Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
Hi all.. Ever since I started detailing I have tweaked my process, products and tools in order to produce better results faster and now that I am doing this for a living self improvement is more important than ever. I am admittedly hard on tools, pads and will push my tools to the limit and even modify them as needed to get the job done faster and with great results. Thinking outside of the box has never been a problem for me.
I have found as most Flex owners have that this tool (3401 VRG) is a bullet proof machine, tough as nails construction and will hold up to some serious abuse as I have found out when polishing out some commercial vehicles. I have done an all aluminum Grumman Olson truck that required me to push real hard into rivets and edges etc. etc. I have also machine applied a cleaner wax to a few buses per week for a while now with this machine. The Flex 3401 VRG has passed the extreme torture test with flying colors and I am convinced that no average detailer will ever break this tool. Those are some pretty positive and passionate claims huh? Yes they are, and with not an ounce of exaggeration either.
However, there is one thing that I absolutely hate about the 3401 VRG. That one thing is the hook and loop material on the backing plate. It seems that Lake Country has the polishing pad market cornered, most suppliers that are selling pads are selling LC pads with their name printed on them and I have not been too thrilled with many of them except for the Variable Contact pads that LC makes for Poorboy`s World and I can actually get them from a local dealership supplier but they are the larger size pads. I like them because of the way the pads have a double glued plastic backer with the loop side of the hook and loop on the plastic backer. S.M. Arnold and a few other manufacturers use a similar pad making process and they do not come unglued from the foam no matter how hard you work them.
The problem though is that the Flex hook and loop is not a good match for the LC pads or other great pads that I have found. I can`t tell you how many times I have been frustrated when the pad gets off centered or completely flies off of the machine while attempting to polish a curve or the crown of a fender. However the hook and loop of the LC backing plates have a superior bond with all of the pads that I have owned.
I had an LC 6.5 inch backing plate that I got from PB that I will never use on a DA (too big) so I thought it would make a good donor for this project. So here is a write up of the process with pictures of the hook and loop transplant project.
This first pic will show how hard my Flex polisher gets used.
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/079.jpg
First I used a single edged razor blade to slice as far in behind the hook and loop backing of the LC donor backing plate. I cut about one half the way around the circumference of the plate so as to be able to safely get started cutting with my big chef knife. With much patience and care I sliced right behind the hook and loop material keeping the knife blade flat against the foam rubber of the donor plate so that I would have as little as possible yellow foam left on the hook and loop material.
"EXTREMELY IMPORTANT"!!!!!!!!!
"I would like to say at this point in case anyone sees this and decides to undergo this project that a thick leather glove or a kevlar fish filleting glove would be advisable to protect the hand from severe cuts in the event that the knife should slip."
I found that a knife that is sharp enough to be patiently worked through the foam but not sharp enough to cut through the hook and loop material was the best bet. I did have to resharpen with a kitchen sharpener twice during this process.
Here is what I was left with after the cutting.
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/073.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/074.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/077.jpg
I had cut a little too close to the hook and loop in one area so I sliced off a little of the foam and glued it in to fill in that spot so that I would have an even and flat hook and loop surface to ensure the maximum hook and loop attaching bond between the backing plate and the pads.
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/088.jpg
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/092.jpg
As shown in the first photo of this write up the Flex OEM backing plate has taken some severe abuse and had become overheated and had come unglued and curled up.
In the interest of achieving the strongest most permanent glue bond I went ahead and trimmed off the curled up and unglued edges of the Flex OEM hook and loop backing.
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...dave/086-1.jpg
I had decided to go with Gorilla Glue for this project. When I first started detailing at a true detailing level I was using a Cyclo polisher in which the hook and loop backing material had come unglued from the rubber pad holder boot. I used Gorilla Glue to reattach that backing and it is still holding after a few years so I have faith in this glue for this project.
http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/d...radave/091.jpg
If you have never used Gorilla Glue, this stuff can make a mess of things. It is suggested that you apply a thin coat of the glue on one half of the project to be glued and to moisten the other half of the project to be glued with water. When you put the two halves together, a chemical reaction occurs between the glue and the water which makes the glue foam up and expand by 3 to 4 times.
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
more to come, well it seems that I can`t post the rest om my writeup so I will try to just cot to the rest of the photos.
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
It seems that something was preventing me from posting the rest of the text so I was able to at least get the rest of the pics. It was a 2 hour project and hopefully well worth it.
Thanks for looking , TD
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
Nice job, Dave. Very creative. Thanks for posting.
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
very interesting idea & very surprised the backing plate failed .. how many hours did you have on it?
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
The fit or strength that the velcro material holds against the VC pads was really not good from brand new. Nothing failed, it is simply two different styles of hook and loop systems and the LC style hook material holds the pads a whole lot better than the flex material does so now I have the best of both worlds so long as the glue withstands the heat of the flex. It held the black velcro better because the loops are of a larger size on those like the flat pads but the loops are much shorter on the back of the VC pads and they attach better to the LC backing plate.
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
Interesting.. I hope it worked for you.. Please let us know how it has been holding up or if it hasn`t.
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
I now have the perfect Flex 3401. This has worked great. I have done 4 paint corrections since I did this project and applied a cleaner wax to 2 buses using the Flex. I work my machines very hard in that I do a lot of work with them and if the gear wears out on this backing plate I will be buying a Flex and an LC backing plate and will do the velcro swap to the new one as well.
Re: Flex 3401 backing plate surgery
Gotta love thinking outside the box. It seems a lot of people think that you should buy whatever is sold, use it only as it is instructed and if you use it for anything other than what the manufacturers say...that you are basically breaking some sort of a golden rule. :crazy:
I dont think any type of advancement of ANYTHING has come from just `going with the flow`...and coming up with something like you have with the `backing plate transplant` lol...is awesome.
Great job and i`m glad it worked so well for you!
