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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
Mike, I just bought a CBeast as I was tired of the GG9 stalling on the “complex” body lines of my ’12 Acura TL. Do you ever run into paint where you CAN’T address with pads and products using a forced-rotation Flex and have to switch to free-spinning to finish down? I’m hoping/expecting I can just use the CBeast as my one stop shop with my pad collection (Rupes. Uro-Tec) and numerous compounds/polishes to address my hobbyist paint correction needs. Thanks.
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
Originally Posted by dgage
Mike, I just bought a CBeast as I was tired of the GG9 stalling on the “complex” body lines of my ’12 Acura TL.
Congratulations. Invest some time behind the tool. Learn the way of the BEAST.
If you do a lot of "polishing" work, I recommend getting the new RUPES yellow and white CP foam pads. These pads both 7" and 6" work really well on all the BEASTS.
Originally Posted by dgage
Do you ever run into paint where you CAN’T address with pads and products using a forced-rotation Flex and have to switch to free-spinning to finish down?
Yes and for the record - I've shared this info for years on this forum. In fact, I demonstrated this last Friday during our last SEMA Live video.
Hang tight, I'll try to find the time stamp as to when I talk about it.
Originally Posted by dgage
I’m hoping/expecting I can just use the CBeast as my one stop shop with my pad collection (Rupes. Uro-Tec) and numerous compounds/polishes to address my hobbyist paint correction needs.
Thanks.
It's a HUGE time saver. It costs more up front buy pays for itself after one detail job in time and energy saved.
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
Originally Posted by Mike Phillips
Hang tight, I'll try to find the time stamp as to when I talk about it.
Start watching at the 12:30 time stamp mark.
Here's what's going on. I just pulled out #3000 grit sanding marks using the BLACKFIRE One Step.
I put the swirl finder light on the results and they are very good but not perfect. But not bad considering what I just did.
I then say if you want to take these results to a higher level - switch over to softer pad and a free spinning random orbital polisher.
The second step refines the results of the first step - easily.
In the real world - no one removes sanding marks using a cleaner/wax or AIO. That's just not what you do. The fact that I have no fear to do this live on black paint is because I understand what is real-world and what is un-real expectations.
And I believe this is the first time, possibly the second time I shared that in my opinion and experience, a free spinning random orbital polisher will finish out nicer on soft paint as compared to hard or medium paint.
Here's my write up from December of 2012
Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf
I was asked a question about why I corrected with the BEAST but finished with the Meguiar's G110 Polisher - which for those that might not know is a copy of the Porter Cable - in other words, the Meguair's G110 and the Porter Cable 7424XP are both 8mm free spinning random orbital polishers and VERY gentle and safe to paint.
Here's the question
Originally Posted by Crazy Amos
What made you decide to finish out with the G110 vs the Flex? Pad size selection or the non forced rotation maybe?
And my answer,
Originally Posted by Mike Phillips
Good question...
I find on softer paints like this car has that the PC style with a Fine Cut Polish finishes out nicer than with the more powerful Flex 3401.
The paint on this car was incredibly soft.
I only did my test spot using the Flex 3401 and end-results were acceptable, I did the 8mm free spinning step just to "make sure".
I also machine applied the wax using the Meguiar's G110 polisher.
So 8+ years ago as I type on November 11th, 2020, I shared at least in my own experience, (and not based on just this Ferrari), and "yes" when it comes to softer paints, some call them sticky or finicky, any brand of free spinning random orbital polisher will finish out nicer more consistently than any brand of gear-driven orbital polisher.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
I love YouTube comments....
On the topic of why I finished out with the free spinning tool to make the paint look even better in the video I shared above.
Originally Posted by M Z
Why would you finish off with this cordless one ?
Or could you finish the job with the beast as well, and do a perfect or identical job as with the cordless finisher ?
Originally Posted by Mike Phillips
Generally speaking - a free spinning random orbital polisher will finish out nicer on the widest spectrum of paint systems than a gear-driven orbital polisher.
Make sense?
I love YouTube and Facebook and Instagram and Periscope, and ChittyChatty, etc.
But on a forum - it's so much easier to have a real dialog. So many people are simply missing out.
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
I thought I had read that before. Thanks Mike. Great explanation and resource you are. Appreciate it! And thank you for making me spend way too much to become an “expert” hobbyist detailer.
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
Originally Posted by dgage
I thought I had read that before. Thanks Mike. Great explanation and resource you are. Appreciate it!
Always glad to share what I know in my knower.
Originally Posted by dgage
And thank you for making me spend way too much to become an “expert” hobbyist detailer.
Don't blame me, I'm just the how-to guy during the day and a blue collar working class dog on weekends.
Woof woof...
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Super Member
Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
***BUMP***
Mike, did you ever show the buffing pad options for these three polishers? Or did I miss it somewhere?
Thanks, Greg
Originally Posted by Mike Phillips
***Placeholder***
As I get time, I'll include buffing pad options for all three polishers here.
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
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Super Member
Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
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Re: The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
Originally Posted by Mike Phillips
The FLEX BEAST, Supa BEAST & CBEAST - 8mm Gear-Driven Orbital Polishers
Currently there are 3 versions of the FLEX BEAST available.
From left to right,
The Supa BEAST, the BEAST and the CBEAST
FLEX XC 3401 VRG
- 480 RPM and 9,600 OPM.
- Comes from the factory with a 6" Backing Plate.
The FLEX XC 3401 VRG is the original corded BEAST. The word BEAST is spelled with all capital letters. This is an 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit - orbital polisher. It's easily identified by the visible aluminum shroud at the head of the polisher.
FLEX XCE 10-8 125
- 430 RPM and 8,600 OPM
- Comes from the factory with a 5" backing plate.
This is the newest evolution of the original corded BEAST. I call it the Supa BEAST. The word Supa is short for super and only the first letter in the word Supa is capitalized and the word BEAST is all capital letters. Like the original BEAST, this is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit - orbital polisher. I personally use and recommend swapping out the factory 5" backing plate and installing the optional 6" backing plate. This enables you to use larger buffing pads and thus take full advantage of the power this tool offers with a larger footprint.
FLEX XCE 8-125 18.0
- 380 RPM and 7,600 OPM
- Comes from the factory with a 5" backing plate.
This is the CORDLESS BEAST aka the CBEAST . The word CBEAST is spelled with all capital letters and the letter C before the word BEAST simply stands for cordless. Like the original BEAST, this is a 8mm gear-driven fixed orbit - orbital polisher using Lithium-Ion re-chargeable batteries.
The original FLEX XC 3401 VRG 8mm gear-driven orbital polisher.
The FLEX Supa BEAST
The FLEX CBEAST
Body Design Changes
They are all roughly the same size and weight. In these pictures you can easily see the exposed aluminum head on the original 3401. The new design of the Supa BEAST and the CBEAST incorporate the handle into the head of the tool with a rubber overmold. With the original design, if the tool is dropped, it's possible for the handle to break. By removing the handle, breakage is now a non-issue.
Brushless Motor Technology
The newer Supa BEAST And CBEAST use FLEX brushless electric motors so there's never any brushes to wear out or replace. If you have the original BEAST an need to replace the brushes, here's a how-to video that shows you how to do it yourself.
Backing Plate Swap - Maximizing the ability of the Supa BEAST
After using all three of these tool extensively, my own personal preference is to invest in the larger 6" backing plate for the corded Supa BEAST. Being a corded model it has TONS of power and turning and churning larger pads is no problem. So, might as well take advantage of the power and of course, ZERO PAD STALLING and use larger pads that enable you to tackler more real-estate to get any detail job done faster.
Here's the link to the larger, optional 6" backing plate.
FLEX XFE 7-15 6 inch Backing Plate
My take on the three different BEAST options?
I get asked about these three different variations all the time. Here's my take,
The BEAST
If I REALLY want to bust-out a job and plow through it as fast as humanly possible I use the BEAST. The extra RPM and OPM are just a tick more than the Supa BEAST - BUT - if I'm in a hurry - I'll take full advantage of the extra speed and power.
The Supa BEAST
If not trying to hit Warp Speed - I grab the Supa Beast. It's much more enjoyable to use. It's an amazing tool. I would even say it's a freaking amazing tool. Compared to the original BEAST, it offers these 4 benefits.
- Smoother
- Quieter
- Lighter
- Cooler
The CBEAST
If I have an easy job, that means the car has only light swirls, scratches and these defects are shallow then I'll use the CBEAST. This also means I've done a TEST SPOT and found the paint corrects easy meaning the paint hardness is in the medium to soft range but definitely not what I would consider hard paint, then the pleasure of not hassling with a power cord cannot be understated. I love the freedom of no cord. Alas - most of the cars I detail are severely neglected with lots of swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation so I don't use the CBEAST as often as I wish I could.
Tool choice for me is about the condition of the paint and the speed in which I want to plow through the job.
Hello Mike,
Would the cordless Makita gear driven polisher have more correcting power than the cbeast?
Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
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