Time to retire a trusty old friend

[rzatch]

I pulled the trigger tonight on a new Dewalt DWP849 X to replace my trusty old friend.

Back around 1980 I bought a Black & Decker rotary off the Snap On truck when I was working at the Pontiac Dealership, Snap On didn`t have their own machine back then and variable speed was unheard of. You varied the speed with your trigger finger.

This feature may give me some problems in the beginning with the new machines soft start feature. There’s going to be a learning curve to it. The dealership had their own, old even back then; Milwaukee that had an aluminum body turned about 800 RPM`s and weighed it seemed like about 20 lbs. who knows when it was made maybe in the 50’s lol.

Anyway I used the B&D everyday for about 9 years until I got out of the car cleaning business and if your old enough to remember GM paint in the early 80`s you know I used it, then continued to use it on a limited bases a few times a year but never had problem one with it. But it`s time to replace it with all the new compounds and polishes using different RPM’s for the different steps time has passed it by, but I’ll still hang on to it just in case the new one isn’t as reliable. Over the last 30 years me and the ole B&D have seen alot of paint together so don’t go looking for my good old B&D rotary friend to show up on ebay!!! It has earned a spot on the shelf for a good long time.

[Dr Oldz]

I love the new Dewalt. It is a great machine and very well designed. I have been super happy with mine thus far.

[rzatch]

I hope so, just couldn`t justify the money on a flex just doing this a few times a year mostly my own stuff and family. Actually I just had a co-worker ask me to do his truck so it will be my first pay job in about 10 years. I`ve pretty much tried to stay away from doing very often so that I still enjoy it b/c by the time I quit at the dealership I hated it.

[Dr Oldz]

I hope so, just couldn`t justify the money on a flex just doing this a few times a year mostly my own stuff and family. Actually I just had a co-worker ask me to do his truck so it will be my first pay job in about 10 years. I`ve pretty much tried to stay away from doing very often so that I still enjoy it b/c by the time I quit at the dealership I hated it.

Doing it at a deaership and actual "detailing" are 2 different processes IMO. When you can be your own boss and produce fantastic work, meeting or beating the customers needs/expectations is very rewarding. Dealerships want to push everything thru and rushing a proper detail takes all the fun and enjoyment out of it for me.

While some say the Flex is a wonderful machine, I am glad I chose the same one you did as an upgrade from my old Snap-on. If I had to choose knowing what I know now and they were both the same price, I would still choose the Dewalt because I have become very comfortable with it and the power is there if you have to do some serious compounding.( I have not tried the PE14 but I do have a 3403 that I dedicated for 3 or 4 inch pads. Got the 3403 used and I am not impressed with it at all)

Enjoy your new purchase!

[rzatch]

Yes it can be trying at a dealership. I was lucky in the fact that when I started there they only sold 30 -40 cars a month it was an old family owned dealership and still had old school ways of delivering a new car to the customer. It was back when you bought a new car and sometimes had to wait a day or two for it to properly prepped to be delivered. There were times when I would spend an entire day on just one new car. Smokey and the Bandit TA`s were all the rage and the paint was xxxx off the truck on most new cars back then. Every new car was polished and hand waxed before it was delivered it look like a new car when you drove it off the lot. Unlike to today were they clean it in the amount of time it takes to sign the papers. Which is were the dealership was at by the time I quit. The original owners from 1957 sold it to new people and it was all about get the money....

[mrclean81]

I can totally relate to being burned out thanks to dealership work. I too am lucky enough to work for a place that don`t care if a truck takes a week, if that`s how long it takes to make it right. Not many places left like that these days. I used to own a DeWalt, and can say its the best rotary I`ve ever had. It got stolen a few years back and I`ve went through 4 cheap machines since. I guarantee the DeWalt would still be running fine, so I would have definitely been better off replacing it with a other just like it. Good luck with it, and congrads on the purchase.

Btw I`m digging the Rossi avatar

[tw33k2514]

I lasted 2 weeks doing dealer details. They wanted 3 cars per 10 hour shift. So roughly 3 hours per car. In that 3 hours they wanted a full interior, engine, wheels, and a 1-step polish followed by wax.

The interiors were usually trashed, and usually vans.. Took me almost three hours for some of the interiors...

Needless to say, I quite. Not worth running myself ragged for crappy pay.

[Todd@RUPES]

Nice post, enjoy your new rotary in good health. Maybe you should mount the old one in a collector case?

[BobbyG]

Most quality machine last us nearly a lifetime and we all have a favorite that we have trouble letter go.

My first machine from 1968....



2 Speed Switch - 1500rpm and 3000rpm



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