Rotary disasters/mistakes?

J

jvcn

New member
Now that the thread about cheap rotaries has been revived I would like to ask:



Has anyone here with limited experience bought a rotary and then screwed up their paint?



I know we are supposed to practice but those who've reported sound so successful, that it makes it seem easy.



And for $25 it looks tempting to get a cheap rotary for problem spots. Then again...



So, can anyone relate personal disaster stories?



Thx.
 
All I can say is I bought a rotary first, and when I was starting out I just kept the RPM's down with low pressure and I've never had a problem. Since then I have tried PC's but after having a rotary I personally prefer them. I don't have a cheap one so there's still hope you'll find your disaster story?
 
None here. I used to use a craftsman and it worked ok. It didn't polish worth crap. Just the Meg's cheap polish I would use with it. It worked good with Klasse SG, Klasse AIO, Sonus Paint Cleaner and P21S. If your looking to do your car but not get out major oxidation, swirls or other paint imperfections. I got a PC because I wanted better results. Your definetly going to buff out scratches.

Put it this way. I painted some scratches and wanted to smooth them out. I bought some Meg's cutting polish ?#83?. It did not work great at all with my craftsman. But when I bought my pc7424 it did an awesome job. The reason. You can use different pads for different task, and adjustable speeds.
 
Brought a DW 849 a few years ago to finish the paint job I was doing on a project car. Never burned through the paint and amazingly enough didn't screw anything up and it was my first time at it.



I still use it now on my Audi A4 I brought last Fall.



For spotting I use a 4" pad on the same machine.



I would check EBay from time to time and stick with a good quality machine if your going to get one (Dewalt or Makita) rather than wasting money on those cheap ones. Don't ask me how I know, but they're worthless.



If you use the right pads for the product, keep your rpm's low, stay away from edges, and always keep the machine moving when it's on a panel, the most damage you'll do, IMHO, is create some swirls until you get good. with a rotary.
 
Donâ€â„¢t be cheap . . . you get what you pay for. Definitely buy a good rotary with variable speed and locking feature. The ability to set the speed allows for better control and safe polishing. About 4 years ago I used a pneumatic rotary at my buddyâ€â„¢s shop. This thing was a beast! It was extremely difficult to control . . . long story short, the tool jumped from the panel and burned a trim piece. Check out Dewalt and Makita. Good luck :)
 
audipower,



I'm nto sure which rotary you have but that doesn't sound like any of the ones i have seen. Could you post a picture of it??
 
I bought a sears rotary a few years back and burned my paint in two or three places, not knowing how to use it or at what speed.
 
I cut through a few spots on the '84 Volvo, even though I was using a mild product/pad combo (3M PI-III MG/polishing pad) at a pretty low speed. The paint was just too thin. This wasn't just on crowns either. I figured it would happen, but was still a little surprised anyhow. I was sorta playing around, as the panels in question were to be repainted anyhow. But I'd expected it to take a *lot* more to go through to primer (this was ss).



I also cut through the clear on a panel that had been repainted with b/c. Same combo and speed, I think it was a crappy repaint. But again, I wasn't being nearly as aggressive as I get when I use the Makita on the Audis and the Mazda. But note that I actually cut through (not a "burn"), and just thinning it excessively would've been enough to cause failure. Gotta ignore that tempting voice that says "just a *little* more and it'll be perfect" ;)
 
Knockwurst said:
Donâ€â„¢t be cheap . . . you get what you pay for. Definitely buy a good rotary with variable speed and locking feature. The ability to set the speed allows for better control and safe polishing. About 4 years ago I used a pneumatic rotary at my buddyâ€â„¢s shop. This thing was a beast! It was extremely difficult to control . . . long story short, the tool jumped from the panel and burned a trim piece. Check out Dewalt and Makita. Good luck :)
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So a good rotary has variable speed and trigger locking feature? If that's the case, then my $25 Chicago Electric rotary is good. I used it today for the first time and it spun the pad just fine, did an excellent job at removing the crazy swirls I had on my car. No need to spend $150 on a name brand rotary, mine does the same thing a DeWalt does. It's all about using the right pads and material.
 
Knockwurst said:
Donâ€â„¢t be cheap . . . you get what you pay for. Definitely buy a good rotary with variable speed and locking feature. The ability to set the speed allows for better control and safe polishing. About 4 years ago I used a pneumatic rotary at my buddyâ€â„¢s shop. This thing was a beast! It was extremely difficult to control . . . long story short, the tool jumped from the panel and burned a trim piece. Check out Dewalt and Makita. Good luck :)
Click to expand...



This applies outside the detailing world as well. Anything you buy weather it be groceries, engine oil, rotaries, clothes or just about anything. I just recently purchased the Makita 9227c polisher from coastatool.com I am very happy with it and I am amazed of how good quality it is. You can feel it when it runs. It's not noisy except when you start pushing 1500RPM or something and even at high speeds, it's very smooth. The 9227c comes with variable speed trigger, variable speed dial control, lock on button and spindle lock button on the head of it to lock the spindle if you need to change backing plates. Needless to say but god's honest truth, I am a reborn Autopian with that Makita.



I have never tried the Chicago Electric rotary but from stories and reviews it seems like a halfway decent polisher. Some ppl say it's ok, others say it's a piece of crap. Just depends what you expect from a polisher and frequency of usage. Now did I need My Makita?? Absolutely not and probably could've been just as well of with the Chicago Electric rotary. But I wanted something not only I could learn on but keep around for many years too. Just polishing a few cars and it will have pay for itself. What I really love about my Makita is the overhead handle design. I have yet to see another rotary with that handle. Lemme tell you, I love that handle! Makes it very comfortable, gives me better control and less fatigue If I'm doing vertical panels. The Makita does come with the regular side or "T" handle like you see on everyday rotaries. I tried to use the side handle on my Makita and while it's ok, I do prefer the overhead handle. All in all, as quoted above, you get what you pay for. Plain and simple.



As far as disaster go, I have yet to screw up a paint job and I have used it several times thus far. Use the right RPM setting and the appropiate pad and product, keep the buffer moving while keeping the pad flat and you should be fine. Now you don't have to go A wall and move the rotary back and forth 90mph. Easy, gentle motions overlapping by 50% and you should be good to go. While it's much easier to damage paint with a rotary, I don't think it's so dangerous that you can't even learn on it. Common sense really and make sure your arm speed matches the speed with the rotary. Meaning say your polishing at 1300RPM. Keep a slow steady momentum but keep it moving too. For me to really explain what I'm talking about, I would need to show you or everyone on one of my practice panels in the basement. Hope this helps and good luck,,,,,,,AR
 
I managed to cut through a panel from Peugeot, it was a scrap panel to the owner as he got "wider" ones. So i took it, de tarred it etc, then polished, only had the makita on hire so they only gave me a wool bonnet and I used this with sonus paint cleanser and at 2000rpm it managed to cut through the clear and paint right through to the base. I just wanted to see what it took to actually do damage.



I think i'll stick to around 1000rpm depending and concentrate on a polishing pad from meguiars with some lighter stuff when I get one, just to get comfortable with some scrap panels!
 
1st time I used a rotary was on my girlfriend's (now wife) old car. It was a 94 grand am and the clear was failing on the hood.



At the time I worked in a body shop. The thing there everyone used the makita on full blast, with a wool pad. Most of the time they used 3m hand glaze for everything. I decided I'd try this. I take it home for the weekend, wide open on the hood with a wool pad. It was smoking, I messed a trim piece up but that's it. The paint was allready messed up so we really didn't care..lol I then went to a body shop and asked them, needless to say I bought a foam pad and turned the speed waayyyy down. I then did my 89 toyota tercel with paint that felt like sand paper. It turned out beautiful.



whew.
 
Airborne Ranger said:
I just recently purchased the Makita 9227c polisher from coastatool.com I am very happy with it and I am amazed of how good quality it is.



I have never tried the Chicago Electric rotary but from stories and reviews it seems like a halfway decent polisher. Some ppl say it's ok, others say it's a piece of crap. Now did I need My Makita?? Absolutely not and probably could've been just as well of with the Chicago Electric rotary. What I really love about my Makita is the overhead handle design. I have yet to see another rotary with that handle.

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I'm happy with the CE rotary, it did a damn good job on my swirled to hell car, it's like I've got a new paint job, well, at least on the half of the car I was able to get done, but more on that later. I think it's a little noisy, but I haven't heard other rotaries so I can't really say for sure, but it seems like it's a little noisy. But then again, you spent good money on the Makita and are complaining about noise just the same, at around 1500 rpm which is the speed I was using. Hell, I'd rather have a little noise and $120 in my pocket than silence and an empty wallet any day.



FYI, CE has a rotary with the overheard handle also, it's $49.00 for the complete package you see below.

92623.gif




It too has a locking trigger, soft start mechanism, variable speed settings from 300-3000rpm, spindle lock. The "make you go blind" orange color isn't sexy at all and it could have had better finishing touches production wise, but it does the job which is all that matters in the end.
 
rkf76 said:
I'm happy with the CE rotary, it did a damn good job on my swirled to hell car, it's like I've got a new paint job, well, at least on the half of the car I was able to get done, but more on that later. I think it's a little noisy, but I haven't heard other rotaries so I can't really say for sure, but it seems like it's a little noisy. But then again, you spent good money on the Makita and are complaining about noise just the same, at around 1500 rpm which is the speed I was using. Hell, I'd rather have a little noise and $120 in my pocket than silence and an empty wallet any day.



FYI, CE has a rotary with the overheard handle also, it's $49.00 for the complete package you see below.

92623.gif




It too has a locking trigger, soft start mechanism, variable speed settings from 300-3000rpm, spindle lock. The "make you go blind" orange color isn't sexy at all and it could have had better finishing touches production wise, but it does the job which is all that matters in the end.
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I too have the polisher that is almost identical to yours. This polisher is available in three different flavors from the Harbor Freight Catalog. Yours seems to have a motor that is slightly less powerful than mine after looking at the specs. But functionally they're identical with the exception of the handle. The other difference is mine was sold under the name Vector and I bought it at the local Auto Zone for about 50$ 18 months ago. I bought it after reading a good review of it on one of the other detailing sites/shops. I took their advice and threw away the backing plate and pads that came with it. I stopped by the CarQuest on the way home and dropped a lot of cash on a 3M velcro backing plate, and 4 3M pads of different varieties. It's a little noisy (big deal.) But it doesn't get hot, it's well balanced, and feels like a quality tool. Since I got the Vector mine came in the "sexy" gray color. This is the version from Harbor Freight/Chicago Pneumatic. And if you look closely at the Vector you will see it is identical. I paid more to buy mine locally and have it right away. This is the more expensive and "sexier" version of the same polisher. I don't use it often. And if I were to buy from Harbor Freight I could get 7 or 8 of these "cheap, poor-quality" buffers for the cost of one name brand buffer. I doubt I will ever do enough rotary polishing to burn up 7 or 8 of these things. If I did it professionally I'd go with the name brand. But I'm a shade tree guy, so I just get what's best for my personal use. But I will spend large sums for quality pads. Everyone has their opinion and if everyone were like me, the world would be a terribly boring place.
 
I tried to err on the side of caution, so I started with only polishing pads, low speeds, and low abrasives. From there, I stepped up the polish, then the pad, then the speed. Comfort arrived fairly quickly after this process on several vehicles.



Unfortunately, confidence came at a price. I ate through a small section of my father's rear bumper; the LS400 had a painted plastic bumper. A little paintscratch.com and it's almost unnoticeable now. Learn by doing:nixweiss



I suppose that is my warning--rap it with your knuckle before touching it with the high speed rotary:sosad
 
JHowell1976 said:
I too have the polisher that is almost identical to yours. This polisher is available in three different flavors from the Harbor Freight Catalog. Yours seems to have a motor that is slightly less powerful than mine after looking at the specs. But functionally they're identical with the exception of the handle. The other difference is mine was sold under the name Vector and I bought it at the local Auto Zone for about 50$ 18 months ago. I bought it after reading a good review of it on one of the other detailing sites/shops. I took their advice and threw away the backing plate and pads that came with it. I stopped by the CarQuest on the way home and dropped a lot of cash on a 3M velcro backing plate, and 4 3M pads of different varieties. It's a little noisy (big deal.) But it doesn't get hot, it's well balanced, and feels like a quality tool. Since I got the Vector mine came in the "sexy" gray color. This is the version from Harbor Freight/Chicago Pneumatic. And if you look closely at the Vector you will see it is identical. I paid more to buy mine locally and have it right away. This is the more expensive and "sexier" version of the same polisher. I don't use it often. And if I were to buy from Harbor Freight I could get 7 or 8 of these "cheap, poor-quality" buffers for the cost of one name brand buffer. I doubt I will ever do enough rotary polishing to burn up 7 or 8 of these things. If I did it professionally I'd go with the name brand. But I'm a shade tree guy, so I just get what's best for my personal use. But I will spend large sums for quality pads. Everyone has their opinion and if everyone were like me, the world would be a terribly boring place.
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Actually, I got this one

46507.gif


It's got the big 11 amp motor, not bad for $30



I found out the hard way that pad selection is key, as is knowing the material you're working with and what technique to use with said material. But even though I was a noob, I did well enough to rid the front half of my car of the horrible swirls it had when I bought it. So, so lovely. Why only the front half? Cause I destroyed two Turtle Wax polishing pads in the process, my bad.
 
So we do have the same polisher. Did you see the links to the pictures and reviews in my last post? You'll see what I'm talking about. They're great machines for what they cost. I too shredded some turtle wax pads in a matter of seconds almost, when I first got mine. Quality pads and polish/compounds are the key.
 
JHowell1976 said:
So we do have the same polisher. Did you see the links to the pictures and reviews in my last post? You'll see what I'm talking about. They're great machines for what they cost. I too shredded some turtle wax pads in a matter of seconds almost, when I first got mine. Quality pads and polish/compounds are the key.
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hehe, yeah, I looked after I posted:o



Yeah man, the turtle wax pads are horrible. I can't wait to get my LC pads in so I can finish the job. I orded a PC 7424 yesterday too, for the more frequent, less aggressive jobs. So I think what I'll do is use the rotary with Meguiars #2 to get the swirls out, then hit it with my PC, a polishing pad and some Vanilla Moose, and finish it off with a couple hand applied coats of S100. Should be lovely!
 
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