My First Rotary Experience!

[Calais]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

Excellent advice. Doing half a car one time doesn't qualify someone to start working on others treasured rides. It is so much less painful (and infinitely less expensive) to burn an edge on a junk panel than to do so on a customer's car - no matter what that car may be.

Oh, I know. I refuse to use my newly bought rotary on any cars that are not my own. Perhaps I will check my local junkyard for a spare trunk lid or trunk. I should be getting a chance to work on some spare panes/hoods at Poorboy's World weekend this sunday (sorry Meguiar's ) and Detailfest in March!!

See my post in this thread: http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sho...t=37501&page=2

[Calais]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

To save himself some money on scrap panels, Calais could offer a liability-free rotary service to the guinea pigs!!!

Quality control, my friend. I wouldn't touch my rotary to my baby yet, so I'm definitely not going to touch it to another person's if I cannot guarantee that the surface will be better than when I started.

[Eddie6th]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

Oh, I know. I refuse to use my newly bought rotary on any cars that are not my own. Perhaps I will check my local junkyard for a spare trunk lid or trunk. I should be getting a chance to work on some spare panes/hoods at Poorboy's World weekend this sunday (sorry Meguiar's ) and Detailfest in March!!

See my post in this thread: http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sho...t=37501&page=2

Have you got a G110? I remember a while back you saying you were getting one...I think?

There must be a multitude of bodyshops local to you. They might give you panels for nothing. Could be they have to pay to get them removed. The junkyards might charge. The bodyshop that I am friendly with,was out of panels recently...all taken away.So i went to another that i'd never been to before,explained what i was doing and he told me to help myself.

[Calais]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

Have you got a G110? I remember a while back you saying you were getting one...I think?

There must be a multitude of bodyshops local to you. They might give you panels for nothing. Could be they have to pay to get them removed. The junkyards might charge. The bodyshop that I am friendly with,was out of panels recently...all taken away.So i went to another that i'd never been to before,explained what i was doing and he told me to help myself.

I sure do. I absolutely love it. I figured that I might as well step up to the rotary for jobs that absolutely necessitate the use of one (the Saturn) and eventually to be able to use it as my chief tool. Besides, it was only $35.

I will definitely check that out, sounds like a brilliant idea. Perhaps I will cruise around begging for spare panels tomorrow.

[Eddie6th]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

I sure do. I absolutely love it. I figured that I might as well step up to the rotary for jobs that absolutely necessitate the use of one (the Saturn) and eventually to be able to use it as my chief tool. Besides, it was only $35.

I will definitely check that out, sounds like a brilliant idea. Perhaps I will cruise around begging for spare panels tomorrow.

Cool. I don't have the poppy for 2 machines,so I opted for Jack of all trades.
Most of these guys are friendly enough,and will help you out if you explain what you're doing. I want to go back soon. They had a merc hood in black. If it's tough,it'll be fun.

The cheapest rotary here is about $100. Can't argue with the price you paid. That's the bummer with Europe..too expensive. Make's me

[Calais]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

Most of these guys are friendly enough,and will help you out if you explain what you're doing. I want to go back soon. They had a merc hood in black. If it's tough,it'll be fun.

The cheapest rotary here is about $100. Can't argue with the price you paid. That's the bummer with Europe..too expensive. Make's me

I certainly hope they are around here too, as I don't speak Italian very well. I want a Mercedes hood to work on!

Europe is beautiful enough to make it worth it, I'm sure. Besides, you Europeans have such nice mannerisms, I love it.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

Oh, I know. I refuse to use my newly bought rotary on any cars that are not my own.

Yeah, we had the feeling this was your attitude - you sound really excited about your newfound discovery of rotary buffing but you seem grounded enough to take Han Solo's comments to heart!

I should be getting a chance to work on some spare panes/hoods at Poorboy's World weekend this sunday (sorry Meguiar's ) and Detailfest in March!!

This is great! Hey, we'd love to have you come to Meguiar's Garage instead but we understand it's a bit of a trip for you. Good for you though that you can get some hands on instruction - that's such a great way to learn.

[Calais]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

Yeah, we had the feeling this was your attitude - you sound really excited about your newfound discovery of rotary buffing but you seem grounded enough to take Han Solo's comments to heart!

This is great! Hey, we'd love to have you come to Meguiar's Garage instead but we understand it's a bit of a trip for you. Good for you though that you can get some hands on instruction - that's such a great way to learn.

I deffintely don't want to jump into the rotary haphazzardly, swirled paint is better than none.

Well, I'm sure there is more than enough demand for a class in New York, why not do some kind of Meguiar's roadtrip with the whole crew to show us, here on the east coast, how to do it. I would kill to go to a Meguiar's open garage.

[Eddie6th]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

I deffintely don't want to jump into the rotary haphazzardly, swirled paint is better than none.

Well, I'm sure there is more than enough demand for a class in New York, why not do some kind of Meguiar's roadtrip with the whole crew to show us, here on the east coast, how to do it. I would kill to go to a Meguiar's open garage.

Once you get to NY,if you keep goin' east,there's a place called europe....

Talking about Star Wars. We get a different version from you. Turns out Chewbacca is Luke's father.

[Mister B]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

I remember when some people were picking these up for $20.

Looking online now at the rotary you bought from Harbor freight, I noticed the price is now up to $49.99.

You guys must be pushing up the demand for these and now the price as well.

[Fly Bye]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!









Remember the force young Luke Skywalker, remember the force.

[sontakke]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

I finally gave in and purchased proper backing plate and pads for my ghetto rotary buffer. I had paid under $25 for the buffer and hated having to pay more than that for the pad and the backing plate :-)

I ordered:-
Meguiar's W64 Self-Centering Rotary 5" Backing Plate for 6.5" Pads
Meguiar's W7006 6.5-Inch Soft Buff Foam Cutting Pad
Meguiar's W8006 6.5-Inch Soft Buff Foam Polishing Pad

I used Ultimate Compound with the cutting pad and SwirlX with the polishing pad. I used speed III for cutting and speed II for polishing. Afterwards I sealed it with DuraGloss 501. I checked in the sun after the cutting pad. There were some holograms but they went away once I used SwirlX. This 11 year old van and there had been few years when it never even got a wash!

Bottom line:- If you are careful, you can use cheap rotary with good backing plate, pads and chemical, you can get decent results.









More pictures in my gallery

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/41268/ppuser/20473

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

I finally gave in and purchased proper backing plate and pads for my ghetto rotary buffer. I had paid under $25 for the buffer and hated having to pay more than that for the pad and the backing plate :-)

Amazing the difference a few proper tools can make, huh? Most likely there is nothing at all wrong with using the buffer you have, and if you were able to pick it up for $25 more power to you. But the right pad and backing plate can make all the difference in the world. We'd rather use your combination of "ghetto buffer" with top quality pads & liquids than the finest buffer money can buy and some no name, junky pads and liquids.

[sontakke]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

One of the advantage of the ghetto buffer for a newbie is that if you try to apply too much pressure, the pad starts slowing down. When I found myself in that situation, I backed off the pressure. This minimizes the chances of newbie screw up quite a lot.

I had tried to use the foam pad which came with the buffer. I have the paint burn marks on the bumper of my other car :-( That foam pad has integrated backing plate which goes all the way to the edge. I accidentally touched that edge while buffing the tail lights. You can imagine what a hard rubber/plastic edge of a backing plate can do to the paint :-(

That was when I ordered the Meguair's backing plates and pads. I also deliberately decided to stick with 5 inch BP and 6 inch pads as they are better suited for the cheap buffer. I really wanted the 2.0 version as they are washable but as far as I know, Meguiar does not make them.

I am still getting hang of the correct usage. I was quite comfortable doing the horizontal panels but verticals was lot more difficult. I think I need to swap the D-handle position when I do vertical vs horizontal.

- Vikas

[jbl_91762]

Re: My First Rotary Experience!

MYYYY first time with a rotary buffer was on my newly aquired 01 BMW sedan in black!! I used my old school Makita rotary with a white polishing pad purchased from a reputable detail shop. I blelieve its a 3m white pad. Anyways paint condition was good but stated to show scratches/spider web and I wanted to get it out. Used Swirl X to some satisfaction but was not completely satisfied. Went to detail shop and showed them what my results were and they sold me some rougher compound and that cleaned it up alot, well i'd say 75%. Still not happy but hey first time with a rotary at 1400 rpm and it turned out pretty good. Not perfect but didnt get the swirls out and had some buff marks left but not bad for again first timer. Attended Mag's free workshop today and Mike took a look at it. First wanted to use my car as demo but found an even worse 09 Benz to work on. Mike did a great job teaching and the class was definetly worth my busy time. He said my paint was not that bad as I'd described it. Of course not perfect. I'd highly recommend Youtube to learn as much as possible and watch the heat and keep that rotary moving at ALL times! Good luck and thanks again Mike!