New FLEX Tools Introduced at SEMA!

Mike Phillips said:
Good guess but that's not what these new tools are...

Last summer, (2016), when we travelled to Germany to attend Automechanika we also toured the FLEX Corporate Office as well as the SONAX corporate office.

While at FLEX in Germany I had a chance to test out some brand new prototypes and each one, even though hand-built, were impressive as PROTOTYPES. (Prototypes tend to be not as robust as production units).


After we made this video,






Bob Eichelberg shared the production units with me and let me test them out and they are impressive. Considering most of us detailers LOVE new tools, I think the new FLEX tools are going to be the most talked about new products introduced at SEMA this year.


And here's the good news... at SEMA - Bob is giving me both of these new tools for my personal tool collection of prototypes and low serial number production units.


This means I will also have these two new tools at my Colorado Roadshow Class for those of you attending this upcoming class.


Autogeek Roadshow Class - November 11th & 12th in Evergreen, Colorado - IMPORTANT INFO - Location - Hotels - Airports


For more information, watch this video...





Price - $995.00

Click here to register online


Or for more information call Autogeek at

1-800-869-3011 ext. 244



Location

Here's the name and address of the car wash that is hosting this class

Evergreen Car Wash and Detail

Evergreen_0001.jpg



Address
Evergreen Car Wash and Detail
29002 Crossroads Lane
Evergreen, CO 80439


Stay tuned...

SEMA is just around the corner...


:)
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Is it air powered buffers? And or cordless?
 
I'm going to speculate based on what I would like to see and would consider a real innovation: variable force DAs. We have free spinning and forced - why is there nothing in between? I have to believe it's possible to put a clutch or other device in the power delivery system that would increase force. Probably not, but I can hope...
 
Its not needed.This is probably best for a fixed rotation polisher, but the reason you want to use a forced rotation polisher in the first place is to nave it NOT stop rotating on curved surfaces. There isn't much benefit, as the Dual Action spreads the heat generation over a wider area, so the risk of burning paint is not that great. You CAN burn paint with a forced rotation DA, but you have to try pretty hard. You can even burn paint with a PC, but you have to try much, much harder than with a forced rotation DA.

I can see the variable clutch being intentionally useful with a rotary polisher, which can burn paint pretty easily.
 
kkritsilas said:
Its not needed.
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Respectfully disagree. If this were true why would we all just not used forced? When hitting a curve in my car that stalls the pad I'd much rather move a lever or a collar to get more friction rather than having to use another machine. And given that we generally want the lest aggressive approach, it would be great to start with free spinning and then dial up the friction as needed to keep the pad spinning. In most cases this is likely less than 100% (aka forced).

You could say a clutch on a drill/driver isn't needed as well. But it sure is nice to have.
 
What you are talking about is the Makita PO5000c. It has free rotation and forced rotation (geared rotation) modes.

If I am reading what you are saying, you are under the impression that the rotation of the free rotation polishers is powered in some way by the polisher motor. It isn't. Pad rotation is a byproduct of the oscillation and the offset spindle on the free rotation D/As. So adding an adjstable clutch mechanism will serve to stall the pad even earlier. It doesn't matter where the resistance to rotation of the pad is coming from, the adjustable clutch or the increased loading in a small area by the car's curvature, it is still resistance to rotation at least in today's polisher designs.

It may be able to be done with a viscous clutch type of device, but when you add that in to a DA, it becomes a question of adding a viscous clutch, or just going with a dual mode polisher (see Makita PO5001c). I would speculate that it would be cheaper to go to a dual mode polisher vs. a DA with an adjustable (or even a fixed) viscous clutch.

A clutch on a drill is definitely desirable, as people do try to drill through all sorts of things that they shouldn't. With a DA, the pad stops spinning, or the polisher shuts down due to heat or overload. Nobody is trying to push a pad through the sheet metal.
 
I get the Makita has both free spinning and forced rotation modes. I also seem to recall that the free-spinning mode is not very useful. (Was it Mike who commented that he could not keep it spinning?) I'm sure your description of how a DA works (free rotation powered by polisher motor) is accurate for free spinning. That was helpful. It seems to me with forced rotation the pad rotation must be locked to the spindle(?). Or am I not getting what forced rotation is?

If you can make a forced rotation DA, you can make one with variable power via a clutch or other mechanism (could be fluid, could be something else). Not saying there aren't issues with implementing it, but I would find it useful.

Your comment brings up a question for me: if free spinning DA pad rotation is a function of the offset spindle oscillation, why do some stall worse than others? More friction? Lower RPMs?
 
There are a couple of ways of getting forced/geared rotation. On the Flex XC3401, it is by a ring gear on the inside of the "bell" or lower part of the gear housing meshing with gear teeth on the back side of the backing plate. Putting on an adjustable clutch on this type of polisher is not possible. The Makita PO5000c has gears that lock together further towards the motor in forced rotation mode (there are videos of how this works on Youtube). There is some potential for putting a clutch on this type of system, but it will make for a complete re-design. I am personally of the opinion that the less than stellar free rotation mode performance of the Makita PO5000c is directly related to the shorter 5.5mm throw of that polisher. By all accounts, the PO5000c is more effective than the XC3401, so the issue is not just motor power related.

There are many factors related to why a particular DA stalls or not. Throw is a major factor, as is motor, the amount of gear reduction between the motor and the backing plate, friction within the spindle, bearing friction in the entire path between the motor and the backing plate, and probably others that I have missed or don't know of.
 
I get all the friction issues and agree. Hadn't considered that throw is the biggest factor - will have to noodle this (not disagreeing, just don't have it working in my head yet).

I get that existing DAs could not easily have variable force - wasn't suggesting this. Clearly a new design would be needed rather than a device just added on. I don't know how that would look.

Thanks for the education and discussion.
 
Mike is not bluffing when he says it's way cooler. Game changing tools I'd say.
 
Plop said:
Mike is not bluffing when he says it's way cooler.

Game changing tools I'd say.
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I agree.

Just sent you an e-mail with my personal cell phone. Please give me a call if you can or shoot me a PM

I love having the trust of companies like FLEX and the way I earned and preserved that trust is by keeping private information private until I'm given permission to speak or type about it publicly.

I'm assuming and hoping you have the same professional ethics now that you've indicated you know what these new tools are.



Justin at Final Inspection said:
Interested in seeing what Flex has coming out
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I'm excited to bring them home with me.

Going to be doing some of this --> :buffing:



:)
 
On the Flex UK Facebook page, they introduced a new 10.8 volt cordless drill. Wonder if there is a cordless push coming.
 
So when can the information about these new products be made public?
 
Trying my hardest for no purchases between now and SEMA.... 1 week... I think I can... I think I can!!!
 
I am impatiently waiting to know what new tools are getting released! Mike I hope your day is going well so far and the Civic Type R in your booth is awesome.
 
Nice intro by Flex. Cordless polishers available March 2018.
 
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