Small pads on large orbital polishers

[Mike Phillips]

Small pads on large orbital polishers

There's been a few questions on the forum lately about using smaller pads on full size traditional dual action polishers so here's a few pictures to give you an idea what this looks like.

Of course the words small and large can be subjective depending upon which polishers you own but for the most part I'm talking about using pads 4" in diameter and smaller on full size orbital polishers like the Porter Cable 7424XP and the Griot's Garage 6" DA Polisher.

I have a project car coming into Autogeek's Show Car Garage tomorrow for some work on Wednesday and I'll take some pictures to show you how handy it can be to have a dedicated polisher setup to use smaller pads.

Here's some pictures to show you to approaches...

Here's a 3" flexible rotary buffer backing plate with a DA polisher adapter on a 3" Lake Country Foam Pad and to the right of it is a 3" DA backing plate on a Flex 3" foam buffing pad.




If using the adapter make sure you tighten it into the rotary buffer backing plate till it's snug.





Then tighten the adapter into the spindle using the PC wrench.




Here's how it will look when you're done.




Here's the safety concern with this approach, the housing is now open and you could accidentally get your fingers into where the counterweight is spinning so if you ever use this approach be careful.







With this approach you have the length of the adapter and the thickness of the rotary buffer backing plate which when bolted together increases the distance between the tool and the face of the pad. This is no big deal as long as you pay attention and hold the tool firmly. If you're not paying attention and are using the weight of the tool you may find this set-up to be tippy.

As long as you hold the tool firmly and focus on the task at hand it won't be an issue.





Using the 3" DA Backing plate keeps the pad closer to the body of the tool and eliminates the safety concern and makes for a smoother buffing experience with less of the tippy factor.

[Mike Phillips]

Here's another article I wrote today with links to where you can get some of the smaller pads and backing plates on the AG store.



3 inch and 4 inch buffing pad options at Autogeek


Griot's 3" foam pads
Griots Garage 3 Inch Orange Polishing Foam Pad 3 Pack

Griots Garage 3 Inch Black Finishing Pad, Set of 3

Griots Garage 3 Inch Mini Red Wax Pad 3 Pack



Flex 3" foam pads
The Flex 3" foam pads work great with rotary or DA style pads, it's the taper that makes small pads work.

FLEX PE8 Rotary Foam Pads – 1, 2, 3 Inch Diameter

The 3" Flex pad will fit on this DA backing plate

3" backing plate



Buff and Shine 4" pads
Buff and Shine offers a Mini Spot Buffing Kit. The kit includes a rotary buffer backing plate with an adapter to fit the rotary buffer backing plate to a DA polisher.

Buff and Shine Mini Spot Buffing Kit


The foam pads and wool pads in this kit will fit on this 3" DA backing plate

3" backing plate




These LC pads fit the above 3" backing plate too...

Lake Country Hydro-Tech 3 x 1.25 Inch Foam Pads


Lake Country 3 Inch Flat Pads 6 Pack - Your Choice





If you can go 4" the Meguiar's 4" foam pads or the Cyclo 4" foam pads or the Buff and Shine 4" pads are great for that size category.

Meguiar's

Meguiars DA Compound Power Pads

Meguiars DA Polishing Power Pads

Meguiars DA Waxing Power Pads


Cyclo

Cyclo 4" pads


Buff and Shine

Buff and Shine 4" pads



RUPES
And the RUPES 4" foam pads are tapered and killer! I use the white pads for machine waxing.


Rupes 100 mm (4 Inch) Foam Pads


Lots of options!

[SeanChav]

Great info Mike, thx!!!....I'm glad I went with the LC 3" DA plate and 3.5" LC thin pads

[rlmccarty2000]

This is great information and much appreciated. Until Rupes Nano is released (and becomes affordable) this is a great way of getting into tight spots. Do you have any articles on going even smaller?

[davey g-force]

Thanks Mike