Aplying pressure Rotary?

Changeling

New member
Two part question, related, at least for me!



1. When you are polishing out defects and doing the final polish do you let the machine (Rotary) do the work with only slight pressure or do you get forceful at times with the pressure?



2. If you are working with a polish/compound and for any reason have to stop for several minutes, what would be the best product to "spritz" the finish with to keep it from drying out till you could start again?



Reason for questions:

I will have to take a break every 3 to 4 minutes for about 3 minutes give or take! Can't be helped, fact.

Changeling
 
Change...I can answer the first one for you....on top panels ..roof..hood...and trunk lid..I let the weight of the machine do the work...I may excert some downward pressure at times..but very little...its a PC habit...but I mostly just use machine weight to to the job...



On side panels I give a little downward pressure on the machines head....very little..since gravity is in control here...



the second question ..I am not in your situation...but I will take a stab at it and hope to be corrected if I am wrong....I think a water spray or maybe a QD will get you going again...or a dedicated pad lube spray I see on some vendors sites...This is a educated guess...trying to help you out...



AL
 
AL-53 said:
Change...I can answer the first one for you....on top panels ..roof..hood...and trunk lid..I let the weight of the machine do the work...I may excert some downward pressure at times..but very little...its a PC habit...but I mostly just use machine weight to to the job...



On side panels I give a little downward pressure on the machines head....very little..since gravity is in control here...



the second question ..I am not in your situation...but I will take a stab at it and hope to be corrected if I am wrong....I think a water spray or maybe a QD will get you going again...or a dedicated pad lube spray I see on some vendors sites...This is a educated guess...trying to help you out...



AL



You helped more than you know, thanks a lot.

Change
 
for certain defects not only do I apply more pressure I also move the rotory slower to build up more heat to correct the defect. But of course. ... be careful.
 
David703 said:
for certain defects not only do I apply more pressure I also move the rotory slower to build up more heat to correct the defect. But of course. ... be careful.



Thanks, I am starting to get the mental feel of it, this might seem stupid to some, but for me it works!! It is starting to appear to me a "Flow Control" type process where a rough area gets a little more pressure in working an area than the whole area that is defined with a blending of the two. In short increase and decrease the pressure somewhat on the condition of the area you are in with the rotary.

If you have completely worked the the area and there is correction, but still correction to be performed, do the above again or go to a lighter polish/pad and perform the process again.



I am "assuming" you will be able to see the amount of correction/polish to initiate the above procedure!

Does this sound like a plan? Any holes in my understanding?:nixweiss



Changeling
 
there is no better teacher than experience. I had to make lots of mistakes in order to learn not to make them...For example,... using a rotory on painted plastic bumpers is different than on metal.. The paint on the bumpers is softer and thus more prone to screwing up.



The headlights of an 80's style 911 are very tricky and I learned that my buffing wheel was actually touching a little of the hood while I was near the headlight.. oops.



Also, working around antennas and door handles etc... very very tricky.



Vertical surfaces are harder than horizontal (hood).



Be careful where panels come together, they may be slightly miss-matched and the higher panel will get burned.



Actually when I learned the rotory, I used the PC on the difficult areas I mentioned above... and used the rotory on the roof, hood and trunk at first...

Then next time I did maybe a fender also, then next a door, and progressed that way.



Good luck!!
 
David703 said:
The paint on the bumpers is softer and thus more prone to screwing up.



Good luck!!



That's not correct; the factory paint on plastic body pieces is the same as the metal panels (at least in most cases). The reason plastic bumpers, etc. require more care is that they heat up from friction much quicker than metal parts - and the paint gets burned much easier.
 
percynjpn said:
That's not correct; the factory paint on plastic body pieces is the same as the metal panels (at least in most cases). The reason plastic bumpers, etc. require more care is that they heat up from friction much quicker than metal parts - and the paint gets burned much easier.





fine then,....what he said...

My point is be careful on those bumpers.
 
David703 said:
there is no better teacher than experience. I had to make lots of mistakes in order to learn not to make them...For example,... using a rotory on painted plastic bumpers is different than on metal.. The paint on the bumpers is softer and thus more prone to screwing up.



The headlights of an 80's style 911 are very tricky and I learned that my buffing wheel was actually touching a little of the hood while I was near the headlight.. oops.



Also, working around antennas and door handles etc... very very tricky.



Vertical surfaces are harder than horizontal (hood).



Be careful where panels come together, they may be slightly miss-matched and the higher panel will get burned.



Actually when I learned the rotory, I used the PC on the difficult areas I mentioned above... and used the rotory on the roof, hood and trunk at first...

Then next time I did maybe a fender also, then next a door, and progressed that way.



Good luck!!



This was good advice!! I especially like the last paragraph, I believe I will follow your advice, it just plain makes good sense .

Thanks , Changeling
 
The idea product to spritz the surface with may depend on the product you are using. An example would be Meguiar's polishes, because they are heavy in oils, if you hit them with a sprtiz of water, your asking for trouble.



Menzerna or ZPC are water based products, so a sprtiz of water would probably not do any harm what so ever. I think your best bet is to get this type of information from the horse's mouth, so to speak. What brand polishes are you using? I would consult the brand specifically.



As far as pressure, as stated earlier, a little on the horizontal panels to keep the pad flat against the panel. If anything, I find my self lifting up on the panel to remove pressure as the product breaks down.
 
TH0001 said:
The idea product to spritz the surface with may depend on the product you are using. An example would be Meguiar's polishes, because they are heavy in oils, if you hit them with a sprtiz of water, your asking for trouble.



Menzerna or ZPC are water based products, so a sprtiz of water would probably not do any harm what so ever. I think your best bet is to get this type of information from the horse's mouth, so to speak. What brand polishes are you using? I would consult the brand specifically.



As far as pressure, as stated earlier, a little on the horizontal panels to keep the pad flat against the panel. If anything, I find my self lifting up on the panel to remove pressure as the product breaks down.



I never considered the oil/water wetting agent in the polish itself, this is an excellent point .



Polishes: 3M-05933, 3M-05937, Menzerna PO106FF, Hi-Temp Extreme cut, Hi-Temp Fast Cut, Hi-Temp 357 Magnum.



I'm not sure if the 3M products are water or oil based.



Hi-Temp Extreme Cut and 357 magnum are water based.

However there fast Cut says it is a solvent based leveler and says to use a prep cleaner to get rid of oils, so It's Oil based.



The Menzerna PO106FF doesn't say on the bottle. Only reference is "Silicone" free formula.

Changeling



PS. sometimes I hear the guys hear say a certain polish they used would make the "pad" gum up badly, couldn't this oil/water and spritzing situation cause that problem?
 
I always want to know when to adjust speeds?



What is a good average speed to work in a compound? What about a finishing polish?



Do you generally have higher RPMS for compounds or finishing polishes? Or does it matter.



Would 1000RPM be similar to 1500RPM if you moved slower when doing 1000RPM?



Does the higher speed cause halograms if not careful?



If working with a finishing polish, and you come across a slight scratch, can you just bump up the speed before going back to a heavier pad/compound?



Are the polishes as pad dependant as they are with the PC?
 
I believe that applying too much pressure, especially at slow speeds, is a big part of why I was having trouble with my Metabo overheating when I first started using it. Let the machine do the work, not pressure. If you need to et more aggressive make adjustments with the pad, polish, or speed.
 
velobard said:
I believe that applying too much pressure, especially at slow speeds, is a big part of why I was having trouble with my Metabo overheating when I first started using it. Let the machine do the work, not pressure. If you need to et more aggressive make adjustments with the pad, polish, or speed.



Yes, the Metabo is sensible to pressure, but if you apply pressure when you start spreading the polish and then you don-t apply pressure, the results are better and there are no problems with the machine.
 
sometimes a little pressure is good, but mostly the weight of the rotary is all that is needed. I usually do correction work (with polish or compound) in the 1500 - 1800 rpm range, and on soft paint 1200 - 1500 rpm range. Final finishing usually 900 - 1200 rpms depending on the polish and pad choice. As far as how fast to move the rotary, I move the rotary at about 3 inches per second. That will usually warm up the paint nicely, but you have to check frequently. I never prime my pads, just use a little more product to begin with should load it nicely. Moveing the rotary too fast will create trails and or holograms, so slow it down and make sure the polish or compound is fully broken down as this will cause swirls if it isn't.
 
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