The Polishing Machine (also called the Buffing Machine) is used to polish soft metals including copper and brass as well as plastics such as perspex. The two ‘mops’ spin at high speed when the ‘on’ switch is pressed.
If the material is carefully pressed against the mop and moved backwards and forwards it will be polished.
The material must be filed to removed scratches and then wet and dry paper or emery cloth is used to further smooth the surfaces. Only then can it be polished on the buffing machine.

Polish should be applied to the rotating mop before pressing the work against it.

The diagram on the left shows the correct way to hold the work and how it should be pushed gently against the rotating mop. The work should be held firmly in both hands and moved backwards and forwards against the lower part of the mop. If the work is held in one place the mop will wear quickly making it difficult to polish materials. Use the full width of the mop.
Great care must be taken so that the top corner of the work is not caught by the rotating mop. If this happens the work will be ripped from both hands and it will fly at high speed into the guard. When this happens it can be quite frightening.

This is clearly a dangerous way to hold the work as the top corner is about to be caught by the rotating mop.

Another dangerous accident is about to take place. The work is about to be pressed against the top part of the mop. This should be avoided as the work will be ripped out of the machinists hands and it will fly out at high speed towards him/her.

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