PC Issue???

S

SpaceAce

New member
hey all,
I have an issue with my PC. It doesn't seem to be spinning very much. When I polish (using SSR1 or 2 along with Edge regular blue and green and also with Edge 2000 blue and green pads) I notice that it seems to be wobbling (for lack of better word) fine since the counterweight is rotating, but the pad itself often seems to not spin around much. It is kind of hard to explain but I hope that made sense. I noticed that when I stop the PC, as it slows down the "jiggling", I can see that the pad itself is not spinning. Off of the car is spins just fine, but seems to quickly slow down or stop spinning when I start to polish. I am using barely any pressure and I checked to make sure everything was tight and the connection was good. I used plenty of polish and it didn't seem to bog down or bounce around on me. It seems like it still polished pretty good, but it kind of worried me. I was polishing a car with a good finish, so it worked good enough, but I thought that if I really needed to polish a neglected finish it might not work. I have only had the PC about 2 years and have used it for only 4 full car polishes, and I don't remember noticing this problem before. So I am wondering if my PC is going bad or if there is some adjustment that needs to be done, or if that is simply normal? Thanks for any help, I hope this made sense.
 
I use a PC all the time.

If the pad spins freely while the machine is off and also if you turn the machine on and can take your hand and turn the pad freely while it is orbiting, then there is no problem at all.

If for some reason you cannot spin the pad and it feels stuck, then you would have a problem.
 
thanks for the response. I was kinda thinking it may be normal but I didn't want to polish if it was not working correctly. Another reason that I wondered about it was that when I use my hook & loop backing plate with the older Edge pads it seems to get really hot on the backside of the pad and sometimes the glue on the back of the pad gets messed up and the white velcro part of the pad gets worn and misshapen...not sure why the heat would build up there too much. With Edge 2000 pads I dont have any heat issues though.
 
I was using it on our older Jeep, mainly speed 4 or 5, but sometimes I would go up to 6 to fix some tough areas, which may have been too much and caused the heat. I thought that a good amount of people used the PC at 5 or 6 consistently, but maybe not. I found that 3 and mostly 4 works well for my car's finish. What do u recommend?
 
I don't go below 5 or 5.5 while polishing paint out. If the pad isn't spinning on the paint, I think you are pushing and applying too much pressure. Try to let the PC be the only weight on the surface, no pressure. If that still doesn't work, I guess that there may be an internal issue of sometype. As for the Edge BP, I think that Edge 'recalled' some backing plates a few years ago because of this issue. You can contact them in their part of this forum or by e-mail and let them know of your issues. Hope this helps a little.
 
The only time I have the PC under 5 is when spreading the product. I then kick it up and polish away. As Budman stated, make sure your not putting weight on the machine while polishing.
 
Thanks for the help/suggestions. I didn't feel like I was putting much weight on the machine, but I guess I most likely was. Especially when I got to some parts where I knew I had to polish more, I used a stronger polish but probably also (subconsciously) pushed down a little bit. So I should be better off with your suggestion of simply letting the weight of the machine do all the work and I will just guide it....speaking of guiding, thanks for the guidance!
 
budman3 said:
I don't go below 5 or 5.5 while polishing paint out. If the pad isn't spinning on the paint, I think you are pushing and applying too much pressure. Try to let the PC be the only weight on the surface, no pressure. If that still doesn't work, I guess that there may be an internal issue of sometype.
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I agree. If the pad is not spinning it's because you're pushing down on the machine. I too polish at 5/5.5
 
Holding the pad flat against the surface will also help it spin more freely. I've noticed that even at a slight angle, the pad stops spinning or greatly slows down.
 
I have the exact same problem. I use edge 2000 foam pads. The weight of the DA will cause it to stop spinning.... I don't have to put any pressure on it. It spins great off of the car.... I did notice that I there is a difference if it's not held perfectly flat. I suppose I need to try again.
 
This really isn't a problem and is nothing to be concerned about. Since the pad doesn't spin "under load" it just means that friction is not allowing it to spin.

The "spinning" isn't what does the work it is the high-velocity orbiting that does the job.
 
audiboy said:
Holding the pad flat against the surface will also help it spin more freely. I've noticed that even at a slight angle, the pad stops spinning or greatly slows down.
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I found this to be true this past weekend. No pressure and keeping the pad flat gave me the best results. If I applied pressure or tilted the pad it wasn't spinning as well. Tilting help a little when working a particular flaw.
 
hboyd_com said:
Ok, so even though it's not visible spinning there is still orbiting going on? I was hoping that was the case.
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Yes. The motor doesn't spin the pad. if it did, you would be holding a rotary. The fact that the motor does not spin the pad is why the dual-action polisher is so safe. The machine can orbit without the pad spinning.

You do not need spinning to be occuring for the orbiting to be effective.

Don't be afraid to apply 10-15 lbs of pressure and work the pads slowly across the surface to effectively remove paint defects.
 
I thought the whole point of the PC was to be orbiting and spinning (hence dual action). So if I worked with it and it orbited fine but the pad didn't spin/rotate much that would still be fine? It seems like it should be spinning the entire time, but I am new with the PC and am not sure. Thanks for the help.
 
You would use the PC to its fullest potential when it spins. No matter what it will be orbiting but its up to you to get it to spin. The 2 ways are to do this are to keep the pad flat on the surface the whole time along with applying the right amount of pressure. If you apply too much pressure it won't spin and if you don't apply enough pressure it won't work to its fullest potential. It takes time to find the happy medium.
 
budman3 said:
You would use the PC to its fullest potential when it spins. No matter what it will be orbiting but its up to you to get it to spin. The 2 ways are to do this are to keep the pad flat on the surface the whole time along with applying the right amount of pressure. If you apply too much pressure it won't spin and if you don't apply enough pressure it won't work to its fullest potential. It takes time to find the happy medium.
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I couldn't agree more. I find I get the best results when the pad is orbiting and spinning slowly. To observe how fast the pad is spinning simply take a black marker and put a line on the side facing up. This will give you a visual cue your eye can concentrate on. Otherwise, all the shaking, etc. can fool your eye into thinking the pad is doing something different than it actually is.
 
SpaceAce said:
thanks for the response. I was kinda thinking it may be normal but I didn't want to polish if it was not working correctly. Another reason that I wondered about it was that when I use my hook & loop backing plate with the older Edge pads it seems to get really hot on the backside of the pad and sometimes the glue on the back of the pad gets messed up and the white velcro part of the pad gets worn and misshapen...not sure why the heat would build up there too much. With Edge 2000 pads I dont have any heat issues though.
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You may have the oldest version of the Classic single sided velcro Edge pads with the low temp adhesive. If so you can send them back and we will replace the pads no questions. You will know its the older glue if the color of the glue is White. The high temp adhesive which we only use now is kind of clear/amber yellowish. We did not ever have a backing plate problem or recall only a pad issue. As for the DA spinning it truthfully does not spin like a rotary but rather is allowed to freely spin so that when being moved in the eliptical orbit the pad can change its rotation position as well as its position in space which is why it is called Dual Action or DA(if that makes any sense?) Therefore you should not worry if the pad does not spin under a load because it should be able to be stopped if enough pressure is applied which is why it won't burn. If you grab the pad while the machine is on you can actually stop all rotation since the rotation is not actually motorized.
 
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