2 of my Flex`s down for the count!

Sizzle Chest

Sizzle Chest

Well-known member
What is going on? 2 of my new Flex`s are down for the count.

My `supa beast` XCE 10-8: It is spitting some type of black stuff out from behind the backing plate and it is going all over the panel I`ve corrected. What sucks is I`ve had it for more than 30 days...so I have to send it back to Flex for repair!

My XFE 7-15: I noticed some vibration/something not right. My backing plate was loose and was coming up a bit from the main plate with the bearing. I attempted to tighten the screws and the brass inserts on the main plate are spinning/stripped. There is no way to hold them/stop them from spinning and I can not tighten the backing plate screws.


This is the main plate with the threaded brass inserts:






Both machines are very well under a year old...




VERY FRUSTRATED!!!
 
^^^^I`ve sent some stuff that was out of warranty to one of their repair centers before.

Waiting to get the contact info for them and I will contact them/send them back.


I`ve got 2 3401`s that I can use in the meantime, so no huge loss, but I like these two machines and find myself grabbing them more frequently...
 
I’ve had the black stuff come out too on a different machine it turned out to be the factory grease. Thanks for sharing hopefully flex will help you out if there that new
 
Thanks everyone!

Mike, never had any issues with it until the past 2 vehicles. And have never had any issues with my other Flex products. They are excellent pieces. I am pretty much all Flex now. I will agree with you that this is the `exception to the rule` (I copied this from my response to Mike P over on our sister site)

Chris from Flex contacted me earlier today! On a SUNDAY! He is going to get me squared away tomorrow!

Thanks for everyone`s input and passing this info along to Chris.


FLEX (and Chris) are going to get my Blue Ribbon award for OUTSTANDING customer service!!!

Thanks again!
 
With as much vehicle detailing work as you do and all the posts listing the Flex machines almost every time, if I were Chris and the Flex Company, I would GIVE you new polishers to replace what you have. It is just good advertising and Public Relations to do so. You are probably their best "spokesperson" whether Flex realizes this or not!!

The brass inserts might need to have some type of locking compound applied to them in production. Not sure how they are installed with a straight press fit or if are they knurled on the outside and pressed in. (Just my mechanical design background and familiarity with threaded inserts coming into play.) I think that needs to be addressed with Flex customer service and investigated by their manufacturing engineering staff. If you have this problem, I am sure others may as well.

Seems like bearing and backing plate grease for polishing machines and what type and manufacturer to use to replace the "factory grease" is a big issue in this forum.
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-.../191414-grease-polisher.html?highlight=grease
 
Thanks Lonnie, that would be awesome! LOL

They are taking care of me and getting my machines back online so I am happy. Excellent customer service!

They look like they are knurled and press fit into the plastic...
 
Glad to hear they are taking care of you Scott. Shame almost every one of the tool manufacturers only has 1 yr warranty :(
 
Lonnie said:
With as much vehicle detailing work as you do and all the posts listing the Flex machines almost every time, if I were Chris and the Flex Company, I would GIVE you new polishers to replace what you have. It is just good advertising and Public Relations to do so. You are probably their best "spokesperson" whether Flex realizes this or not!!

The brass inserts might need to have some type of locking compound applied to them in production. Not sure how they are installed with a straight press fit or if are they knurled on the outside and pressed in. (Just my mechanical design background and familiarity with threaded inserts coming into play.) I think that needs to be addressed with Flex customer service and investigated by their manufacturing engineering staff. If you have this problem, I am sure others may as well.

Seems like bearing and backing plate grease for polishing machines and what type and manufacturer to use to replace the "factory grease" is a big issue in this forum.
https://www.autopia.org/forums/car-.../191414-grease-polisher.html?highlight=grease
Click to expand...

Lonnie good man I second that flex would still be making out.
 
Good to hear that, Sizzle. Glad Mike and Chris came through for you!

Me, I`m still waiting to get "sponsored" by Flex. Maybe I should post the pic of me and my wife doing some cooking, each of us wearing our Flex aprons?
 
I was really looking forward to these machines, I have the flex wireless mini but for the full size I`m still holding out for Rupes to make one. Curious to see what the long term looks like for these guys. I`ll be very frank though, the mini is mostly Chinese. If I`m buying a professional tool the only thing that should be Chinese based from flex are the batteries. I would gladly spend 2x-3x the amount to have it totally made in Germany or Italy.
 
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