Marc, thanks for the reply. I'll be down in Cairns soon so I'll have a look in Bunnings and see what they have. I bought an Ozito orbital sander a while back and it's still going. However, I do a lot of scale removal, so I might look at one of the better brands. Effective scale removal has always been a problem. I don't like the mottled , patchy look if you only get some of it off and the residual bits are often well attached. I have had to resort to a flap disc at times, but that leaves scratches.

PS. I feel your pain with the bat invasion. We have those noisy, stinking flying foxes here by the millions. Flying rats. I hate them.

I set up my wire wheel on an old belt drive grinding arbor machine like the one in the photo below.  Got it cheap at an estate sale with a bundle of wire and scotch bright type wheels.  Have my buffer on the other arbor.  The nice thing about this unit is that I can gear it down, as required, to keep it at the rotation speed I need and with the  belt tension a little lower than normal, if I catch something the belt slips rather than the stock getting flung.  Very rarely throw a wire off the wheel, even with the vintage wheels I got.

May even invest in a speed control at some point.

 

Aus: We called them slow or soft start angle grinders though you can buy them with dial speed controls now. An auto parts / paint supply should carry them. Mine are Milwaukee 7" and 9" slow and a hard start one each size.

A few years ago I picked up a bunch of belt drive arbors, I seemed to be on a roll one weekend. Anyway, I  had some interesting plans for a lazy susan mount and belt change device so I could pick the arbor press a lever, pedal, etc. rotate the table move the belt and get with it fast. 

I still think about it occasionally like now but never came up with anything like practical or even workable to change belts to arbor and having all of them running at the same time seemed like such a B-A-D idea.

Frosty The Lucky.

Frosty, each arbor has a belt and the whole thing rotates around a stationary motor. Flip the arbor's belt over the motor pulley and use a spring or lever tensioner. The motor base could be a spring loaded slide. Pull forward to mount the belt then release.

Yes I know, I have 6 of the things I think. The trick would be to not have to reach over the table to the motor and not have six belts to keep clear of the works. 

One method I've thought about would be a rubber wheel drive like a tire hammer, no belts. 

I don't do the kind of production work that needs a multi headed beast like that anymore. It's fun to think about now and then though.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 10/26/2018 at 10:33 PM, ausfire said:

Marc, thanks for the reply. I'll be down in Cairns soon so I'll have a look in Bunnings and see what they have. I bought an Ozito orbital sander a while back and it's still going. However, I do a lot of scale removal, so I might look at one of the better brands. Effective scale removal has always been a problem. I don't like the mottled , patchy look if you only get some of it off and the residual bits are often well attached. I have had to resort to a flap disc at times, but that leaves scratches.

Another thing I failed to mention is to try different diameter wire wheels, not just 6". In fact I use a 5" cup wheel on the 6" polisher and it works well. The Ozito has variable speed and you will use it at max speed most of the time, and sometimes will need to lean in it a bit. The D handle is also much more comfortable than the usual grinder's side handle. 

No critique, just an observation.

I went thru an experimental phase with my lil giant. I decided to see if champfering the edges on my pickets would save me time. I ended up with two problems,, personal problems. The look of the  cold vs hot champfer was dramatic and the mill scale popped on the edges but not on the flats.  Thus the cleanup required extensive wire brushing or an over night acid dip. I found that if I did these champfers hot, all the mill scale was gone, or nothing that a simple hand held wire brush removed it all. And the edges met my approval. And it was far quicker done hot.

That was the last extensive use of a wire wheel in my shop. Plus no noise, no flying spears, no power tool expense, and most important, my finish met my requirements for the finish I wanted on my iron.