Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

[Agent 99]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

Are you sure about that?

That's what it says on the side.

[Mary S]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

To explain further where I am coming from about hand waxing versus machine waxing:

Suppose you are polishing your car outside, and there is a fleck of some kind of contaminant that lands on the car that you don't see, or it is left over from when you washed. And that fleck is enough to lightly scratch your clear coat if it gets rubbed around.

So either your rotary or DA or an orbital polisher is going to move that fleck around at high speeds, maybe a few hundred times. Your hand will only move it around a few times.

So if you were extremely careful to ensure you were working "clean" every where on the car before you touched it, you are okay, but otherwise, machine waxing might put your paint at more risk than hand waxing.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

That's what it says on the side.

Even if they are measuring the speed in rpm as opposed to opm, there is no torque behind the motor so as soon as you put some pressure down on it the thing just gives up. A D/A will withstand pressure far better than your typical orbital, but will still bog down with enough pressure applied (but that's several times the pressure that would kill an orbital). A rotary, on the other hand, doesn't care how much pressure you put on it, it will keep spinning and the paint will give up looooong before the buffer will.

To explain further where I am coming from about hand waxing versus machine waxing:

Suppose you are polishing your car outside,

Hmmmm.....if working outside then certainly the chances of such contamination would certainly be greater than indoors. Still, the odds of anything large enough to cause actual damage landing on the paint are almost nil. Plenty of mobile detailers still apply wax by D/A when working outside and, personally, I don't recall any of them ever commenting on this happening. Obviously that doesn't mean it's never happened (age seems to be playing a negative role in my capacity to remember such minutiae ), but I don't think it's much of a concern, really.

Still, one can't be too careful, that's for darn sure, and cleanliness is vital when detailing. We preach this all the time in our Saturday classes.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

One last question. It seems to use a Velcro backing. Which pads do I need to get to apply paste wax at slow speeds? Will it just stuck on the Velcro? And what material? Part numbers would be wonderful but I'll settle for a nod in the right direction.

You'll want the W9207 Soft Buff 2.0 finishing pad for wax application and yes, it's just a quick velcro on/off proposition. You'll want the W8207 polishing pad for defect correction - but before doing any defect correction you want to make sure you know how to use this tool. Really know how to use it. You can get into serious trouble very quickly with a rotary if you don't know what you're doing. Even when just applying wax at a slow speed, you want to keep that pad as flat as possible against the paint. Be very aware of the orientation of the pad as leaning onto an edge is primarily how holograms occur. The risk of same should be very slight at such a low speed, but it's best to get used to a pad that is flat against the paint.

[Mary S]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

Hmmmm.....if working outside then certainly the chances of such contamination would certainly be greater than indoors. Still, the odds of anything large enough to cause actual damage landing on the paint are almost nil. Plenty of mobile detailers still apply wax by D/A when working outside and, personally, I don't recall any of them ever commenting on this happening. Obviously that doesn't mean it's never happened (age seems to be playing a negative role in my capacity to remember such minutiae ), but I don't think it's much of a concern, really.

Still, one can't be too careful, that's for darn sure, and cleanliness is vital when detailing. We preach this all the time in our Saturday classes.

The invisible "flecks" have been my downfall when not taking care to work "clean" with whatever I do, most of which is inside. And not just using machines, by hand as well. I may just have a flecky garage.

I can see myself, DA in one hand, big ostrich feather duster (substitute California Dash Duster or duster of your choice) in my other hand clearing the way to make sure the DA doesn't pick up anything I don't want it to.

(Don't worry, I don't let any of the scratchy parts of my ostrich feather duster get anywhere near my paint).

Of course, getting near the base of the car unless you have meticulously cleaned the area of tar and contaminants could also present a problem if you were to dislodge a particle with the DA and compound.

And maybe when you are talking about wax, there is a lubricity about the wax that would help protect your paint's surface from contaminants.

[Daniel Kinder]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

Hey agent

I'd like to add that it would be best to go to a local body shop or a junk yard and get you a test hood to practice on, and a one black at that since it shows details better or damage-imperfections!

I go to the local body shops and they will give me the old hoods in there collection since they are from wrecks or salvage.

Even with different pads (wool-foam) some products act differently being applied with a rotary so at least practice some on a test hood or simular before you use the rotary on your paint.

[Mary S]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

200-3300 was written on the side of the box and on the buffer itself.

Hi, does the box and/or the buffer itself list the speeds at each setting, ie. 200 for 1, 3300 for 6, etc. If so, would you mind posting the speeds for 2, 3, 4, and 5? I am pretty sure I have this model, but when I bought it they did not indicate any of these speeds. I would appreciate it!

[Agent 99]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

Hi, does the box and/or the buffer itself list the speeds at each setting, ie. 200 for 1, 3300 for 6, etc. If so, would you mind posting the speeds for 2, 3, 4, and 5? I am pretty sure I have this model, but when I bought it they did not indicate any of these speeds. I would appreciate it!

It doesn't indicate any specific speeds.

[Mary S]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

It doesn't indicate any specific speeds.

Okay, thanks.

I don't have anything to compare it to, but it isn't a bad rotary, especially for the price. It is fairly light, I think I weighed it at about 6-7 pounds. If anything is going to break on it, it will probably be the button that locks the speed, which seems a little flimsy. It doesn't have a soft start like some of them do, it goes right up to speed.

The negative thing I have heard people say about it is the fact it slows down under load. I never really noticed this, but again, I haven't used one of the better models. You can compensate by just turning the speed up to where you want it.

What I like about it is I could just buy it locally, and if there is a problem within the 1-year warranty period, I can just take it back to the store, no need to mail it in and wait. They offered an extended warranty when I bought it, but I passed it up. I only paid $29 for it on sale.

So for practicing on a junk hood to learn to use the rotary, it hasn't been bad. I finally got a DA so I probably won't need to use it much on my car, although I will in spots where there are deeper scratches I need to remove.

[Mister B]

Re: Bought my first buffer, a generic. Have Q's..

Here is a thread I started last year regarding the RPM speeds of the Harbor Freight buffer.

Chicago Electric Speed Settings