PC vs. Rotary

[07CivicEX]

i don't really know what's the difference between pc and rotary. wondering if anyone can explain the difference ?



I'm a new guy who want's to buy a machine to polish my car. it's for personal use... not business or anything. wondering what i should start off with. i also heard of makita ??? not too sure about the difference in those.



after reading the beginners section on machine polishing... i really don't understand cutting, compounding, wet sanding, or those pads....



what does certain rpm do to the cars paint....



since i have a honda civic 07.. i heards its soft paint and what's the diff between soft and hard ??



anything responding to this or more would be greatly appreciated thanks!

 

[imported_smprince1]

I'm no expert, but I've been doing this for a few years so I'll try to answer your questions ...

i don't really know what's the difference between pc and rotary. wondering if anyone can explain the difference ?!

PC stands for Porter Cable, but it is used to refer to a random orbital polisher. It doesn't rotate on a fixed axis, it oscillates. A rotary spins about a fixed axis.

I'm a new guy who want's to buy a machine to polish my car. it's for personal use... not business or anything. wondering what i should start off with. i also heard of makita ??? not too sure about the difference in those.!

Start with a PC, it is much safer for a beginner. A rotary generates higher surface speeds and heat than the PC, so while it can do more paint correcting and faster, it can also burn or damage paint in unskilled hands.

after reading the beginners section on machine polishing... i really don't understand cutting, compounding, wet sanding, or those pads....!

Pads come in different "roughness", analogous to sandpaper I supposed. (80 grit, 100 grit, 220grit, etc.). The rougher the pad, the more cut it has. The smoother the pad, the less cut but it leaves a finer finish. Same goes for compounds and polishes ... some have rough abrasives for cutting, some have finers abrasives for finishing.

what does certain rpm do to the cars paint....!

With a rotary, high RPM generates high heat and agressive paint removal .... dangerous in the wrong hands.

since i have a honda civic 07.. i heards its soft paint and what's the diff between soft and hard ?? !

Soft paint mars easily but corrects easily (or maybe too easily in some cases).

anything responding to this or more would be greatly appreciated thanks!

This forum has tons of information .... read, read, read. You will learn a ton. Like most things, it's not rocket science but it just has a learning curve.

 

[Todd@RUPES]

If your asking all those very basic questions, you definetly want to stick with a Porter Cable. Because of its orbital action its very, very safe on paint. A rotary is direct drive, allowing you to transfer a lot of energy to the paint surface (good for strong, quick defect removal) which makes the risk considerably higher.



"really don't understand cutting, compounding, wet sanding, or those pads"



Cutting is very aggresive buffing, meant to relevel paint after it has been wetsanded. This is accomplished by using more RPM, aggresive pads and compounds.



Compounding is also very aggressive polishing used to remove a lot of defects quickly or deep scratches.



Wetsanding went the paint is sanded with sandpaper using water as a lubricant to remove defects and texture in the paint. After wetsanding the there will be micro scratches on the paints surface and the paint will be dull. The paint then needs to be cut to bring it back to a high gloss.



Pads come in different cuts. An aggressive pad would be used for cutting and major defect removal, while a soft, finishing pad would be used for bringing out a very high finish.



"soft or hard"



refers to the actual hardness of the paint. Soft paint scratches and mars easily, while hard paint scratches and mars harder. Softer paint requires less aggressive steps to correct while harder paint requires more aggressive steps to correct.