porter cable or griots garage

[Harleyguy]

The Flex is a nice machine but why in the world they engineered it for only 1 size pad is beyond me.

Boy is that the truth.I may of heard that Lake country was looking into making a BP for the flex but the tooling cost was unreal.It was something like a couple hundred thousand.Not sure if you ever got a chance to take off the BP but you can see why they only made one side.The BP has a tooth plastic gear formed into it.If they made other sizes that really would be the iceing on the cake

[DARK HORSE]

Will you use it for just you personal use or will you be doing it for a business. I would think either DA would be fine for personal use and the Flex may be overkill in the $$ area. If cash in not a issue, I think we would all like to own a flex. Like is said above the DA offers more flexibility for pad sizes anywhere from 4" to 6.5". I own a Griot's and have been very happy with the power and dependability to date. I think the Griot's is slightly heavier than the PCXP. Good luck, it's a confusing and hard choice without being able to put hands on both side by side.

I don't think you can go wrong with either. They both have +'s and -'s. It seems like there is an almost equal split of support for both. They both can do what they are supposed to and what the manufactures claim they can as long as the operator takes the time to learn the tool...

[87rx7chick]

The Flex is a nice machine but why in the world they engineered it for only 1 size pad is beyond me.

maybe because flex is a true force rotational and the griots and porter cable arnt true force rotational meaning if you give it enough force on the outer edge it will stop rotating and just vibrate please correct me if i am wrong

i know that the flex back plate has gearing on it


as you can see its like a spirograph it rotates with in and follows the gear alot like a rotary engine lops around inside

[2old2change]

In Dallas at Nick Chapman's GTG , Mike Phillips showed the class something that I personally had never thought of. When the flex is turned on its edge like for a panel with a grove in it the forced rotation of the flex bounces up and down sort of beating the panel and not staying in contact with the panel where as the Groits or pc style with a variable rotation would remain in contact with the panel and keep spinning.Just something to keep in mind when making a choice. I guess in a perfect world one might own both a rotary and a da or two. For those that do this for a living I can see where its necessary but for a hobbiest on a budget , concessions might have to be made.

............................ Paul S ........................

[87rx7chick]

In Dallas at Nick Chapman's GTG , Mike Phillips showed the class something that I personally had never thought of. When the flex is turned on its edge like for a panel with a grove in it the forced rotation of the flex bounces up and down sort of beating the panel and not staying in contact with the panel where as the Groits or pc style with a variable rotation would remain in contact with the panel and keep spinning.Just something to keep in mind when making a choice. I guess in a perfect world one might own both a rotary and a da or two. For those that do this for a living I can see where its necessary but for a hobbiest on a budget , concessions might have to be made.

............................ Paul S ........................

so forced rotation DA arnt always good in situations like that. thats wonderful news , never thought of that!