I finally got the pics straight..
should be a good post now.

Yes.. the polisher sits up from the handle. The pail holds the other end in place and keeps it from torquing. The switch has a button to hold it down so that the polisher stays on.
Like I said.. I might extend the bolts that hold the handle on so that they go through the pail so that the polisher won't move side to side at all. I think that is needed because the polisher and ball trys to move when you put pressure on it while sanding

Taking on a project of making a 'homemade' spinner. Luckily we know an engineer firend who happened to have an extra washing machine motor...don;t ask me why...Went out and bought a 1000-watt turn-style dimmer switch and a standard 4" hex-locking pulley and vioala! I still have to find a bowl of some sort to put on it, but it should work fine and we only spent 20 bucks..of course..the motor was free, but this should be a cheap alternative. Once i get the bowl mounted I will have a better idea of RPM's, but with the dimmer switch it is fully adjustable to about any speed I need. I will post pics soon.

Sounds good. This is one of my Winter projects. Course, I have been saying that for 2 years now.

As for the bowl, I saw some flower pots made out of rubber/vinyl that could work. I felt a little dumb carrying my ball into the nursery and trying them for size.

I saw that a couple posts above here..looks good and probably wouldn't worry about scratching the ball like a metal bowl would...

Donkey makes a workstation cup for bowling balls that has a rubber top edge. Its about the size of the cup on a regular spinner. It can be found at donkee.com/workstation.htm.

Actually i just found a durable plastic mixing bowl- here are some pics of the progress. We are builiding a housing this weekend and it should be finished.

Very nice.

They will sell you the bowl from their actual spinner for 11 bucks.. 15 bucks with the rubber ring that keeps the ball from spinning ....there is a minimum $20 order so you will have to throw in an abralon pad too..

How does it work set up like that? .. Does the weight of the ball have any adverse effects on the motor. I need to switch my set up to use a belt and pulley system like the real spinners. The polisher doesn't like the weight from the ball and the weight from the pressure while sanding.. the gearing in the head of the polisher gets a little hot and is noisy.. I like your direct drive set up if the motor bearings and bushings can handle it..
I might be able to just use the motor from the polisher in a set up like yours.. I also have a washer that I am getting rid of
I also found that as you put pressure on the ball while sanding and put strain on the motor I think the variable speed resistor in my polisher heats up and therefore changes the amount of volts it lets go... so when you let up on the ball the speed wants to take off.. any trouble like that with your wall mount variable light switch

where did you get your bowl..??