PFW and the Flex

W

weekendwarrior

New member
I stay so busy these days that I don't really have time to experiment....on most details I am pressed for time to finish them, and don't have time to play with new techniques.

Has anyone here playerd around much with using PFW pads on the Flex? If so, have you tried them with both traditional and non diminishing abraisives?

Any tips or things you have noticed?
 
I just gave my opinion on this at Meg's Online, so I will be repeating myself somewhat.

The problem, or inherent problem, with foam pads on a dual action orbital polisher is that the length of the nap of the wool will absorb a lot of the DA motion. This chart I drew-up on photoshop might help illustrate my point.

orbital620.jpg


The diagram shows the tiny circular motion that an oribtal produces. A dual action polisher combines this orbital motion with spinning. As the backing plate moves in the tiny cicrles, the nap absorbs this movement, so that on the paint's surface the wool is moving little.

Wool pad's are inefficent at transfering the orbital motion to the surface of the paint... In a sense, you are left with just the rotational speed of the wool to produce the cut.

With a Flex, which has a fixed rotational speed, this is less of a problem. However on a Random Orbital polisher such as a Porter Cable XP or Meg's G110, the lower rotational speed becomes an issue. You will want to use light pressure to keep the spinning of the pad high.

I have always gotten more cut and better results using a cutting foam pad over any wool pad on a either machine, because the stiffer foam of the cutting pad does an excellent job of transfering the motion of the DA to the paint, instead of absorbing it.
 
So they'll work ok on a Flex, obviously not as well as they would on a rotary, but they will not work efficiently on a G110 or PC? I read somewhere that yellow pads might be more abrassive than PFW. What's your opinion? I've never used the yellow or purple pads before.
 
RustyBumper said:
So they'll work ok on a Flex, obviously not as well as they would on a rotary, but they will not work efficiently on a G110 or PC? I read somewhere that yellow pads might be more abrassive than PFW. What's your opinion? I've never used the yellow or purple pads before.
Click to expand...

Because the nap of the wool fiber absorbs most, if not all of the DA motion, you are essentially left with a low speed rotary if you use the Flex. The Flex, at maximum speed, is rated for 480 RPM. This is 120 RPM less than a Makita at it's lowest speed.

On a rotary, the Purple Foamed Wool is more aggressive (or should be in theory, obviously application differences can change the outcome) because the centrepital force caused by the spinning motion 'pulls' at the fibers, making them stiffer and increasing their cut.

On a DA, the yellow pad (or purple Kompressor pad) is going to provide more cut because it transfers the motion of the machine to the paint better.

Think of a wet mop. Place the mop so that 3/4's of the nap is laying on the floor, then move the handle in a circle. The actual fiber touching the floor is going to move very little, maybe not at all.

To take advantage of wool's properites it should be used with some rotational speed, not a DA jiggle.
 
gmblack3 said:
The surbuf pads work great with a PC. Plenty of cut.
Click to expand...

Very correct. The tiny nap (little synethic fingers) are very short and do a much more effective job of transfering the motion of the machine to the paint. Surfbuf pads on a DA will often rival the cut of a wool pad on a rotary, IME.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top