Does Anyone Own and Use the Lake Country Power Tools UDOS Buffing Machine?ne

L

Lonnie

Active member
What precipitated this forum topic was Ron Ketcham`s nomination for induction into the International Detailing Association Hall of Fame.
The reason is that Lake Country Power Tool`s Robert Eichelberg is an inductee into this IDA-HoF.
AND, that got me to thinking about the development of LC-PT User-Defined Orbital Strokes (UDOS) 51E buffing machine.
For historical reference, here are some threads from this forum about the development of this particular machine:
https://www.autopia.org/forums/mach...able-stroke-polishing-machine.html?highlight=
Lake Country`s new machine.....


My question is: Does anyone of you Autopians own and use the LCPT UDOS 51E machine? OR maybe more precisely, is anyone willing to confess they plunked down the big buck for this machine and are kinda forced to use it because the investment made in it?

Quite honestly, I still consider it an engineering marvel. I had this idea for such a machine MANY years ago, but like the perpetual motion machine, it was a great concept, but impossible to engineer and make into reality. The above thread links chronicle the development pains and the delayed (and more delayed) release of the working production model to be sold to the detailing customer.
And from what I have read online about it by those who did purchase it and use it made note of some of its negative characteristics like:
1) it was very heavy. Not something you like to use on vertical fender/door panels or front and rear fascias/bumpers.
2) having a one-size-does-all backing plate of 5"
3) the fact it is a corded electrical tool when cordless high-voltage battery-pack power tools for buffers are now available,
4) the high initial retail price for such a machine;
All of these characteristics made this buffer seem "market-challenged" when it came out.

I also know that many resellers dropped the price when it did not sell well (or at all) and the reviews given were not exactly "glowing".

Anyway, I am sure SOMEONE out there owns and uses this unique engineering marvel of a buffing machine and I (and I am sure others) would like to know your thoughts and opinions about using it and how you use it in your machine detailing correcting and polishing experiences. Quite frankly I am a hypocrite knocking this machine when I have not actual ever used it. I just want to know if the user-defined orbital stroke design outweigh the characteristics mentioned above. And I should applaud Lake Country Power Tools for even designing and bringing this buffing machine concept to market reality; something I thought was impossible to do.
 
Kinda funny as a few minutes ago I was wandering around a vendor site and saw this machine and wondered much the same thing as you. Perhaps it was a case of a very expensive ($650.00) "Jack of all trades, Master of none?"

:shrug:
 
I held the prototype and it was indeed heavy. Never used it. But Lake Country Tools has a rental program to try out the machine.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Wasn`t Bob Eichelberg the Flex guy? He went to Lake Country?
Click to expand...
Setec Astronomy:
Don`t know when he "moved" there to LCPT or what he did there. The Bio link info within the IDA-HoF does not mention that; all it does is "associate" LCPT with his name.
This gentleman has worked for a number of different well-recognized detailing-related power tool companies over his 48+-year career as either a sales rep or manager and his volunteering for a lot of the IDA events probably is the reason why he is an inductee into the IDA-HoF.
AND, you are correct about his time with Flex. The bio info does mention he was instrumental in setting up Flex in the North American market. Based on the bio info I am sure he had "connections" with key power tool industry sales and distribution personnel.
 
When the UDOS came out , started a thread call "Too Good To Be True..." which I linked above. So here`s my "features" I would like to see in the next generation of buffers.

My next design feature I would like to see in a polishing machine is:
1) small digital readout of the RPMs or Orbits/oscillations per second AND the force or load being applied in pounds (or newtons, for the metric-centric customers), even if it is at the spindle and not the edge of the pad, because of various backing plate and pad diameters that may be interchangeable and used on one machine.
2) Incorporating a load cell with a rotating spindle in a small package might be akin to developing perpetual motion machine. I could see this digital readout, however, as being more applicable to a rotary and, hence, making that type of machine more novice user-friendly (are you listening Festool, Flex, Makita, Rupes, and DeWalt?).
3) I think a temperature-sensor to indicate the pad temp would be helpful,especially on soft material like plastic or carbon fiber.

What would be impractical is having a "dashboard" small enough with all this digital information on it so it does not block your view, like maybe on the top of the buffer motor housing, BUT large enough so you can still read the numbers.
OR maybe have it Bluetooth enabled so you could read it off of the big flat screen of your Smart-TV in your garage. (You DO have one in your man cave, right?!)
 
I, too, applaud them for taking this machine from concept to reality. the mechanism to make it work is beyond my engineering skills. And no, i`m not an engineer.

I`ve held a production model and noted it was a tad heavy. Nothing to cry about, as people also think the Flex 3401 is heavy. I use that one quite a bit. But it`s also why i didn`t put the money down for the UDOS. I`m not a big user of large throws, and I rarely touch a rotary, so it doesn`t make sense to buy one.

I did put the idea out to them to make a variable size backing plate! To be able to go from a 3" to 5"

Others suggested they make a mini version of the UDOS.
 
Felt it, Held it, Tried it, decided against it. Someone above mentioned Jack of all trades & Master of none - describes that thing really well.
I wonder if they sold any at all? Anyone know?
 
In many industries, such as my second love and hobby, all things gun related, many items are answers to a problem yet discovered. Ever have a wonder "do-it-all" gizmo and ONE area of it stops working properly and you need to send it in for repair and then you have NO gizmo to continue doing what you do? I`d rather have a dedicated rotary, sander and random orbit.
 
Looks like they have introduced a new UDOS at SEMA 2023, the 31E, which only has 3 modes, rotary, 8mm, & 15mm rather than the five of the original. It`s supposed to be lighter. Unclear to me whether it will also be less expensive and whether it is a replacement for the 51E or an adjunct.
 
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