Polishing off edges?

S

sfa500

New member
I am starting to use a rotary and wanted to know what polising off edges instead of on them meant? Thanks.
 
If I understand it correctly, you're supposed to slightly tilt the pad so that as it rotates, the part of the pad that comes back onto the panel doesn't strike the edge.



Example: You moving the buffing to the right and are coming up to an edge. As you get to the edge, slightly tilt the buffer so that the back of the pad is up. This way, the pad will spin back onto the panel away from the edge, instead of directly onto it.



Sorry if that doesn't make sense, I always have a hard time explaining things.
 
Polishing "off the edge" is easy to understand once you fire up the rotary, but I will try to explain.



The pad spins clockwise. Say you are standing on the drivers side of the car and polishing the top of the hood, so the hood is on your left and the windshield is on your right. The EDGE of the windshield faces to the right.



For this situation, you would want to pick the BACK of the pad (the part of the pad that is closest to you) up slightly off of the paint, so as the pad spins it does not contact the edge of the hood. The front of the pad polishes "off of the edge" but the back of the pad does not polish back on to the edge.



Not only can this damage the paint, but it also makes a huge mess as the edge rips the polish right off of the pad and flings it under the hood.



Does that make it any clearer?
 
Its starting to make more sense i believe. Im a bit confused as to the part of the hood your referring to. I think its the top near the windshield correct? So if I am polising that area I want to lift the back of the pad when i approach the edge so that I dont burn it? A picture might help. The way I am thinking now is you lift the pad inorder to keep it from not touching another panel for burning reasons correct? Thanks
 
You really only need to worry about edges if your using cutting pads.



I polish over edges all the time with wool and polishing/finishing pads.
 
Do you know what an edge are?? Keep your pad off of them. Can't put it any easier than that. When you polishing the areas around the edges just slight tilt your pad so it is not making contact with the edge. If you make contact contact with the small area of an edge you will burn through it very quickly.
 
Thanks. Now what about when I am polishing a panel where there are multiple edges. Like here Above front wheel.
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Thank you
 
Just lighten up around the edges, take your time with multiple light passes instead of using the same pressure you would on a flat surfaces.



Practice.Practice.Practice.



Dont open the box for the first time, throw on a cut pad with some diamond cut and go to town. use a finish pad and a light polish or glaze and start on the flat surfaces at a lower rpm(1000), once you feel comfortable with your pressure, passes and technique, start addressing the buffer speed, then move to a part of the car with a slight raise in difficulty, like the roof rails or fender tops, then start to take on hard parts of the car, once you start to feel comfortable raise the aggressiveness of the pad and polish



good luck
 
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