I have family & other customers that find the CUI SKM1C spinning handle the most comfortable. I'd like to rework the seat a bit since it has mold lines on the threads, and some sharp edges here and there. What can I use to quickly smooth these areas? I was thinking about a cloth wheel or something on the grinder but I think that may turn too fast and create enough heat to melt plastic. I've tried sanding, etc. but it is too time consuming.

Hi Chuck,

I have used emory cloth, fine sand paper, dremel etc. and I am not familiar with these seats but some graphite seats burnish easily and you might end up with a smooth line (or area) where you just wanted to knock down the sharp seams. I have done some seats myself that ended up with odd burnished areas. If large enough, I will use a razor blade to shave off the bulk and then hit it with sand paper or the dremel to smooth out the mould lines. Might just try the cloth wheel though or ask what CUI suggests.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company.

Chuck,
The optimum way to do this is wiht a power buffer and various grades of polishing compounds.
For example:

[www.harborfreight.com]

or

[www.harborfreight.com]
If you happen to have a bench grinder, you could remove the end caps and shield and replace the grinding wheel with a buffing wheel:

For example:
[search.harborfreight.com]

If you notice, on this page you find cloth buffers which appear to have a fairly loose floopy texture, and then there are the buffing wheel which have a tight spiral seam which tends to cause the outside edges of the buffing wheel to be much harder.
So, when selecting cloth buffing wheels, select loose, loosely sewn wheels for the final ultra shine appication.
However, for material removal and or when using coarser polishing compounds, use the tightly sewing buffing wheels for their harder surface to more quickly remove materal.

Finally, you need buffing compound to coat the wheel.

[www.harborfreight.com]
This compound is to be used as the final polish for the reel seats to give a nice shine to the seat.

By the way, this will also do a nice job of removing scratches from many different plastic items, like tail light lens, covers, etc.

The following compound works very well fof the final polish on aluminum and stainless, for example reel seat hold down rings etc.
I also use this compound as a first compound to use for the initial material removal when polishing reel seats to get the ridges knocked down.
[www.harborfreight.com]

Since cloth buffing wheels are relatively inespensive from this source, I might suggest that you get a couple of different wheels of each type to allow you to keep one buffer wheel dedicated to a particular type buffing compound.


Good luck and happy polishing.

Roger

p.s.
If you do buy a nice buffing motor with extended shafts to allow work to be postioned all around the buffing wheel, you will be amazed at how many different uses your find for this machine. Any thing from rust removal, polishing out scratches on equipment, sharpening, removing tarnish from brass and copper, polishing boat propellors etc. etc. etc.

If you do happen to have some scratches on a blank, but don't want to, or can't put the blank in a lathe, the buffer does a nice job of buffing scratches out of the blank. If you do use the buffer to buff out blank scratches, it is generally a good ides to position the blank so that the lenght of the blank is aligned with the direction of the rotating wheel. i.e. have the buffer run down the length of the blank, rather than at 90 degrees to the direction of the blank. This tends to help avoid burning the blank, or overdoing a specific spot in the blank.