Need more aggressive machine than ROB, Flex vs Rotary

I have a PC, PCXP, Cyclo and DeWalt rotary. Most of the time, I can do all the correction needed with the PCXP, Megs 5" MF pads and UNO v3. If there are bad scratches or just the fingernail scrapes in the paint under the door handle, I just wet sand with 1500 or 2000 grit and then polish as usual.



Now, if you're doing boats - hell yeah get a rotary, wool pads and some dedicated gel coat compound.



Flex - had one, traded Mr. Helme for his Cyclo, never regretted that one!



And I wish Megs would make 4" MF pads.....c'mon ya'll, start emailing them!
 
JuneBug said:
... If there are bad scratches or just the fingernail scrapes in the paint under the door handle, I just wet sand with 1500 or 2000 grit and then polish as usual...
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That kind of mild sanding can, IMO, be safer than aggressive compounding and it's easy enough to remove the sanding marks with a RO/DA.
 
I'd go with the rotary. Some may recall how several years ago I called ownership of a PC, Cyclo, and rotary, "The Trinity" That was before the GG and the Flex came on the scene. The Trinity is still fine for me although I'm using the rotary to correct micromarring on hard Audi paint. It takes a long time even with that! The rotary is the most aggressive you can have, it's just a matter of technique and if you're into detailing as a lifetime pastime, you can only get better at it. I find it indispensable.
 
Okay, here's the plan. I'm going to trade in my PC for the GG. For around $40 I'll have a pretty capable machine. I'll need to research pad and compound options.



All in all, be able to get things moving with about $100-$150 invested after pads. In this case, that's low overhead to get a few jobs in. I'll just make sure they're not extreme jobs for which only a rotary can suffice.



Then after a few jobs, I'll use the profits to snag the Makita 9227CX3 for $183, and get some pads for that puppy as well.



If money was no object, I'd get both but starting learning aggressively on the rotary today, but at this point, money is a factor. Any last thoughts on that plan before pulling some triggers?



And this might be for a different thread, but what are all the pads, backing plates, counterweights I should have for the GG?
 
That sounds like a solid plan to me. If I were starting all over again with never having a polisher of any kind, I would've chose the GG and I will get one eventually. From everything I''ve heard about it, it can nicely handle most paint finishes in decent shape.



I'm almost positive all you have to do is get pads for it, no plate necessary.
 
Well, the GG is a nice polisher, much more potent than the pcxp but I still prefer the flex. For some reason the flex never pulls on me anymore :)



I only used it to clean up half a trunk but switched over to the 3401 to speed things up. More experimentation is needed.



PS: I agree the rotary is best all around.
 
Ahheck01 said:
What about going from 5/6" pads to the 3/4" pads for correcting in smaller spots?
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Others can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in the case of the GG, you'd have to get their smaller polisher for use with smaller pads to do small spots. That's one disadvantage. With the PC you can different plates for different size pads.
 
Bill D said:
Others can chime in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in the case of the GG, you'd have to get their smaller polisher for use with smaller pads to do small spots. That's one disadvantage. With the PC you can different plates for different size pads.
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I hope you're wrong - I have to have something smaller. For example, one car I'll be doing:



Imageshack - img0439zx7.jpg



Note that pretty much anywhere that'll need polishing on that back end would need a pad smaller than 5"
 
Slate G8 GT said:
Any backing plate that will work on a PC will work on the GG6.
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This would be great - can anyone else confirm this? Will it work perfectly? Not some jerry-rigged situation that will compromise the performance or integrity of the device?
 
Ahheck01 said:
This would be great - can anyone else confirm this? Will it work perfectly? Not some jerry-rigged situation that will compromise the performance or integrity of the device?
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Why wouldn't any backing plate that they make for the PC/PCXP with a 5/16” thread not work on the GG? I own a PC7424 and GG6 and the backing plates are interchangeable.
 
Slate G8 GT said:
Any backing plate that will work on a PC will work on the GG6.
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-AND-



Ahheck01 said:
This would be great - can anyone else confirm this? Will it work perfectly? Not some jerry-rigged situation that will compromise the performance or integrity of the device?
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Right. I've used various ones, ranging from 6" down to 3". Absolutely zero problems of any kind, but, as with most such setups, I do like to turn the speed down a bit with the smaller pads.



I've even done a little work with 4" pads using the Edge adaptor. I'm still not a big fan of that setup on this kind of RO machine, but it seemed to work fine.
 
Rei86 said:
Why wouldn't any backing plate that they make for the PC/PCXP with a 5/16” thread not work on the GG? I own a PC7424 and GG6 and the backing plates are interchangeable.
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The last gen Griots machines didn't have an interchangeable backing plate. I think that confused some people.
 
mikenap said:
The last gen Griots machines didn't have an interchangeable backing plate. I think that confused some people.
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I hear that the current gen of the little Griot's 3" now takes a standard (5/16" threaded) plate too. Almost tempts me to buy it even though my older one hasn't died yet.
 
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