The difference between orbital polishers and rotary buffers

[Mike Phillips]

That's the deal with a PC, it will slowly remove most light scratches, with emphasis on the word slowly.

A lot of how effective the PC is on removing scratches is dependent upon how hard the finish is.

At a recent Viper Detail Day at Meguiar's, I started a demonstration using a black Viper to show how to remove fine scratches with the PC and some #83.

After wiping off the residue, there was literally no difference than when I started. Even with the rotary buffer, some #84 and a W-7006 cutting pad, it was extremely difficult to remove scratches.

On the other hand, I buffed out a blue single stage Porsche last summer where #83 Swirl Free Polish on a W-8006 with the PC could have easily gone through the finish if you were not careful because the paint was so soft.

What can and cannot be done with a PC is always a case by case situation.

Mike

[BradE]

I'm gonna have to agree with Mike here, the PC can handle some light swirls/marring, but it's SLOW. I mean real slow. In my expierence, so slow it's not even worth it in most cases. Anything above light marring/swirls, forget it. You'll be standing there for 10 hours polishing and probably still won't get the results your looking for. I view the PC as a time saver (arm saver too ) but when the real work needs done, I reach for my Dewalt 849.

Once you go rotary, you never want to go back.

[Bill D]

Originally posted by BradE
. You'll be standing there for 10 hours polishing and probably still won't get the results your looking for.

I went about half that each on the trunk and hood of my other car recently Rotary will be coming soon, Now, time to get some scrap or talk some clueless soul into letting me experiment on their car

[Scottwax]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips


Also, I just picked up the Makita Bo6040 to try out,

Makita's dual purpose polisher - Combination Dual Action Polisher & Rotary Buffer



Mike

I expect a review on this one!

"2-mode switch for "random orbit" action (finish sanding) and "random orbit with forced rotation" action (aggressive sanding and polishing)"

Looks very promising!

[Mike Phillips]

At the Plastic Fantastic Corvette Show yesterday, (Sunday May 16th), I had about a dozen people ask me to buff out there cars after demonstrating on a black Corvette. One of the more interesting ones was a 1990 Twin Supercharged Calloway Corvette.

Original paint in horrible condition. I took some pictures and will upload tomorrow. This car would be a good candidate.

Another good candidate for the Makita BO6040 would be the Lotus in this link,

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/

It's the last car in the row of cars. Just like the above Calloway Corvette. The paint is all there, but in horrible condition.

I'll have to schedule these and then do a write-up.

Mike

p.s.

I was also asked to do the wet-sand, cut and buff on this car after it is repainted,

http://www.billetwheel.com/gallery/hotrods/chezoom.html

The above car will be fun!

Mike

[Aurora40]

Originally posted by Mike Phillips
One of the more interesting ones was a 1990 Twin Supercharged Calloway Corvette.

It's a Twin Turbocharged Callaway Corvette... and was also one of the more interesting cars of my boyhood dreams...

[Mike Phillips]

Here's the Calloway from the Plastic Fantastic show,



Here's what the finish looks like,



The word, Horrible and Horrendous come to mind.

Mike

[Aurora40]

ohhhh man...... It's got the whole aero body, and the dymag wheels... drooooll....

Too bad about the paint condition, but I'm sure you'll make it look brand new!

I absolutely love those cars... I saw a 1996 Grand Sport Callaway Supernatural at Carlisle last year and practically lost it.

Oh, mainly, I just wanted to mention that I was perusing the Makita manual. When locked in roto-orbit mode, the pad rotates at a set speed, so there is nothing random about it. It's not some random with forced action, it's just forced action. There's even a little chart that says how fast the pad rotates for certain orbit speeds. For example, at 5,100 opm, the pad itself rotates 590 times per min.

Just FYI

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for the information on the Makita, I can't wait to try it out.

Mike