Heh heh, a whole lotta people here have a *LOT* more experience with the
Flex than I do
But anyhow..
"Let the product do the work" is one of those dictums that sounds great, and I tell people that too. But IME it isn't always practical in actual application. I usually apply pressure, sometimes quite a bit.
But I don't get really extreme about it. And, perhaps most importantly, I try to only apply pressure when the pad is flat, rather than when it's at an angle to the surface being worked (to avoid flexing the backing plate at an angle which would be more likely to press it against the felt ring).
IMO you don't ever want to apply so much pressure that you cause interference between the backing plate and the felt ring (much less the machine's metal housing). I've always suspected that some (many? most?) of the
Flex durability issues are related to operators applying excessive pressure, especially with the pad/plate at an angle.
While KMBing generally *does* involve a good bit of applied pressure, and yeah, that method works great with the
Flex 3401, you don't want to overdo it lest you get backing plate failures and/or premature/excessive wear on the machine's ring gear.
When people talk about cooking the felt ring, or grinding up the back of the backing plate, or seeing smoke....eh, I figure they're a short ways away from a major Flex failure. I don't mind using my equipment hard, but blatant abuse usually comes back to bite you.
Linear Mode
