton sheet

I cut several approx. 2" diametercircles from a 600 thread countsatin cotton sheet (it's very soft anddense at the same time), stackedthem on top of each other, foldedthe stack over a Dremel sanding bit(the one that looks like a littledrum...???),

...and tied a wire aroundunderneath the "drum".

When you turn on the Dremel, thecloth disks spread out like anumbrella and do a great job buffing.Sometimes I use the upper half(where the cloth is pulled over the"drum") for removing smallimperfections. But I do not likesewing and tried to rig the cloth thisway, and it seems to work great.

I considered Anita's technique so clever, I asked her if I could include it in this tute. Since I haven't tried it yet, you willneed to direct any questions about it to her via her Esty store.

Want some buffing tips? Click here.

Still don't care to make your own little buffing wheels? Widget Supply has what you might be looking for. Click here.

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Last update to this page: 4 Jul 07. Send comments, questions or suggestions to Desiree McCrorey.