The history behind polishing paint with a DA Polisher

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Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.

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The history behind polishing paint with a DA Polisher


Rand Phillips, age 9 removing swirls on Nate Truman's 1966 Batmobile Recreation with an electric DA Polisher
RandBuffingBatmobile1.jpg



Everyone knows and talks about electric DA Polishers like,


Porter Cable 7424XP
Griot's Garage 6" ROP
Meguiar's G110v2
Shurhold DA Polisher


All of the above use what's called a Free Floating Spindle Bearing Assembly to make buffing out paint incredibly easy even for beginners and even seasoned members of our society and youngster like you see in the pictures taken here at the Autogeek Show Car Studio in recent days...


Don using a Porter Cable 7424XP for the first time on a restored, but swirled-out 1967 Camaro

CamaroNight001.jpg



Tyler, age 15 removing swirls out of a 1965 Plymouth Valiant RetroRod using a Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher

1965Plymouth035.jpg





Does anyone know the history behind where these paint polishers came from?

Well here you go...

In the below picture is a new, never before used W-6000 6" Dual Action Buffing Pad from the late 90's, these were around back to the 1980's and possibly longer, I don't know it's hard to find anyone alive that remembers that you can talk to.

W6000EarlyDAPad001.jpg


W6000EarlyDAPad002.jpg




Note the wording states you can turn any dual action sander into a dual action polisher...

W6000EarlyDAPad002c.jpg




For those that might not know, this is an air powered, DA Sander, commonly used on body shops to sand paint, primer and bondo. ALL body shops have these air powered DUAL ACTION sanders that use a 5/16 spindle to hold a backing plate.

W6000EarlyDAPad003.jpg



The W-6000 has a 5/16" threaded stud affixed to the plastic backing plate...

W6000EarlyDAPad004.jpg



Here it is attached...
W6000EarlyDAPad005.jpg



Here it is hooked up to an air line...

W6000EarlyDAPad006.jpg




And here I am running the DA Sander/Polisher over the trunk lid of a Honda...

W6000EarlyDAPad007.jpg


W6000EarlyDAPad008.jpg



Then sometime in the late 1980's or early 1990's someone discovered that the pad Meguiar's sold for air powered DA Sanders would fit and work on a Porter Cable DA Sander.

Note when I typed, fit and work, that's two things, there are lots of electric DA Sanders, but most won't power a foam pad, only a thin sanding disc.

W6000EarlyDAPad009.jpg


W6000EarlyDAPad010.jpg


And there you go... Meguiar's, a company already selling and teaching people in the body shop industry how to finish out swirl-free on fresh paint after first using a rotary buffer introduced the same pad to the enthusiast or consumer world using a tool that the average person can plug into an electrical outlet in their garage.

The average person doesn't own an air compressor large enough to power an air powered DA Sander as a polisher around an entire car. See my article below...
W6000EarlyDAPad011.jpg



Then somewhere along the line Porter Cable included a copy of the Meguiar's W-6000 DA Pad in the box and called their DA Wood Sander a DA Polisher.

W6000EarlyDAPad012.jpg




Try to find that little tidbit of paint polishing history on any other detailing discussion forum.



biggrin.gif
 
Great interesting article.
This is why I love this forum so much. If you need professional advice, you get it here. If you want to expand your horizons.. you get the information wrapped in premium write up and presentation as well.

With treats like this, who wouldn't want to visit this forum several times a day?
 
Great Thread Mike!
Was the DA used on furniture the same time it was used in the auto body world?
Brandon
 
Alex Boyce said:
Cool thread Mike, good read.
Click to expand...

Just sharing a little bit of history that has led us to where were at. If someone doesn't write this out then it will be all forgotten, but the above is accurate, I know because I was the guy calling on body shops placing the foam pad on air DA Sanders and showing body shop guys how to remove all the swirls the were inflicting into the paint with their wool pads.

Of course, while I was in these shops I also introduced hundreds, if not thousands of car guys to the thing we all call,

Foam Buffing Pads.

Yep. Can't tell you how many shops I called on in Oregon, Washington and Idaho and showed people that had NEVER seen a foam buffing pad the W-1000 foam polishing pad.

Just like anything, until someone shows you something you don't know about it. Once I would pull out a collection of products body shop guys had never seen I would do a demo and after the demo they would buy. It's pretty easy for anyone that's always buffed using wool to see with their eyes that a foam pad leaves a nicer looking, swirl free finish.


I remember when Meguiar's then introduced the foam cutting pad, a different foam polishing pad and a finishing pad to the body shop industry.

I also remember when 3M first introduced the convoluted foam buffing pad as I was always running into the 3M reps in my territory.



Mc'lovin said:
Great interesting article.

This is why I love this forum so much. If you need professional advice, you get it here. If you want to expand your horizons.. you get the information wrapped in premium write up and presentation as well.

With treats like this, who wouldn't want to visit this forum several times a day?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. I scan a lot of other detailing forums and you're right, you just don't find the kind of information and the presentation you find on AutogeekOnline.net

It's just not there...



chubs said:
Great Thread Mike!

Was the DA used on furniture the same time it was used in the auto body world?
Brandon
Click to expand...


I don't know the history behind the evolution of products used in furniture making. I have worked in the furniture world as I did call on guitar builders and music store that sold pianos.

I also worked with Henredon and Ethan-Allen behind the scenes to learn about furniture finishing as I wrote how-to books for both companies when I worked as the Corporate Writer for Meguiar's from 2002 to 2003.

I hope I still have the how-books in my antique car wax collection but I don't know for sure...

:)
 
I REALLY enjoy the 'history lessons' you do.

I know when I first saw foam pads, my first thought was, "You can't be serious." Well, needless to say I was wrong (like that wasn't a first).

Have a good day...

Bill
 
BillE said:
I REALLY enjoy the 'history lessons' you do.

I know when I first saw foam pads, my first thought was, "You can't be serious." Well, needless to say I was wrong (like that wasn't a first).

Have a good day...

Bill
Click to expand...


Ha ha...

Bill I can't tell you how many times someone in a body shop or detail shop would say something similar...


Heck I remember calling on a body shop at the same time a 3M Rep was calling on the shop and he looked at the foam pad I was about to demonstrate and said,

"That will never work"


Down the road 3M introduced their convoluted foam pad...


:laughing:
 
So this is what revolutionized the industry!

In 1996, 20 years ago I bought my first professional Meguiars products. The back of the bottle of M09 Swirl Remover indicated it could be used with rotary, d/a, orbital polisher, and hand. The d/a sander was it? I had never seen or heard of such a thing.

Then I saw the Porter Cable being offered in Meguiars "Brilliant Solutions" catalogs I'd get in the mail.

Somehow I knew that the d/a would have been a more appropriate machine to start on than the powerful rotary machine I bought.....

I love seeing the history of the indurtry. Especially the late 90's because that was the era of my entrance to the craft. I remember seeing that pad at the paint shops where I'd buy my products... I had so much fun in those days polishing cars for friends and family too. Looking back, I wish I would have bought one of those PC machines from Meguiars!

Fast forward to 2009 (my re-entrance to car care) or so, and the d/a had really come into it's own. What is interesting is being able to live through and observe the evolution of these d/a machines, and how they've impacted the industry. I recently bought a Porter Cable 7424 just to have that piece of history. I see that machine as the conduit from the air powered d/a sander, to the modern offerings from Rupes and Flex.

The PC 7424 made it possible for the car enthusiasts to care for their vehicles in a more effective way than the traditional orbital, and without risks associated with the rotary.

To me, this article of Mike's is huge. Literally the beginning of what so many of us have come to depend on to put food on the table, pay the bills, self therapy, and correct and shine paint is shared right here. I'm glad to have come across this gem of infoation.
 
I was using those pads on my Dynabrade DA's for accelerating my French Polishing techniques on the furniture I made in the 90's. I still use the same methods today. Interesting to see I was ahead of my time. I never thought to use it on my car. I was still old schooling my car by hand. If only there was a website back then that had instructions or some kind of message board that could have been accessed for information....
 
Thanks a lot for bringing back this thread. Nice, really interesting reading.
 
Thanks, as always, for sharing your knowledge. I avidly read anything you write and enjoy learning not only about the techniques and products involved in detailing, but also the history.

:thankyousign:

Priya
 
I've been lucky. I started viewing this forum only in 2011 so most of my knowledge is current. I had dabbled with Liquid Glass back in the late 70's but by hand. I use my PC 7424 almost every week and it is a great easy to use tool. Great expected results and no danger of "burn thorough". My next step is the forced rotation DA but that will be 5 polishers for a single DD so may be awhile (not really concerned about time spent as just a hobby).
 
I love when old threads pop up like this. Still great material to read!
 
I remember those pneumatic polishers ,,I never used one with a polishing pad though.

I always used them for sanding paint prep and such,,I never knew the history of how it evolved into what we have now though,,,good read,,thanks :)
 
Great article. Very informative. I didn't even pay attention until I got to the bottom that the article was years old. Always enjoy learning something new detail related.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8 using Tapatalk
 
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