First Attempt with Metabo - 35 Ford.

DennisH · 07-08-07, 01:45

UPS man delivered my new Metabo rotary Friday but didn’t have a chance to use it till today which is Sunday. Of coarse I didn’t make it to a body shop to pick up a practice panel and I have not used a rotary before so I would problem need to practice. Well I could practice on an old car – yep that is what I will do, so the 35 Ford going to be my first attempt with a rotary. After inspecting the finish I had minor spider webbing and a couple of spots that has some light marring that will take some special attention. Nothing that OP or IP and a green pad on the Cyclo couldn’t take care of. Seems the most difficult areas are going to be the curved areas, which is about 75% of surfaces and the fenders being the worst with ridge going up the center. So I decided be conservative with pad and product selection and started with LC Black 6 ½ pad on 106ff working it at or below 1200 RPM – seemed safe enough.

1. I didn’t put the metal hand guard on the side handle – seemed like an accident waiting to happen.

2. Didn’t like the handle so removed it – found it easier to grab the body and the grip the head on the unit.

3. There is a piece the box to screw on to the arbor which makes the arbor about 1 ½ inch longer which I felt made it way to long and made it hard to control.

4. My backing plate has center hole to aid in alignment of the LC pads with center holes – found that a 5/8 deep well socket fits perfectly in the hole in the back plate and makes pad centering a snap and perfect every time.

5. Cleanup is a snap – I use an old ice cream tub and some DP pad cleaner and spin dry inside of a 5 gallon bucket and lay flat to dry.

6. I notice on TOL site they recommend against using dawn and claims it will loosen the Velcro on the pad and hard to wash all the soap residue out of the pad.

7. I really do like the soft start and if you plug it in the switch on it will not start – you have to turn it off then back on.

I will have to finish later have a baseball game to go to – grand kids are playing. I know this is worthless without pictures.

Reflectionz · 07-08-07, 03:22

expecting mine i a few days!

hey, i have a question.. when you order it from TOL, did it come from TOL or straight from metabo? my guy said its getting shipped from metabo.

BlackCoupe · 07-08-07, 07:21

Hey Dennis--I'm curious whether you have a paint thickness gauge. Those custom jobs would make me nervous, particularly the flames!

ZoranC · 07-08-07, 07:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by DennisH

so the 35 Ford going to be my first attempt with a rotary.

You have ..... the size of coconuts.

DennisH · 07-09-07, 12:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reflectionz

expecting mine i a few days!

hey, i have a question.. when you order it from TOL, did it come from TOL or straight from metabo? my guy said its getting shipped from metabo.

Mine was shipped for TOL because I order some OCW and it arrived in the same box. Maybe I got the last one.

DennisH · 07-09-07, 12:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackCoupe

Hey Dennis--I'm curious whether you have a paint thickness gauge. Those custom jobs would make me nervous, particularly the flames!

Nope no paint thickness gauge - just a hobby guy and these are my cars so if I screw up none will get mad at me except me -- will maybe my wife when she see the repaint bill. This is not the black car show in the Avatar but a red one without flames. Also it is single stage paint..

DennisH · 07-09-07, 12:24

Here is the rest of story! This is a single stage paint that was painted in 1998. The majority of polishing was done at or just above the 2 setting which on the Metabo is about 1100 to 1200 RPM using a LCC black pad and 106FF. I did break out a LCC white pad and 106ff for a scuff mark on the running board. I even slowed it down to 700 RPM and did inside the side (which is about a 1 wide area) and rear windows ledge using the edge of the pad only. I had no rotary skip nor did I have any problems controlling the rotary – I did the center of the roof one handed just hanging on the backend of the rotary. After doing a IPA wipe down and sun moving into the sun I will say that it is ready for LSP – swirl and hologram free. I have a Cyclo and PC and using the rotary is lot faster than the Cyclo and heads above a PC. My biggest regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.
Here is the pictures after using the rotary, IPA wipe down and the car is naked with not QD or LSP….

I would like to say thanks for all of you that posted in all the rotary threads since I think I have read all of them atleast once. All that posting and knowledge made my first rotary experience a pleasure. Thanks to all you!!!

Totoland Mach · 07-09-07, 12:57

Hey Stranger! Long time no "C"....

You could do what I do with my Metabo on curvy areas: I used the small Meg's backing plate and a large, 3M finish pad. Those pads are a lot thinner than most foam on the market and with the small backing plate, they really hug those inside curves.

Give me a yell sometime Dennis. I'm pretty busy doing used BMW's for a dealer, but I'll always take time to yak with a fellow 'rodder.

Totoland Mach

DennisH · 07-09-07, 01:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Totoland Mach

Hey Stranger! Long time no "C"....

You could do what I do with my Metabo on curvy areas: I used the small Meg's backing plate and a large, 3M finish pad. Those pads are a lot thinner than most foam on the market and with the small backing plate, they really hug those inside curves.

Give me a yell sometime Dennis. I'm pretty busy doing used BMW's for a dealer, but I'll always take time to yak with a fellow 'rodder.

Totoland Mach

Thanks for the tip.. You will probably see me up in your neck the woods a little more often now since I'm sorta-retired. I turn the business over to the boy and I just pop in and out as needed and of coarse spend the money he generates on more toys. Going to the midnight cruise on the 14th July. August starts scuba lessons.... Sept we are starting our new garage with a small attached house.

rydawg · 07-09-07, 01:56

Looks great Dennis! I always though you had a rotary. Now you will win even more "Best of paint" trophies!

ZoranC · 07-09-07, 03:48

That's a beauty (both car and a polish job)!

DennisH · 07-09-07, 07:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by rydawg

Looks great Dennis! I always though you had a rotary. Now you will win even more "Best of paint" trophies!

Nope, just took longer with Cyclo or PC. I’m always looking for that last 5% at least to my eyes. I have the Edge wool will be here tomorrow and more pad choices will be here on Thursday. I will be trying a couple of more pad and product combinations that I will review but some times what I perceive and my results don’t match the main stream here. Just have to have the LSP on by Saturday morning for couple hundred mile drive and midnight cruise Saturday evening. I just can’t believe how easy the rotary was to operate – I have a lot to learn but less aggressive product and pad selection and keeping the RPMs down should help prevent damage at least.