Man down, man down...Flex is out of commission!!!

D

DJ_JonnyV

New member
Ok, this is totally bizarre. I was out in the garage laying the wood to my Allroad, and after having the Flex on it's back in my arms applying polish, I flip it over, manually spread, and then go to my spread on speed 2. Nothing moves!!! I just get urrrr-urrr when pressing the trigger. The damn spindle lock is locked down. ***!!! You gotta be kidding me. I was in the homestretch and it shoots craps on me. I'm pretty sure that I didn't lock it down when I had it on it's back putting some polish on the pad. I've done this a hundred times now. Took the new BP off and took of the black plastic housing and sure enough, it's locked down. I took a flathead screwdriver to try and gently press it unlocked, but no dice. Anyone have this happen to them? I PO'ed as all hell right now. I was doing Menzerna PowerGloss followed by Menzerna 106FA, and it was really coming out nice. Guess I'll be calling Powerhouse in the morning...
 
Check that...I think it's back up and running. It may have overheated or something. I just coerced it back into commission. Nevertheless, I'll still be calling Powerhouse in the morning to check on this type of behavior. Gotta get back to polishing...only have 45 min. left before I have to shut'er down for the evening.
 
hmm thats a concern....but maybe it just overheated. The flex has temperature monitoring which shuts it down when it gets too hot.
 
Allan said:
hmm thats a concern....but maybe it just overheated. The flex has temperature monitoring which shuts it down when it gets too hot.
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I think that's what happened. I've been using it for better part of the day doing a 2 step polish on my Allroad. Although, there were several breaks in there, I've been running it hard at speed 6 for most of the time. I'm still going to give Powerhouse a call to see what they say.



It was weird when it fired back up, it was like it was still spindle locked or something, but after me working the trigger and banging my hand on it, it came out of it's funk. I'll let you all know how it turns out with Powerhouse. Have to go wash my pads now. I'll try to get some pics of the Allroad posted later as well. I think it turned out fairly well.
 
Try plugging it directly into a socket next time to see if it'll start up again. I know that sometimes my extension cord starts acting up because they're somewhat long (at least 50 ft IIRC) and it's not a heavy duty gauge cord.
 
Man...my stomach sank when I read your title, glad to hear you're back and running.



When it wasn't running, was the spindle lock actually depressed??



Do you use the spindle lock when putting polish on the pad?? I never really use mine.



But I'm wondering if you do use it...if the metal housing was really hot and you push the spindle pin (to lock it) and that little plasitic pin may have melted into the housing. Kinda hard to put into words what I'm talking about...



I agree with you...I can't imagine it got pushed in from laying the polisher on it's back. That button is pretty recessed, that would be hard to do.
 
I fired it up again this morning to apply some FMJ and it seemed to be working fine. I would normally use the PC, but wanted to make sure the Flex was fine. I called Powerhouse earlier, but think those guys might be off today. I'm not sure how much the spindle lock had to play in this, but it sure seemed like it was locked down last night. Or, maybe I'm just smoking ditchweed...
 
Glad to hear your Flex is back up and running. I had my PC crap out but after a trip to the shop it ran better than it did when new. Let me know how the FMJ does, it's on my to try in 2008 list.
 
Thanks, JuneBug! On the FMJ, I put some on my neighbor's Camry back in late September / early October, and it seems to be holding up well. It sits outside most of the time and has only been washed once since I detailed it. Every once in a while after it rains and I'm over there I make sure to check out the beading. Seems to be holding up and still beading a few months later.
 
Thanks DJ, three months and still looking good. That goes along with Grouse's post that he gets 2.5 up in the wet lands of Seatle. I can't go 3 months without doing something or adding something to my car so FMJ will definitely get purchased - after I pay off Christmas!!
 
Any updates on this? I polished the trunk lid on my 04 Accord 4dr (two sections, OP white pad and 1 area with OC orange pad all at speed 6) and noticed it was pretty warm for the short time I used it.
 
The last couple of times i used my Flex, i never went all the way to #6. max speed setting was #5 and it was enough to tackle mild to medium swirls. I guess if your vehicle doesnt have ultra hard clear coats then you dont really have to go all the way highest setting.
 
Allan said:
The last couple of times i used my Flex, i never went all the way to #6. max speed setting was #5 and it was enough to tackle mild to medium swirls. I guess if your vehicle doesnt have ultra hard clear coats then you dont really have to go all the way highest setting.
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Used the Flex tonight to polish the hood of our GMC Yukon, never went above 5 and had no problems. I'll keep speed 6 "on deck" for small areas that need correction and use 5 for larger areas.
 
It could have been a heat issue. Maybe get a bigger gauge cord and try it. I think some people were having the same issue with metabo rotarys. I read where the bigger gauge cord allows it to run a little cooler.
 
DJ_JonnyV said:
Ok, this is totally bizarre. I was out in the garage laying the wood to my Allroad, and after having the Flex on it's back in my arms
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Bizarre? Isn't that illegal? :) I mean, Ive thought certain cars are sexy, but Ive never considered 'bending one over'!
 
grease said:
Bizarre? Isn't that illegal? :) I mean, Ive thought certain cars are sexy, but Ive never considered 'bending one over'!
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Ha, ha...okay, doesn't exactly sound the best. You got me :chuckle:
 
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