My first attempt with Rotary - 35 Ford

[dennish]

UPS man delivered my new Metabo rotary Friday but didn’t have a chance to use it till today which is Sunday. Of coarse I didn’t make it to a body shop to pick up a practice panel and I have not used a rotary before so I would problem need to practice. Well I could practice on an old car – yep that is what I will do, so the 35 Ford going to be my first attempt with a rotary. After inspecting the finish I had minor spider webbing and a couple of spots that has some light marring that will take some special attention. Nothing that OP or IP and a green pad on the Cyclo couldn’t take care of. Seems the most difficult areas are going to be the curved areas, which is about 75% of surfaces and the fenders being the worst with ridge going up the center. So I decided be conservative with pad and product selection and started with LC Black 6 ½ pad on 106ff working it at or below 1200 RPM – seemed safe enough.

1. I didn’t put the metal hand guard on the side handle – seemed like an accident waiting to happen.

2. Didn’t like the handle so removed it – found it easier to grab the body and the grip the head on the unit.

3. There is a piece the box to screw on to the arbor which makes the arbor about 1 ½ inch longer which I felt made it way to long and made it hard to control.

4. My backing plate has center hole to aid in alignment of the LC pads with center holes – found that a 5/8 deep well socket fits perfectly in the hole in the back plate and makes pad centering a snap and perfect every time.

5. Cleanup is a snap – I use an old ice cream tub and some DP pad cleaner and spin dry inside of a 5 gallon bucket and lay flat to dry.

6. I notice on TOL site they recommend against using dawn and claims it will loosen the Velcro on the pad and hard to wash at all the soap residue.

7. I really do like the soft start and if you plug it in the switch on it will not start – you have to turn it off then back on.


This is a single stage paint that was painted in 1998. The majority of polishing was done at or just above the 2 setting which on the Metabo is about 1100 to 1200 RPM using a LCC black pad and 106FF. I did break out a LCC white pad and 106ff for a scuff mark on the running board. I even slowed it down to 700 RPM and did inside the side (which is about a 1 wide area) and rear windows ledge using the edge of the pad only. I had no rotary skip nor did I have any problems controlling the rotary – I did the center of the roof one handed just hanging on the backend of the rotary. After doing a IPA wipe down and moving into the sun I will say that it is ready for LSP – swirl and hologram free. I have a Cyclo and PC and using the rotary is lot faster than the Cyclo and heads above a PC. My biggest regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.
Here is the pictures after a IPA wipe down and the car is naked with not QD or LSP….

[pirex]

Congrats on buying a metabo, my metabo bro It wasent that scary, huh? I love mine, and used it on every detail! Worth every penny The care came out great! What a nice car, it look to be in great shape!

[Truls]

When i saw the title on the post My first attempt with Rotary - 35 Ford i was thinking Oh a 35 ford, no, he is not? oh sure its a old junk car! but nope it wasnt.

You got some b##ls to "try" on that one duddy, and it LOOKS great too...

U got some skills i presume?

[Nica]

I enjoyed your write up, very nice. The Metabo is a great tool, easy to use and easy to "man handle" . Wow for being your first time the vehicle is looking really good very nice.

Just to give you a heads up, that extra peace you are refering to is an extension. Your not really supposed to use it unless you really want to, I have the exact same piece but different thread size's. Well another heads up for you is that what ever you do, do not press the red button on the head of the unit wile the machine is operating. That red button locks the shaft from spining and is meant to be used for replacing the backing plates and the machine is off ovoiusly. Someone in Autopia said they pressed the red button while the machine was spinning and the machine made a loud bang and smoke came out of the motor. He turned it off and let it cool down for a bit, tried to turn it on again. The motor was spinning but the shaft (that makes the pad/backing plate spin) did not spin. I haven't done it to my machine, nor will I ever.

Oh yea one more thing, the Metabo comes with a built in heat sensor that when the machine over heats it shuts it's self off. Now overheating can be caused by the type of cord you use and the amount of things that are connected to the extension cord. Example, if you have one of those trypod lights 1000W and your Metabo connected to the same extension cord and let's just say a regular cord, the Metabo is designed so that it will constantly draw power to maintain it's rpm/torque and speed..meaning to never bough down...so the Metabo will just draw more power in order to maintain the rpm/torque and speed. Now this I have done for my self and it did over heat. I was using an 8inch wool pad, a 16gauge (regular) extension cord and I within the same extension cord I had my 1000W lights connected to it and sure enough the Metabo over heated.

Well hope this bit of info helps a little...if anyone has had different experiance please do share.

[dennish]

I can’t believe how easy it was to use after all the talk about burning paint!! You have to pay attention to what you are doing and keep it moving. When you select product and pad you have to go down a step or two from PC or Cyclo and remember speed kills – keep the speed below 1400 RPM. I keep checking the surface since there is leather welting between all the fenders that I didn’t want to burn and I have ZERO problems. I really like the Metoba because of the 700 RPM speed setting, lets you really jewel the surface. I will be trying a couple of more pad and product combinations that I will review but some times what I perceive and my results don’t match the main stream. Just have to have the LSP on by Saturday morning for couple hundred mile drive and midnight cruise Saturday evening.

[ltoman]

dennis, that car looks absolutely awesome! i, too, was expecting an old junker by the title. you have skills, indeed!
also, you put the rotary in a different light...i am thinking about it, but am fairly fearful. This sheds new light. Thank you for showing us!!

[supercharged]

Dennis, that looks awesome! Top it off with Souveran paste and it will start glowing!

[med]

Nice job!! Nice car too. Is that yours? Lets see some more pics.

[dennish]

Originally Posted by ltoman

dennis, that car looks absolutely awesome! i, too, was expecting an old junker by the title. you have skills, indeed!
also, you put the rotary in a different light...i am thinking about it, but am fairly fearful. This sheds new light. Thank you for showing us!!

I going to stick my neck out here and say this “ I don’t believe a Motabo at 700 to 1000 RPM using black or blue LC 6.5 inch pad and 106ff is anymore dangerous than the PC with a blue, yellow or orange pad”. I only producing 8F to 12F degrees above the outside temp and I believe the correction ability of this combination is about 3 times that of a PC and will finish LSP ready 95% of the time. I have been able to generate some significant heat using a white pad at 1200 to 1500 RPM. What is nice is the smoothness of the machine and the vibration is almost nothing, not like the PC which is hard on my hands. Don’t take this wrong please with an aggressive pad and product you could easily burn paint but a little common since and patience will produce outstanding results safely. This car has leather welting between all the panels that if I product to much heat would burn but I have not had one bit of trouble.
I see you have a Vette – one of mine is sitting next to the 35 so it will probably be next!!