Gear Driven Holograms

[Ronin47]

So I’ve read here that Mike Phillips and a few others state that a forced rotation or gear driven will not finish as well as a long throw and on a few threads I disagreed as I was unable to tell a difference in finish between the two. However recently I had a dark blue Golf R which was corrected with both a 3401 and Mille where under Scangrip lighting the paint was close on perfect. However when taking it out into the sun both sides of the car had a hint of holograms, why I state hint is as it was not as pronounced as rotary holograms.

The car was moved back inside and repolished with the same pad/compound combo on a 21 MKII on a hologram affected area with the rest of the vehicle given a milder pad/combo treatment as it was corrected anyways. This was done to see if the initial pad/polosh combo would instill holograms again and of course the milder combo to treat the hologram/corrected areas. When pulled out into the sun the paint was absolutely stunning, the clarity was what it should have been initially. At the time of doing all this I was more into the actual paint correction than taking pictures and documenting, so no pictures unfortunately. I’m not saying that gear drivens can’t finish close on perfect as I have done so more times than I can count. What I am saying is that on certain paints they can finish less than desirable, so yeah Mike Phillips was right, long throws do finish better on the whole.

[fightnews]

The 12mm duetto is the perfect throw as far as I'm concerned. It has 50% more polishing power then the 8mm but it's not big enough to get bogged down easy like the 15mm. I imagine it's impossible to get any rotation on a curved contoured panel with a 21mm throw.

[Ronin47]

The 12mm duetto is the perfect throw as far as I'm concerned. It has 50% more polishing power then the 8mm but it's not big enough to get bogged down easy like the 15mm. I imagine it's impossible to get any rotation on a curved contoured panel with a 21mm throw.

You have it the other way around. I have the Duetto, Mini, 15ES, 15MKII and 21 MKII and the larger the throw the less the stall as the longer sling shot effect aids in rotation. But we digress, the topic is on the finish being better on the longer the throw as the spent product moves further away on the polishing section. So the longer the throw the better the rotaton, the better the finish and the better the correction.

[inDetail]

Machine does not matter it's skill and materials. If you know your tools and have the technique you should be able to do whatever you want with the paint. Just because it's a smaller hammer does not mean it can't drive the nails.

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Have found this as well with my 3401 on certain paints. I really just stick to my 21mm and 12mm Duetto.

[fightnews]

You have it the other way around. I have the Duetto, Mini, 15ES, 15MKII and 21 MKII and the larger the throw the less the stall as the longer sling shot effect aids in rotation. But we digress, the topic is on the finish being better on the longer the throw as the spent product moves further away on the polishing section. So the longer the throw the better the rotaton, the better the finish and the better the correction.

Sounds good and maybe true on a perfectly flat panel but 100% wrong on any type of curved, raised, contoured panel. A 12mm throw stalls way less then a 15. That's a fact

[SWETM]

Would it be the same thing with a 8mm free spinning DA as the 3401vrg? Or is it the gear driven polisher that does it? Can the reason be that the longthrow polishers has a more gentle oscillation on the surface? As the oscillation curve/pattern is more stretched out.

[Ronin47]

Would it be the same thing with a 8mm free spinning DA as the 3401vrg? Or is it the gear driven polisher that does it? Can the reason be that the longthrow polishers has a more gentle oscillation on the surface? As the oscillation curve/pattern is more stretched out.

It doesn’t have anything to do with 8mm more the force rotation. The Mille is 5mm and was just as guilty as the 3401’s 8mm.You are correct on the longer the throw being more stretched out yielding a better finish.

[Mike Phillips]

So I’ve read here that Mike Phillips and a few others state that a forced rotation or gear driven will not finish as well as a long throw

Actually, what I've said is close.... what I've said is gear driven orbitals don't always finish as nice as any free spinning orbital, be they short throw or long throw, and I've only noticed it on softer paints.



I first noticed this and stated it in December of 2012 in this thread

Christmas Detail - Ferrari P4 - Move over Rudolf




Here's the process I used,

The paint is Rosso Corsa Red in single stage and when I arrived and inspected the paint every inch of it was completely swirled out. I restored the paint using the following 5 steps.

1. Wiped car clean using Detailers Waterless Wash.
2. Clayed the paint using Pinnacle Ultra Poly Clay.
3. Machine polished the paint using Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover/Flex 3401/LC 6.5" Flat White Polishing Pad.
4. Machine polished the paint using Wolfgang Finishing Glaze/Meguiar's G110v2/LC 5.5" Flat White Polishing Pad
5. Machine waxed the paint using Wolfgang Fuzion/Meguiar's G110v2/LC 5.5" Flat Blue Finishing Pad.

Here's my reply to a question in posts #31 and #32


Here's the question...

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

Here's my answer...

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've noticed this same thing with the RUPES Mille at the RUPES class I taught with Jason Rose here back in December. I have not used the Makita PO5000C enough to have seen this characteristic with it yet as I have not buffed out a wide spectrum of cars/car paint with this tool yet.

I’m not saying that gear drivens can’t finish close on perfect as I have done so more times than I can count.

What I am saying is that on certain paints they can finish less than desirable, so yeah Mike Phillips was right, long throws do finish better on the whole.

And again, just to make sure everyone that reads this into the future is aware of my exact opinion and experience and that is, what I have seen on darker, softer paints is that any free spinning orbital will tend to finish out nicer and more perfect than any gear-driven orbital using the same pad and product.

I would say from experience that the nicest looking finish I've ever seen has been when I finish out with a 21mm free spinning orbital with an ultra soft foam finishing pad and an ultra fine cut polish.


The above all said, I also believe from experience that wax is the great equalizer. See what I wrote about this topic on in post #29 of this thread,


Battery Time - FLEX Cordless Polishers - Real World Detail by Mike Phillips at Autogeek - Post #29


You can substitute the word synthetic paint sealant or ceramic paint coating for the word "wax". Sometimes I use the word wax as a generic term to mean a product used as the final step to seal the paint.

[Mike Phillips]

Also...

The pic of the Ferrari in my above post was the before.... here's the after...