I have finally gotten around to experimenting with using a drill press to buff a guitar body. I got some 6 inch buffing wheels from Temu, which I mounted on a large bolt, which I shortend with an angle grinder so that the buffing wheel would be about half way between the gear box and the base on my very short drill press.
Here's a pic of the buffing wheel on and off the drill press.
I used a foam cone made for a drill to get into the tighter spaces.
My short drill press does not leave a lot of room, but it was enough to buff the entire body.
I did a flat sand down to 250/320, then used a 3m maroon sanding pad, and after that a gray pad. Then went right to buffing.
I used brown buffing compound and have not yet done the scratch removal or final polish, but I am pretty pleased with the result. This is WAY faster than I have ever gotten to this point before. No wet sanding at all.
My little drill press doesn't give me a lot of room to work, and I can only use relatively small buffing wheels. A bigger drill press (e.g. floor mounted) would give much more room to move. More distance from the pole and chuck would allow you to use bigger buffing wheels.
A lot of the ones I have seen DIY'd on the internet turn very fast. The bigger the wheel, the more the relative velocity at the point of contact. My drill press turns at 620 rpm which is way slower than most I have seen, even the Stew Mac. Also, since the buffing wheel only 6" the relative speed is relatively low. There is very little chance of burning the finish, and I didn't have any problems with the body catching due to torque from the wheel.
The only downside I see is, for me, not much of a downside. Pushing laterally on the buffing wheel may put some wear and tear on the bearings. In my case, however, I am using a an 8" "bench" drill press. I can find them new for around US $100, and I got mine used for $25. If it wears out the bearings I am OK with that. Also not too worried since I don't push very hard ;-)
This may well be enough for my needs since I don't make many guitars. That said, it's not nearly as good as some of the dedicated instrument buffing systems I have seen on the internet. However, I think it could be turned into a pretty good system relatively easily. It would even have some advantages and be cheaper than pretty much anything I have seen.
The limiting problem with the drill press is that the vertical shaft runs parallel to the pole behind it, giving the buffing wheel limited clearance. And, of course, mine is also short, so you have be careful moving the body around. Both problems could be solved by rotating the motor-belt-drive-drill assembly 90 degrees. so that it runs perpendicular to the pole. I think this could be done relatively easily, either by using some iron pipe with a 90 degree "elbow" fitting, or by just building an off-the-stand mount for the drill press assembly sans base and pole.
Everything you would need to do this would should cost around $150, including buying a new bench drill press. Find a used drill press, and it could probably be done for well under $100. It has the same basic drive system that the Stew Mac buffing motor-arbor-buffing-wheel system has, but with the ability to turn 100 rpm slower. Or to speed up. Or to actually be a drill press ;-) Also since the buffing wheels attach using an ordinary drill chuck the wheels would be easier to swap out than on any system I have seen.
I don't really see the advantage to big diameter buffing wheels. Slower is better if you want to avoid heat, and the relative velocity at the wheel turning at 620 one the drill press is just 18 kph. Compare that to the Stew Mac system producing a relative velocity of 48 kph (which is actually pretty slow compared to many). If you don't think that's fast enough, the drill press has four different speeds you can use, and if you turn it on its side, you can use any sized wheel you like. Even using the 14" Stew Mac sized wheels the relative velocity is lower on the drill press at slow speed (42 kph).
Not to throw shade at the Stew Mac machine! It is purpose built with a high quality, low velocity motor and is designed for a luthier's shop. And it should be good for US $1000! But I am thinking a small shop could get darned close with a 2nd hand drill press if someone wanted a dedicated instrument buffer.
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