Beginning the Rotary Journey

AudiTTman

AudiTTman

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Alright, so after reading up on just about every forum, thread, how-to ......where should i begin with a rotary. To me it doesn't seem like a good idea to go straight to a car hood and test it out. Im guessing i should probably learn on like scrap parts from a junk yard. I know that may sound stupid, but i cant come up with any other way to practice technique.
If you guys have any good tips for practicing id love to hear it.
 
That's actually the best way to practice. Ask Asphalt...he'll tell ya. Go get you a scrap hood/panel or a friend's beater car who won't mind. Your friend's car would be cheaper because if it's that bad, they probably won't mind because you would actually be improving their paint haha.
 
Scrap hood is a great way to get your feet wet. It'll give you a nice foundation to your learning. Adjust the panel so you can see how the machine reacts to different angles - horizontal and vertical. I usually go to the local body shop and borrow a hood. When I'm done, I return it to their scrap pile. Check out this thread for my latest experiments with a scrap BMW hood:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-university/8175-scrap-hood-wetsanding.html
 
scrap hoos is good for liek 25 minutes, but it gets old.

id defiently recc getting a beater carfrom a friend etc etc, its the vertical panels that take the work to learn, getting the holograms and vertical techinuq down
 
Great advice Bgray, plus start out with a wool pad, alot easier to control than foam. The wool will let you get a feel of how the buffer works, then move to a polishing pad which would be the easiest foam to you. Then you can move to a white. I wouldn't bother with an orange pad with a rotary when you have a wool pad to use.
 
Thanks guys for the help on that, i think this could actually be a pretty fun learning experience. Ive still got my PC which because it was my first love(in terms of polishers). Budman, thats an awesome thread you had started. From wetsanding to spray paint. Heck you could have made a Youtube video on that!!!!!

So from what ive been seeing, you wanna keep that sucker moving at all times. Does the same up-down, back and forth deal apply with a rotary as it does with a DA?
 
if you want to practice vertical technique then lean the scrap hood against a wall. If its scrap you can practice whenever and not work around your friends schedule. you can also mess it up to try different methods of correction
 
Leaning a hood against a wall is still not going to help nowhere near as much as working on side of a vehicle. Like Bgray said, the true way to practice is on an actual car and just take your time and you will be fine. I don't see a need to get scrap pieces to practice on, it isn't that hard as people make it out to be. What is hard is learning how work the buffer to get max gloss and no holograming. Anyone can move a rotary across paint, but it takes someone with skill to make it come out flawless.
 
ASPHALT ROCKET said:
Leaning a hood against a wall is still not going to help nowhere near as much as working on side of a vehicle. Like Bgray said, the true way to practice is on an actual car and just take your time and you will be fine. I don't see a need to get scrap pieces to practice on, it isn't that hard as people make it out to be. What is hard is learning how work the buffer to get max gloss and no holograming. Anyone can move a rotary across paint, but it takes someone with skill to make it come out flawless.
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Couldnt put it any better...

As far as the pads go, wools is alot mroe forgiving in its movements, the foam tends to grab alot more. Maybe get 2 or 3 Orange Small 4" pads, they are good for doing spot correction, but are terrible to polish a car with, they are to stiff and WILL make a mess
 
I agree, I hate the orange pads, way too stiff.
 
Hey i know this i sorta off topic on here but it will come in handy when doing the final touches with a rotary. To you guys prefer a red pad or blue when putting on sealent/ waxes??? I've always used a red, but recently i've been hearing that blue is the way too go?? is that true??
 
The blue pad is used for your final polishing, not for lsp. I would not use the rotary to apply your lsp. Alot of people seem to use the red pad to apply their lsp's.
 
So far i have been using neither my handjobber for LSP(Fuzion, souvern etc) and have applied my sealnets with blue pads(didnt notice any marring from my experiences)
 
AudiTTman said:
Hey i know this i sorta off topic on here but it will come in handy when doing the final touches with a rotary. To you guys prefer a red pad or blue when putting on sealent/ waxes??? I've always used a red, but recently i've been hearing that blue is the way too go?? is that true??
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There isnt going to be much of a difference between blue and red. Its not like you need any mechanical action when applying LSP, so what would the difference be? I prefer to use the red pads, but again, blue doesnt have cut either so you could use that too.
 
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