Handle? Or No Handle? - Using DA Polishers Without the Handle
The topic of handles on DA Polishers comes up from time to time and in all my classes I show how to use these tools with
and without the handles and leave it up to each person to decide which approach works best. Regardless of which approach you prefer, the handle can affect
Pad Rotation so check out the below information and then do some experimenting with your DA Polisher and see which approach works best for you.
The benefit to using a DA Polisher without the handle
The benefit to using these types of polishers without handles is that most people would agree that it give you better control over the polisher, better control over the pad and it requires less energy to use the polisher thus reducing fatigue. Reducing fatigue is important because buffing out an entire car requires anywhere from an average of 4 to 12 hours.
Keeping the pad flat to the surface
When using a DA Polisher it's important to keep the pad flat to the surface and the reason for this is it helps to maintain pad rotation and it's when the pad is rotating that defects are removed.
If you hold the polisher so that the pad is on edge, or if you apply more pressure to one side of the head of the polisher than the other, you can stop the pad from rotating and at this point you will no longer be removing defects.
Bail Handle -
Meguiar's and Griot's Polishers
The benefit to the Bail Handle is it enables you to apply pressure directly over the head of the polisher and this helps you to keep the pad completely flat against the surface.
The drawback to a Bail Handle is it extends your hand away from the head of the polisher and this can cause you to expend more energy and tire your forearm muscles controlling the polisher. It also reduces your control over the movement of the polisher.
This is especially true if you want to use a DA Polisher with a Bail Handle with one hand and even more true if you're trying to use a polisher with a Bail Handle with one hand on a vertical panel.
Stick Handle -
Porter Cable
The benefit to the stick handle is it enables you to easily control the movement of the polisher as well helps you to maintain the pad flat to the surface.
The drawback to the stick handle is that if you're not paying attention you can easily apply too much pressure to the handle side of the polisher causing you to hold the pad crooked or on edge and this can and will slow down pad rotation and even stop pad rotation.
Risk
There are also instances that when polishing some car body styles that you can accidentally run the handle into an adjacent painted panel potentially scratching the paint.
Personal Preference
When it comes to DA Polishers, my preference is to remove any handle and simply place my hand on the head of the polisher to guide and control it. This is especially helpful when using the polisher with one hand, for example when applying a finishing wax or sealant. And even more important if you want to machine wax the vertical sides.
Below are some pictures that show the various DA Polishers with and without handles.
Here are the three popular DA Polishers with their handles removed... 
With the Bail Handle removed from the Griot's Garage DA Polisher your hand fits comfortably over the plastic housing cover the head of the polisher. 
With the Bail Handle removed from the Porter Cable DA Polisher your hand fits comfortably over the plastic housing cover the head of the polisher. 
With the Bail Handle removed off the Meguiar's DA Polisher, there's a built-in tool rest that keeps the polisher from tipping over if you place it on it's back with the Bail Handle removed or adjusted to the extreme forward position. While this does provide a benefit, the problem is if you use this tool without the Bail Handle, this tool rest gets pressed into your hand.
If you remove the handle off any of these polishers, the plastic housing used on the Griot's and the Meguiar's units has a built-in, plastic locking tab to prevent the plastic housing from sliding off. You can pry it off, but it won't slide off.
The plastic housing on the Porter Cable polisher doesn't have a built-in plastic locking tab so if you remove the handle the plastic handle can easily slide off. If you're buffing out a car and this happens it may startle you!
Inside the Griot's Garage plastic housing, see the locking tab... 
This is the inside of the plastic housing off the Meguiar's polisher, sorry the picture is out of focus but you can still see the plastic locking tab that holds plastic housing on and keeps it from slipping or sliding off.
Here's the inside of the plastic housing off the Porter Cable Polisher and you can see there is no plastic locking tab and for this reason the plastic housing can and will slide off easily. This is why if you want to use the Porter Cable Polisher without a handle you should either place a piece of duct tape on it to keep it from sliding off or take this project up a notch and actually bold the housing on.
Of course, there's enough room inside the Bail Handle on both the Meguiar's and the Griot's polishers to place your hand on the head of the unit while leaving the Bail Handle in place.
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