Switching to rotary?

C

ConglomrationAL

New member
So I am seriously considering switching from PC to rotary and having my partner use our PC with 4" pads only for the smaller areas (he's afraid to use a rotary, but i'm sure with practice we'll both be fine). Using a PC on an entire car is just taking to long. Yesterday I compunded and polished an MDX and I was working on it from 9:30- 3, and that's not including the roof which was done the day before. So I need to get something better.



Does anyone have any recommendations as to what rotary or pad choices I should go with? I was thinking about the Makita and I have all of the LC 6.5" pads so I would use those. Is this a good place to start? Are there any other pads that everybody likes on here?



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

~Albert
 
We have the Makita 9227 with the edge system. I love it. You guys sound like my partner and I, I'm the high speed guy, and he uses the PC. It takes alot of practice to get the rotary down. Do not assume you will be faster switching from PC to HS, in fact at first it will take you longer until you get comfortable using it. My advice is to pick up scrap hoods, fenders, doors, from a junk yard and practice on those. If you already have the LC pads then you can get a backer plate for the HS that will fit the 6.5" pads. Since we have the Edge system, I use the 6" pads on the HS and the PC, makes it nice to switch between the two without having to buy the 8" pads which we do have just in case we need them.



Walter

Co-owner
 
I have the Makita also and love it. MUCH more smooth and quiet than the PC for starters.

I use the 6.5" Lc pads as well. I just did a Camaro with my Makita and Four Star Body Shop polishes. It was much easier. Also I am finding the rotary to do much better with a lot of the one step products.
 
Walter,

Do you prefer the 6" Edge pads over the 8"?

I do really like the Edge setup, seems to be pretty simple.



Would you recommend going with Edge over LC pads?
 
Personally yes. I find them easier to control. The other benefit being that we can use the 6" on the PC's too. We were using the LC pads for a very long time, and it took some time to decide to switch to a brand new system. There was a learning curve with the Edge system, as is with anything new. We used the LC pads until we were forced to replace them then made the jump. I will sometimes break out the 8" pads for large areas like the sides of cargo vans, but still prefer the 6" pads and taking a few more minutes to get the area done. You will see the Edge pads are about 2X more expensive on some sites, but you are getting 2 pads in 1 since you can flip it over and keep going.



The one other thing I will add with the Edge system is this: Unless you have several pads in each color there is little downtime trying to dry the PC pads once you clean them. I just pop them on the high speed and spin them dry.







Walter

Co-owner
 
Something to keep in mind about pad size: The 8 inch pads will be moving 33% faster at the edge than the 6" pads for a given RPM and will get 33% hotter. A smaller pad will give a beginner a bit lower chance of damaging or burning the paint.
 
talyrath said:
Something to keep in mind about pad size: The 8 inch pads will be moving 33% faster at the edge than the 6" pads for a given RPM and will get 33% hotter. A smaller pad will give a beginner a bit lower chance of damaging or burning the paint.
Click to expand...

I don't find that they get hotter because they have more mass to distribute the heat.
 
Another idea (all 8" pads) - get a yellow wool, yellow foam and blue foam. After tons of research - these are my rotary pads.
 
talyrath said:
Something to keep in mind about pad size: The 8 inch pads will be moving 33% faster at the edge than the 6" pads for a given RPM and will get 33% hotter. A smaller pad will give a beginner a bit lower chance of damaging or burning the paint.
Click to expand...





Taly, where have you read this?
 
Credit for bringing wool pads to the forefront (this forum) should go to one person and one person only, which can be verified by anyone willing to take a plunge into the past for a few months!! Before this they were never mentioned except in "Scary stories" as if Dracula was about to descend into the world of detailing!!!

If anyone can tell of a greater contributer to the art/easiness of using wool pads than "David Feramoni" I would really be interested in hearing his name?

Changeling
 
All i use on my rotary is the 6" edge2K system (only the blue pad though). I find the system itself is freakin AWSOME and the 6" size is way easier to use ESPECIALLY with cars today having such small and tight panels. I dont know how people can use 8"+ pads on todays cars.



Im soon to order Edge2K 6" blue wool and 6" green wool.
 
Changeling said:
Credit for bringing wool pads to the forefront (this forum) should go to one person and one person only, which can be verified by anyone willing to take a plunge into the past for a few months!! Before this they were never mentioned except in "Scary stories" as if Dracula was about to descend into the world of detailing!!!

If anyone can tell of a greater contributer to the art/easiness of using wool pads than "David Feramoni" I would really be interested in hearing his name?

Changeling
Click to expand...





I find myself paying alot of attention to his posts :hifive:
 
JuneBug said:
Another idea (all 8" pads) - get a yellow wool, yellow foam and blue foam. After tons of research - these are my rotary pads.
Click to expand...



Mine too.

Selecting the right pad goes hand in hand with the right product too. Buffing with a rotary is alot easier than most people think. As long as you learn the right way, you'll never have a problem. Thanks to you guys for the nice words. :thx :bigups
 
I'm glad to hear some positive notions towards using a Rotary. All I usually get from people is that it's so hard to use and it takes lots of practice to even get anywhere relatively good, which may be true for all i know, but i have common sense and I know not what to do when using it, so i think I would get it pretty fast.



Thanks to everyone for all the advice!
 
ConglomrationAL said:
Taly, where have you read this?
Click to expand...



I didn't read it anywhere... it's basic physics. My engineering classes are coming back to haunt me.



Linear velocity at the edge is equal to the angular velocity times the circumference. Therefore the edge of an 8 inch pad spinning at 1000RPM is moving at about 25 MPH and the edge of a 6 inch pad is moving at about 19 MPH.



Heat generated by friction is equal to the coefficient of friction times the force pressing the surfaces together times the velocity. (The coefficient of friction is how rough the pad is.) With all other things being equal (Pad type, pressure on the pad, RPM) the 8 inch pad will generate 33% more heat (at the edge) than the 6 inch pad.



Give me a bit and I'll talk about Qadsan's point about how the surface area of the pad affects the heat.



*** UPDATE



God. The math on this gives me a headache.



Qadsan is right. The 8 inch pad generates 33% more heat, but that heat is distributed over 77% more surface area. SO... this means that the temperature increase under the pad at any point will be lower for an 8 inch pad.



Tal
 
talyrath said:
Something to keep in mind about pad size: The 8 inch pads will be moving 33% faster at the edge than the 6" pads for a given RPM and will get 33% hotter. A smaller pad will give a beginner a bit lower chance of damaging or burning the paint.
Click to expand...



I think that is in reverse; the smaller the circle, the more speed it will carry; and the smaller the size the more heat it will generate assuming that you use the same rpms for both a 6 inch and an 8 inch pad. So in actuallity going smaller has more inherent risk than going bigger just due to quicker heat generation for a given speed. The advantage is that one has much better control over a given area with the smaller pad versus the larger one. That is all I use nowadays since I feel more comfortable with them
 
usdm said:
I think that is in reverse; the smaller the circle, the more speed it will carry; and the smaller the size the more heat it will generate assuming that you use the same rpms for both a 6 inch and an 8 inch pad. So in actuallity going smaller has more inherent risk than going bigger just due to quicker heat generation for a given speed. The advantage is that one has much better control over a given area with the smaller pad versus the larger one. That is all I use nowadays since I feel more comfortable with them
Click to expand...



Basic mathematics says he has it right.
 
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