How to determine rotary speed?

jlift

New member
I have a Harbor Freight 7" variable speed orbital polisher. The model is

ITEM 92623-1VGA from the harborfreight.com website.

The instructions do not indicate any dial to speed setting, that is, this polisher will operate in the 300-3000 rpm range, but the dial has markings I through IIIIII
(1 through 6) and there is no indication how fast any of these settings will spin the buff pad. Is there anyone who can convert the dial settings to rpm? This is very frustrating as I do not want to burn my paint. I have edge 2000 pads ready to go. I was thinking, divide 3000 by 6 and approximate about 500 rpms cumulative for each setting? But the first setting would be obviously 300 rpm, as advertised.

Any help is appreciated. Please, I know this is not a porter cable 7428, but it is just a practice machine for me at this point. Eventually I will be upgrading to a quality machine. I already have the 7424.

Thanks.:confused:
 
Hi jlift,
I have a CE rotary as well but I can't seem to find it on the harbor freight website anymore. Mine is very similar but without the bail wrap around handle. Most of the time I run on speeds 3 and 4. Anything below seems too slow and anything above seems to fast. I really don't know exactly the number of RPMs that is but I would think it were in the 1000-1300 range. I bought it to practice with as well about a a year and a half ago thinking when this one dies I'll get a better one. Well it's still going strong :). However I don't use it on many vehicles.... you can't beat polishing with SSR2.5 with the PC7424 :). Anyways, be sure to have some spare hoods or junk car to practice on and then see what works for you. I have read the the CE rotaries are underpowered from the Makitas and Dewalts so I am confident that speeds 3 and 4 on mine aren't that high of RPMs. Go as high or as low as you are comfortable.
 
Thank you budman3! 3 or 4 it is then! I have an old beater to practice on. It is my wife's old 1999 Daewoo, champagne bronze in color with swirls and mini scratches galore! This will be my first real whole car job, so I want to do it right and possibly get it ready for sale (I think that people might be more readily impressed if it shines. Not a bad car either).

It is raining here now in Calif., but hopefully I will be on it when I get my PB SSR 2.5 and PB SSR 2 from Autogeek.net. Merry Christmas to ya!:2santa :2santa

Thanks again!
 
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