Tod, Even if you could get a buffing pad attached, the angle grinder runs too fast and will create too much heat on the surface. Although not an expert, I gained a lot of experience polishing Airstream aluminum. When getting equipped up for the aluminum polishing project, I considered the many options available. For polishing (as opposed to compounding) I bought a Cyclo two head random orbital polisher ($200). I bought this because the experts recommended it, but I now think I could have done just as good a job at much less expense if I just bought a polishing pad for my Porter-Cable RO sander. For compounding I bought an 8" compounding pad that chucks into a Milwaukee 1/2" drill (850 RPMs). The key to compounding is low RPMs and high horsepower. The HP does the work, but the surface must not get hot. I don't know what happens to fiberglass when it heats up, but aluminum will turn blue and stay that way forever. I polished my boat with the RO polisher, so I have no experience with straight spin method, but many on this list have had good results with this method. If I were starting over and just doing the boat I would start with the $25 compounding pad and the 1/2" drill. Second, I would try the polishing pad for the RO sander. Rick Langer M15 #337

Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 19:13:37 -0400 From: <htmills@bright.net> Subject: RE: M_Boats: Penetrol To: "'For and about Montgomery Sailboats'" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Message-ID: <003201c56aed$5f4b7020$899edb42@HTM031103> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

The closest thing I have is a Dewalt high-speed angle grinder, but I don't see any sort of reference to the ability to put a buffing bonnet on it.

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_detail.asp?productID=145

I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of serious buffing, so if it's not too much trouble, if you could point me in the right direction I'd be grateful.

Tod

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