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Orbital Polisher questions

1K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  greg 
#1 ·
I've been reading posts by several people here, most notably Greg, about using an orbital polisher. On Friday, Im going to use the Porter Cable polisher I purchased last week, and I have a few questions about technique.

I did a search to see if I could get these answered and here is what I found. It was posted by Greg around January 20:

The technique: The glaze is liquid, the wax is paste. I apply the liquid to the pad, I apply the wax a bit heavily and very quickly to the car with a foam pad. You don't need to get it everywhere. The polisher will spread it evenly.

You place the pad onto the surface BEFORE you turn it on - this is important as without any resistance the pad will spin instead of orbit. Switch on and move the machine back and forth, overlapping the previous path by about 1/2 the diameter of the pad. You can move it pretty fast - somewhere near a foot per second. Let the weight of the machine do the work - you do not need to press except on vertical surfaces. The entire hood takes only 30 seconds or so - and voila, you have rubbed the material very evenly and very thinly into the paint with THOUSANDS of strokes. Wait for it to haze and then buff off manually with a good 100% cotton terry towel. That's it.

One note - paint is thinnest on the high spots and ridges - it flows off of these naturally during the painting process. But a polisher contacts these same surfaces FIRST. Therefore you should move the polisher to approach the high spot or ridge from both sides, as opposed to working over the top of it.

My questions are:
can you use the orbital polisher to remove the swirl remover/wax/polish?

what speed do you recommend?

do you go by pannel? (eg- apply polish to the hood and then buff it?)

do you turn the polisher off while its making contact with the car, or do you lift it off and then turn it off?

I think thats it for now.

TIA

ME
 
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#2 ·
Q1: can you use the orbital polisher to remove the swirl remover/wax/polish?

A1: Yes, but I find the "ultimate wipe" or equivalent towels better.

Q2: what speed do you recommend?

A2: I'm usually between 4 and 6. Start slow - you'll get comfortable with speeding it up fast. Just remember to put it on the surface first, THEN turn it on, to prevent the pad from starting to spin too fast.

Q3: do you go by pannel? (eg- apply polish to the hood and then buff it?)

A3: Really depends on the material. For me, with hand glaze, one panel at a time. For wax, about half the car - with the 3M wax I'm using it seems to be fine.

Q4: do you turn the polisher off while its making contact with the car, or do you lift it off and then turn it off?

A4: Either way. Lifting it won't hurt, although the pad will start to spin much faster than when it was on the car (where the primary motion is orbital) and if the pad is wet with material this is when it will spatter.

/Greg
 
#3 ·
Greg,
thanks a bunch. I bought some of those "ultimate towels" (I forget the exact name) are those better than the 100% cotton towels I have for buffing off the residue? FYI I am told that flouresent light really highlights swirl marks, so if anyone reading this notices those marks inside, you might not notice them outside..

ME
 
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