Polishers - Forced Rotation vs Free Wheeling

[theamcguy]

Polishers - Forced Rotation vs Free Wheeling


Mike here is a question I have never seen addressed when would it be advantageous to use a free wheeling polisher vs a forced rotation polisher?

I understand the benefits of a forced rotation machine but if a detailer had both a free wheeling polisher like the Flex XFE 15 (cordless free wheeling polisher) and the Flex XCE 18 (CBEAST) what would be a situation where the XFE 15 would be a better choice than the XCE 18?

Thank you

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Bill,

Great question. And I have answered this in the past. I often type,

Half of my forum work is remembering where stuff I've written is located.


Because this is a good topic and the car I detailed brings this topic to my memory, here you go...


Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/58698-christmas-detail-ferrari-p4-move-over-rudolf.html)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1668/Ferrari_P4_Detailed_by_Mike_Phillips_012.jpg





In post 31 in the above write-up I'm asked why I started with the gear-driven BEAST yet finished with the free spinning polisher.

Here's the question and my answer and I stand by this answer today as I typed in in the year 2013







What made you decide to finish out with the GV110 vs the Flex? Pad size selection or the non forced rotation maybe?








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 PC step just to "make sure".

I also machine applied the wax using the PC.





I think we will all agree a free spinning random orbital polisher is less aggressive than any brand of gear-driven orbital polisher, it's just the nature of the beast - no pun intended.

Soft paints tend to scratch easier than hard paints and also tend to MICRO-MAR easier. A free spinning tool with the right pad and polish will reduce the potential for micro-marring as compared to a gear-driven polisher.

Of course you can finish out with a gear-driven orbital on soft paints, I'm not saying you cannot, heck I do it all the time. What enables "us" to do this is the ever improving abrasive technology and foam pad technology.

What I am saying however is it's easier and more bubba-proof to use a free spinning tool if that's an option.

In my opinion, every pro detailer should have at least these 3 tools minimum.

1: Gear-driven orbital polisher.

2: Free spinning random orbital polisher.

3: Rotary Polisher.

Nice to have are micro-tools.

1: FLEX PXE

2: RUPES Nano

3: Griot's G8


:)

[theamcguy]

Mike Thank you for your great answer, it was exactly the kind of information I was looking for. I really appreciate it.

[flooramatic]

I use ONLY 'free-wheeling' polisher on EVERY vehicle

Forced rotation is TOO AGGRESSIVE, esp on luxury cars & new or newly repainted vehicles

[Mike Phillips]

I use ONLY 'free-wheeling' polisher on EVERY vehicle



Always a safe approach.






Forced rotation is TOO AGGRESSIVE, esp on luxury cars & new or newly repainted vehicles




Forced rotation is a rotary buffer.

Forced rotation and oscillation is a gear-driven orbital.


I'm pretty sure Bill meant a gear-driven orbital when he wrote the title of this thread as

Polishers - Forced Rotation vs Free Wheeling


As a word guy, a writer and a person that ALWAYS chooses and uses each and ever word I post specifically, I would have wrote the title,

Polishers - Gear-driven orbital polishers versus free spinning random orbital polishers


Just to note, 99.9% of the time I see someone on Facebook refer to a gear-driven orbital like the BEAST, the Mille or the Makita PO5000C, they refer to it as a

Forced Rotation


So they are ALL wrong to with the way they describe a gear-driven orbital.

A forced rotation tool describes ONE ACTION - that's rotary buffer.

A gear-driven orbital describes TWO ACTIONS. The BEAST, Mille or PO5000C



For what it's worth


:)

[Mike Phillips]

Mike Thank you for your great answer, it was exactly the kind of information I was looking for. I really appreciate it.




No problemo…


:)

[Kamakaz1961]

Try polishing a Porsche 911 with a Free Floating DA. So many curves (beautiful curves I might add) that it would more than likely STOP the free float from its orbital rotation. A flex 3401 will just breeze right through that. But it does take finesse to use that Flex right!

But Mike is right about the DA's needed in your arsenal. My free float DA is a PC7424XP and love it for my sealant/wax application.

KEEP ON ROCKING!

[dcjredline]

LOL @ a forced rotation DA being DANGEROUS!!!! Its only as dangerous as the operator. IF you arent familiar with the polisher or are afraid of it that doesnt make the polisher dangerous. If you only detail flat panels a free spinning DA will be fine, as CJ said yer not gonna polish (well) a good majority of cars with curves as well as you are with a forced rotation DA like the 3401. Sorry

[dcjredline]

Forced rotation is TOO AGGRESSIVE, esp on luxury cars & new or newly repainted vehicles

Actually most body shops IME use a rotary polisher(if you were talking about rotary cause a forced DA isnt much more aggressive than a free spinning) specifically on newly painted vehicles because they cut much faster. Dunno where you get your info from. As I said before the operator is much more important of a factor than the tool they are using.

[Saibot]

Hi Bill,

Great question. And I have answered this in the past. I often type,

Half of my forum work is remembering where stuff I've written is located.


Because this is a good topic and the car I detailed brings this topic to my memory, here you go...


Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/58698-christmas-detail-ferrari-p4-move-over-rudolf.html)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/1668/Ferrari_P4_Detailed_by_Mike_Phillips_012.jpg





In post 31 in the above write-up I'm asked why I started with the gear-driven BEAST yet finished with the free spinning polisher.

Here's the question and my answer and I stand by this answer today as I typed in in the year 2013












I think we will all agree a free spinning random orbital polisher is less aggressive than any brand of gear-driven orbital polisher, it's just the nature of the beast - no pun intended.

Soft paints tend to scratch easier than hard paints and also tend to MICRO-MAR easier. A free spinning tool with the right pad and polish will reduce the potential for micro-marring as compared to a gear-driven polisher.

Of course you can finish out with a gear-driven orbital on soft paints, I'm not saying you cannot, heck I do it all the time. What enables "us" to do this is the ever improving abrasive technology and foam pad technology.

What I am saying however is it's easier and more bubba-proof to use a free spinning tool if that's an option.

In my opinion, every pro detailer should have at least these 3 tools minimum.

1: Gear-driven orbital polisher.

2: Free spinning random orbital polisher.

3: Rotary Polisher.

Nice to have are micro-tools.

1: FLEX PXE

2: RUPES Nano

3: Griot's G8


:)

Mike, I just read the post you suggested and the results of that detail are amazing.
Thanks for posting!