The NEW FLEX PE8 Kompakt Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Wow that 1" combo is TALL


It's kind of like already having at least ONE extension on for those tight to reach areas like this...


2014_Mobil_Tech_Expo_Detailing_Classes_by_Mike_Phillips_007c1.jpg




You still might need an extension or two or three like when Todd Helme and I tag-teamed this old truck...

Diamond Plate Aluminum from Dullsville to Mirror Shine on a 1947 Chevy Pickup


44.jpg



:)
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

I had fun demoing this unit at the Flex and Sonax booth all week.

I must say you will want to get your hands on this machine and give it a test drive it is absolutely smooth as butter.



 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

For a fairly new detailer, about 3 months, would this be an accident waiting to happen in my hands? Meaning would I destroy the paint quickly?

I currently own the Rupes 21, Duetto and the 75, my issue is, on a few moderately neglected cars we have detailed there is a big difference in the appearance of the paint in the areas right up against the bottom of the window moldings (belt molding), around the door handles, and basically along anything that is attached to the car and raised above the paint. The Rupes 75 seems to stall out trying to get right up against the edge. This could be user error but I have tried holding it many different ways with different amounts of pressure, it (or I) just can't seem to polish those areas. This Flex seems like the perfect solution EXCEPT I have never used a rotary.

Taking the above into consideration and the fact I have some common sense, no-matter what my father may tell you (I am not going to hold it against the panel in one spot while having a 15 min conversation with my buddy about burning through paint) and would do my research and start off SLOW, what do you think?

Thanks
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

For a fairly new detailer, about 3 months, would this be an accident waiting to happen in my hands? Meaning would I destroy the paint quickly?

I currently own the Rupes 21, Duetto and the 75, my issue is, on a few moderately neglected cars we have detailed there is a big difference in the appearance of the paint in the areas right up against the bottom of the window moldings (belt molding), around the door handles, and basically along anything that is attached to the car and raised above the paint. The Rupes 75 seems to stall out trying to get right up against the edge. This could be user error but I have tried holding it many different ways with different amounts of pressure, it (or I) just can't seem to polish those areas. This Flex seems like the perfect solution EXCEPT I have never used a rotary.

Taking the above into consideration and the fact I have some common sense, no-matter what my father may tell you (I am not going to hold it against the panel in one spot while having a 15 min conversation with my buddy about burning through paint) and would do my research and start off SLOW, what do you think?

Thanks

Get a practice panel. If you can't get one, start on the lowest setting and keep the buffer flat and moving. Tape off edges and never buff into an edge. Buffing with a rotary is not rocket science and with a little practice is very safe.
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

I had fun demoing this unit at the Flex and Sonax booth all week.

I must say you will want to get your hands on this machine and give it a test drive it is absolutely smooth as butter.





What RPM do you use with a 1" pad?

How long does a 1" pad last?

How much downward pressure are you able to use?


Same questions for the 2"
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

What RPM do you use with a 1" pad?

Just going to speak for myself, others can chime in on their preferences. I like lower RPMs for small pad buffing.

A: Easier to control the pad.
B: Modern compounds don't need to be used at high speeds.



How long does a 1" pad last?

Just depends on what you're buffing and how you're buffing.



How much downward pressure are you able to use?

Light to medium pressure. Because there's NOT a lot of "mass" the foam will compress very easily. So match your pad to the type of work you're going to do.

If you're going to try to do a lot of cutting or correction work get a 3.5" wool pad and knock out the heavy cutting with a fiber pad and this will save you on the foam cutting pad. Then clean up any fiber swirls with foam.


Same questions for the 2"

Pretty much the same as above.


Good questions....


:)
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Light to medium pressure. Because there's NOT a lot of "mass" the foam will compress very easily.


Just to add to this....

Wet foam compresses more easily than dry foam. So as you're buffing and your foam pad becomes wet with product it will compress more easily.



:)
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Well Mike answered everything as I would have and that's how I have been using the machine.
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Can you use these small backing plate on any of the Flex rotary polishers or high rpm can damage these or high heat?
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Can you use these small backing plate on any of the Flex rotary polishers or high rpm can damage these or high heat?

The 1" and 2" and 3" Flex buffing pads and the matching backing plates can be used on any rotary buffer that has the industry standard 5/8" threaded arbor.

The problem you run into is the word,

Tippy

That is when buffing horizontal panels with a huge tool and a tiny pad --> you <-- have to pay more attention to what your doing because the bulky, large mass and extra weight of the full size rotary buffer sitting on top of the tiny pads is tippy.

It's also awkward and cumbersome. But it can be done. Working with the tool on vertical panels it's less of an issue because "you" are now supporting the weight of the rotary buffer and without thinking much about it you automatically "control" the tool.

It's when buffing horizontal panels and areas that the weight of a full size rotary buffer just by itself will compress small foam pads like these and thus you need to do more work and more thinking about what you're doing.

Heck even the PE14 weight enough to compress a gold jewelling pad as I explain here,



1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover Pictures & Process



Tips on how to jewel paint using a rotary buffer

Before starting, we went over a few tips and techniques for how to jewel paint when using a rotary buffer.

1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_057.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_058.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_059.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_060.jpg




Less than the weight of the machine
This is showing that we're actually using a little bit less than the weight of the machine for the last few passes for this section. The idea being that polishing paint is an art form, not a grinding process. As the pad becomes wet with product it will easily compress with just the weight of the tool. For your last few passes you want light pressure via the pad contact, now heavy pressure and to get light contact you need to watch and prevent pad compression.

1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_061.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_062.jpg





:)
 
Please point me in the direction of that Pad Power set. I'm not finding it on the site for some reason. I emailed same request to AG this past Tuesday and haven't heard back. I'd like to order the PE8 and get those three backing plates and pads with it. Thanks!

:xyxthumbs:
 
Please point me in the direction of that Pad Power set. I'm not finding it on the site for some reason. I emailed same request to AG this past Tuesday and haven't heard back. I'd like to order the PE8 and get those three backing plates and pads with it. Thanks!

:xyxthumbs:

Mike when this pads will be available for purchasing
There will be a kit available when the polisher released as per Flex.
 
It is really nice machine...had opportunity to work with it...totally awesome...everything from flex is good
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

The 1" and 2" and 3" Flex buffing pads and the matching backing plates can be used on any rotary buffer that has the industry standard 5/8" threaded arbor.

The problem you run into is the word,

Tippy

That is when buffing horizontal panels with a huge tool and a tiny pad --> you <-- have to pay more attention to what your doing because the bulky, large mass and extra weight of the full size rotary buffer sitting on top of the tiny pads is tippy.

It's also awkward and cumbersome. But it can be done. Working with the tool on vertical panels it's less of an issue because "you" are now supporting the weight of the rotary buffer and without thinking much about it you automatically "control" the tool.

It's when buffing horizontal panels and areas that the weight of a full size rotary buffer just by itself will compress small foam pads like these and thus you need to do more work and more thinking about what you're doing.

Heck even the PE14 weight enough to compress a gold jewelling pad as I explain here,



1990 Corvette - Extreme Makeover Pictures & Process



Tips on how to jewel paint using a rotary buffer
Before starting, we went over a few tips and techniques for how to jewel paint when using a rotary buffer.

1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_057.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_058.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_059.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_060.jpg




Less than the weight of the machine
This is showing that we're actually using a little bit less than the weight of the machine for the last few passes for this section. The idea being that polishing paint is an art form, not a grinding process. As the pad becomes wet with product it will easily compress with just the weight of the tool. For your last few passes you want light pressure via the pad contact, now heavy pressure and to get light contact you need to watch and prevent pad compression.

1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_061.jpg


1990_Corvette_Autogeek_Mike_Phillips_062.jpg





:)

Thanks for the info Mike.
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

I absolutely Love this tool!

While the switch does take some getting used to when using the machine its as smooth as you can imagine.

This is a definite precision tool though but a must for a pro

Will you describe how to use this so that polish isn't splattered all over when starting to polish with a primed pad?
I don't know that Flex will come out with a new version with a trigger, so I would like to learn how to use it with the switch without making a mess.
Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Will you describe how to use this so that polish isn't splattered all over when starting to polish with a primed pad?

We'll I'm not Evan but here's my 2cents...

First, when using a rotary buffer you don't need or want to prime the pad. That's a technique used for dual action polishers.

This is especially true for smaller pads.

Do a google search by copying and pasting the below into Gooogle

The 10 @ 10 Technique for picking up a bead of product Mike Phillips

I have 3-4 articles on this topic plus the recent "Pencil Trick" article and when you use the pencil trick you make a shorter bead of product to match the smaller circumference size of a smaller pad.

There's also a video on this forum showing how to pick up a bead of product.

I'm on my iPad so I can't easily share the links to all these resources like I normally do.

:)
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Well, I just pre-ordered my Christmas present to myself...


Congratulations!


The students in my next class which is in January will all have a chance to use the new Flex PE8

I also think I'm scheduled to have a class showcasing this new tool at the 2015 Mobil Tech Expo.


:)
 
Re: The NEW Flex PE8 Precision Rotary Polisher in ACTION!

Congratulations!


The students in my next class which is in January will all have a chance to use the new Flex PE8

I also think I'm scheduled to have a class showcasing this new tool at the 2015 Mobil Tech Expo.


:)

Thanks Mike, I wish that I live closer so it would be easier to make my way out to your neck of the woods. For now, your books, videos and this Forum will be my guide.

I look forward to getting my hands on this new tool.
 
Back
Top