So after ~13hrs of PC use this weekend..........

R

rkf76

New member
the joints in the fingers on my left hand are slightly sore and my fingers are swollen. I'd imagine the immense vibration experienced at speed #6 for such an extended period of time was the culprit. Anyone else experience this problem before? Is there any mods I can make to the PC to cut down on the vibration a high speeds? I can barely make a fist w/my left hand :think:



Here's a couple pics of the finished product, not much sunlight out today, but I took the best shots I could given the weather.



MC%20reflection.JPG




MC%20full%20shot.JPG
 
The PC is not really the problem. It's your grip that is to blame. Lighten up on the machine and you should be fine. If not, there are some gloves you can buy that reduce the vibrations to those who are sensitive.



JJ
 
First of all, I never use speed 6. I find that it tears up my pads and, like you, doesn't make my hands feel too good afterwards.



As far as mods, all I can recommend, if you haven't done this already, is taking off the plastic handle as this aids in vibration and you don't need it anyway, and also being sure to use the 6" counterweight. If you have the 7336, you already have this counterweight, and if you have the 7424, you would need to change it out.
 
JDookie said:
First of all, I never use speed 6. I find that it tears up my pads and, like you, doesn't make my hands feel too good afterwards.



As far as mods, all I can recommend, if you haven't done this already, is taking off the plastic handle as this aids in vibration and you don't need it anyway, and also being sure to use the 6" counterweight. If you have the 7336, you already have this counterweight, and if you have the 7424, you would need to change it out.
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I was using #6 cause I had some heavy polishing to do, my material of choice was Hi-Temp Medium cut leveler, pad was a Lake County VC cutting pad. This is the first time I have attempted swirl removal with the PC, and only because of the awesome results I achieved the day before using the same material with a Lake County VC polishing pad on a 99 Ford F-350 PowerStroke diesel w/light to moderate swirls. Neither day did I notice any abnormal wear and tear on either of the pads.



The hand that's bothering my is my guide hand, I grip the PC with my right hand, guide it with my left. All of the vibration was at the end of the PC where I place my hand to guide it. How much is the 6" counterweight? What does it do? I have the 7424.



I did the whole truck w/o the handle. Started doing my car and couldn't take it anymore so I tried the handle to see if that helped, it didn't. Although I wouldn't say it made it worse either.
 
You should definitely use a light grip, especially since you are using it for prolonged periods of time. Everyone uses a different amount of pressure with the PC, but it basically does the work itself and you just hold it so only the pad is touching the paint.
 
truzoom said:
You should definitely use a light grip, especially since you are using it for prolonged periods of time. Everyone uses a different amount of pressure with the PC, but it basically does the work itself and you just hold it so only the pad is touching the paint.
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It's not the grip hand that's bothering me, it's the guide hand. I'm not whiteknuckling it when I guide it either, just controlling the direction I want it to go. Again, I believe it's the immense vibration experienced at this high speed that's the blame, will using the counterweight mentioned above decrease said vibration?
 
Yes, it will decrease the vibration *some* but on such a high speed, you are always going to deal with this. Like I said, I never use speed 6 for quite a few reasons, and this is one of them. I find speed 5 just as effective, if not more effective because it gives you longer working times. Just my opinion.



BTW, counterweights are usually just a couple bucks. Here's one for $2.00:

http://www.prestostore.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?ref=exceldetail&ct=37933
 
series1 said:
Well 13 hours with the pc is a lot of work and it looked liked it payed off cause your car looks great!
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:LOLOL



Why thank you. But let me explain. On saturday I spent a good 6hrs lightly polishing/waxing a 99 Ford F-350 PowerStroke diesel w/light swirls. Sunday I spent 7hrs moderately polishing/waxing my moderately swirled car, an 04 Monte Carlo.



I think it came out alright, however white isn't exactly an easy color to work on. For one, because I didn't want to polish/wax in direct sunlight so I moved it under a covered parking area but in doing so I wasn't able to see any swirls at all, no matter what angle I looked at it. And secondly, I kinda feel robbed of a sweet finished product as white has no depth at all. It's glossy as an alcoholics eyes, but no depth. In any case, I noticed some light swirls still remained in places. Oh well, overall, it looks alot better than it did, im happy with it.
 
JDookie said:
Yes, it will decrease the vibration *some* but on such a high speed, you are always going to deal with this. Like I said, I never use speed 6 for quite a few reasons, and this is one of them. I find speed 5 just as effective, if not more effective because it gives you longer working times. Just my opinion.



BTW, counterweights are usually just a couple bucks. Here's one for $2.00:

http://www.prestostore.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?ref=exceldetail&ct=37933
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I'll give the counterweight a shot, as well as using #5. Thanks for the advice :up



I pass a PC factory repair shop on the way to and from work, I think I'll stop in to see if I can buy the counterweight from them.
 
rkf76 said:
I kinda feel robbed of a sweet finished product as white has no depth at all.
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nah...keep working, and trying out new stuff...



Depth is very possible on white.



Lookin' good now, but it can only get better from here!
 
White95Max said:
nah...keep working, and trying out new stuff...



Depth is very possible on white.



Lookin' good now, but it can only get better from here!
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maybe on a metallic or pearl, but how do you get depth out of a solid white?
 
White95Max said:
Why do you say that a pearl or metallic would offer more depth than a solid color?
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everyone's perception is different, it's my experience that metallics and pearls are easier to bring out the depth in, vs. solid color, especially white. My car has a wonderfully glossy look right now, it looks wet, but depth, eh, compared to my previous cars it doesn't have much.
 
rkf76 said:
MC%20full%20shot.JPG
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<Homer Simpson voice> mmmmmmmmmmmmm Gartner's freezer beef :drool:



The dead beat hand thing goes away after you detail more. I had that in the begining too. You can buy a pair of vibration dampening gloves. I have them and they do work.



I have these and they worked great when I needed them:



http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/RIN-16310.html



Also, ditch the handle and use your palm on top of the polisher - Better control, more concentrated pressure and less fatigue.



You can use your PC on speed 6. It's the only speed I use for surface correction because it's the speed that works unless you feel like polishing forever.
 
Accumulator said:
rfk76- You might want to get a pair of vibration-reducing gloves. There's a thread about them around there somewhere...
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If I detailed more often, I would, but it's rare that I'm gonna use my PC as much as I did this past weekend. But if I get more busines then I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I'm gonna get a 6" counterweight though, and a 4" if I can find one.



tumbler said:
looks great ! but this is yet more justification as to why i will go the route of rotary.. better smr and less time
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Thanks. I would suggest you get both. The rotary is awesome for swirl reduction, works very well, but it can creat more work for you too if you don't know what you're doing. It's a very humbling machine, I'll tell you that. If you don't use the proper technique, you'll spend far more time, and maybe even money, to get good results. I think every good detailer should have both........I guess that makes me a good detailer :dance
 
Well, if you are a *good* detailer if you have a rotary and a PC, what kind of detailer are you if you have a rotary, pc, and a cyclo??



On the counterweights, I believe they only have a 5" and a 6". I installed a 6" weight on my 7424 and never went back to the 5" even for 4" spot buff pads. The machine just seems to *like* the 6" weight the best for everything.
 
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