Festool Rotex : Initial Impressions (long)

Actually, the new RO150 will be out in July/August, I believe. It looks like the RO125 but bigger, and it's got a more powerful motor now as well (720W vs. 500W).



It's already out in Australia. You can check it out at the Australian Festool site here .
 
I may see if I can dispose of the PC7424 without losing too much money on it. I've used a full-size rotary for many years and know how to get the job done with it, that was never the issue. The reason I sprung for the PC was 1) the many raves about it here, and 2) my desire for a smaller lighter tool to use on vertical surfaces and in tight spots. The dang rotary is 8lb with pad and I'm getting too old and feeble to deal with that 8 hrs/day.



Anyway, within 3 minutes of starting it up, I knew it wasn't what I was looking for. The vibration, even with the included white pad and default 6" counterweight was ridiculous and hardly conducive to quality work, much less quality work accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. As I turned up the speed, it produced the famous "chicken scratches" (randomly-oriented, 1" to 2" long, deep into the clear) that I've seen on dozens of cars -- scratches that I'd always attributed to dirty gritty water in fiber-strip automatic car washes, but were, in fact, produced by inappropriate use of a 7424 and its siblings. So I had to use the rotary with a fairly aggressive abrasive to take them out.



What the world needs is an adjustable counterweight, or even better a dynamic balancer. That would make the tool useable and less prone to produce scratching in the hands of the inexperienced. I think the underlying problem in all the complaints here about the speed of this machine is that the vibration is bad enough that using it anywhere above 4 is impractical. At full speed, and without the excessive vibration, it might actually be useable.
 
mixxmstrmike said:
I purchased two of the following items: part number 485748 for $17.50



I purchased two just so I have a back up in case of any "over - use" or failure. I hate having to wait for a replacement part, but that's just me. :grinno:



Your question about which pad is working out so far, are you referring to foam polishing pads?



If so, then I can tell you that my orange pad from Griot's and yellow Meg's pads work very well with the RO 150. Any pad, be it Lake Country or Propel will work fine with the RO 150, but which ones to purchase really depends on how much paint correction, if any, you are trying to accomplish.



Welcome to the "Festool" club and please keep us in the loop with your likes/dislikes about it!



-Mike
Click to expand...





Thanks for the input.



None of my cars have any excessive scratches or dullness, per se.



I'll be ordering a couple of backing plates from Festool and probably start off with a set of

6.5" constant pressure polishing pads from Lake Country along with the Menzerna products and see what the results are on my '97 Jeep Grand Cherokee.



Being new to all this, the write-ups I've read suggest that you start with smaller pads and work your way up to larger ones after you develop some skill.





I'll report back with my comments and results......
 
[quote name='jpasierb'] .... a set of

6.5" constant pressure polishing pads from Lake Country QUOTE]



Not to talk you out of anything , but I haven't had real good luck with the LCCP 6.5" pads.

They flatten out very quickly and don't hold their shape. Tough to control in Forced mode and don't leave you much room for error size-wise. The backing plate comes right to the edge of the pads

I got a chance to use the 6.75" Propel2 pads this weekend and found them to be much more agreeable for this machine in either mode. You can apply pressure without the pad 'bottoming out' and it pops right back into shape.



Don't mean to sound like I'm criticizing your decision , I just wanted to offer my 2 cents

to maybe provide you an informed comparison.



Good luck.......
 
gusbubba said:
[quote name='jpasierb'] .... a set of

6.5" constant pressure polishing pads from Lake Country QUOTE]



Not to talk you out of anything , but I haven't had real good luck with the LCCP 6.5" pads.

They flatten out very quickly and don't hold their shape. Tough to control in Forced mode and don't leave you much room for error size-wise. The backing plate comes right to the edge of the pads

I got a chance to use the 6.75" Propel2 pads this weekend and found them to be much more agreeable for this machine in either mode. You can apply pressure without the pad 'bottoming out' and it pops right back into shape.



Don't mean to sound like I'm criticizing your decision , I just wanted to offer my 2 cents

to maybe provide you an informed comparison.



Good luck.......
Click to expand...





Thanks again for your input. It sounds like the 6.75" Propel2 pads are a better fit for the Festool's backing plate. (more safety margin)



I haven't ordered my pads yet.... so I will try the Propel2 s .
 
wildboar said:
Make sure you check out this post on how to make an adapter for the Edge 2000 system.



http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=62309



I just got my Festool today and planned on making one of these adapters so I could use the system. It looks like this custom adapter would let you use any size Edge 2000 pad as well as giving you the flexibility to throw on a rotary backing plate. So along with the wide array of regular pads that will fit on the Festool polishing pad, you'd have a huge selection.



And for anyone who's wondering, the extra Festool polishing pad comes with an extra attachment screw, so you still have the original that came with the machine to use for the polishing pad and can sacrifice the extra one to the adapter experiment.
Click to expand...





Did you ever make the adapter for the Festool? I was wondering how the Edge pads were working out?

I am expecting my RO150 anyday and will probably be making an adapter, as well.
 
GeneralEclectic said:
...As I turned up the speed, it produced the famous "chicken scratches" (randomly-oriented, 1" to 2" long, deep into the clear) that I've seen on dozens of cars -- scratches that I'd always attributed to dirty gritty water in fiber-strip automatic car washes, but were, in fact, produced by inappropriate use of a 7424 and its siblings. So I had to use the rotary with a fairly aggressive abrasive to take them out...
Click to expand...
Wow, that's really weird. Did you try it with any pads other than the factory supplied one?



Almost everybody around here uses the PC (or a similar DA machine) and I've never heard of anything like that before. I've certainly never seen it myself. I've watched dozens of newbies pick up PCs and use them for the very first time and never seen anything like that.



I'm guessing there was something wrong with the machine.







PC.
 
the other pc said:
I'm guessing there was something wrong with the machine.
Click to expand...



Could have also been something foreign on the pad. I've also never seen a DA machine mar paint, let alone induce scratches.
 
It is physically impossible to induce marring & scratches with a DA unless there is some grit between the pad and the paint.



Using dirty/unwashed pads (as average detailers do) can produce pigtailing. But I think we represent higher qualities than that...
 
I just finished doing my 2004 White Z71 Suburban



The Festool RO150 is an excellent tool overall. It is quiet, very smooth, and powerfull. It did not slow down when additional pressure was applied. This tool has a very nice, user friendly feel to it.



When using the tool with one hand, I occassionally turned it off a few times because of where the on-off switch is located, but other than that, it really handles well with either one or two hands.





The paint was in very good shape to start with so this is what I did:



Festool RO150 with their polishing pad



Menzerna Final Polish II with Propel II blue pad (result: some minor hood scratches almost removed)

Menzerna Glaze with Propel II grey finishing pad (result: no defects visible)

Menzerna FMJ applied by hand (result: Slick finish/ very nice shine)



My next vehicle is 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee with visible , but removeable, swirls



I plan to start with :

Menzerna IP and Propel II orange pad / I may need the yellow pad

Menzerna Final Polish II with Propel II green pad

Menzerna Glaze with Propel II blue pad

Menzerna FMJ by hand
 
I got the RO150FEQ earlier this month which was supposedly released 2 weeks earlier:

rotex3.jpg




Definitely a powerful yet still smooth working machine. Took a while longer than I thought to get used to but it works really well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top