While looking to price out the listed equipment for this week’s assignment I did what most people do today, and I looked everything up on Amazon.com. One of the main reasons I did this was because this site uses ecommerce to source items from a variety of places and I knew I could find a good range of items to choose from. In doing so I found a large price gap between the equipment that may work and the equipment that will definitely work. Some of the simpler equipment like the spindle/grinder polisher and the tumblers have a relatively smaller price gap of about $100 with the grinder ranging from $50 - $150 and the tumblers ranging from $90 - $250. However, when we begin to talk about the difference in price between the basic and more advanced belt/disc sanding combo and the sandblasting cabinets the price gap becomes 10 to 20 times more for the nicer equipment. With a belt/disc sanding combo you can spend anywhere from $100 to a whopping $1,600 for all the bells and whistles. The sandblasting cabinets range from $200 - $2,000 with size and blasting guns being the biggest difference in cost.
Regarding purchasing the polishing equipment, I would recommend spending the money on nicer gear. Because the price difference is not that much, and the higher end equipment seems to have drastically better reviews from others who have purchased it, I would recommend springing for the top end stuff. More than likely, you will use this piece of equipment a lot and having something with the power needed for those tough jobs and the durability to last a long time means more work completed and more revenue generated. It took me a long time to find out that if you buy cheap then you will more likely buy twice. In addition to the spindle/ grinder and polisher you will need a few other items to
achieve the desired result. For example, a number of spindle sewn cotton buffing wheels are needed because once you add a specific compound to the cotton you should not add other compounds to the same wheel. This can result in a mashup of compounds that may do the opposite of what you needed done because the different compounds represent a different abrasiveness and mixing them will give you an unknown result. Online you can find a package deal of six different compound bars in 40oz sizes with each yielding different result. It is recommended you begin with the more course compound and move toward using the finer compounds at finish for the best results. These compounds are easy to use in the bar form in conjunction with the bench style polishers. Just turn on the wheels and while running lightly press the bar type compound on the spinning cotton wheel. You should see the white cotton wheel turn the color of the compound you are using. This means it has plenty on it and is ready to start using.
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