been doing lots of reading and just wondering is the porter cable going to be able to do the job of removing the (scratches) from the rotary buffer and wool pad?
The scratches you mention, just so everyone that will read this thread into the future will understand, are the HOLOGRAMS or as I call them more specifically, the HOLOGRAM SCRATCHES - because this is what they are. And it's NORMAL that anytime you buff out a boat or a car and use a wool pad and a rotary buffer - you're going to leave behind holograms scratches in the surface.
The follow-up step to remove these holograms scratches is to re-polish the surface only get away from using a FIBER pads with all its millions of individual fibers putting their own scratch or scratches into the surface and switch over to a foam buffing pad, which is different than a fiber pad in that it has a FLAT UNIFORM SURFACE TEXTURE for to which to sandwich the abrasives against the surface.
It is the flat surface against the gel-coat, (or in the case of car paint), plus the abrasives that are then able to remove the holograms scratches. And of course, when I write stuff like this I'm writing in the context of using GREAT abrasive technology.
If you use crap for abrasive technology it doesn't matter what pad, tool or how great you and your technique are - you're going to get crap for results. This is because it is the abrasives that are first touching the surface and EVERYTHING or EVERY RESULT starts first with what is touching the surface.
This is why anytime and every time someone joins this forum and asks for help buffing out their boat or car, I start my "help" by finding out what they are using.
or should i be looking into the flex 3401? thanks
The Porter Cable with the right pads and product as well as technique will get the job done. If you're using the Captain's Compound, RUPES Blue Foam pads and holding the Porter Cable polisher in a way that you are able to maintain PAD ROTATION - you're going to level the gel-coat surface and remove the holograms scratches.
At least on any flat section of gel-coat large enough to enable a 6" RUPES foam pad to rest flat against the surface.
Where you're going to run into problems is when you buff any THIN sections of gel-coat out with the wool pad on edge on the rotary - you will not be able to come back and put the foam pad on the Porter Cable on EDGE to remove the holograms. The pad simply will not rotate.
You can do this with a gear-driven orbital but you will be punishing the sides of your buffing pads and of course, you're going to need THICK buffing pads so you have a THICK side to press against the thin section of gel-coat.
IF it were me, I wouldn't be too concerned out having a hologram-free finish on the thin sections, I would simply buff them out and then seal them and then take care of the boat. I would however want the sides of the hull to be hologram-free and you can accomplish this with the Porter Cable. You will need plenty of pads as already discussed because as your pads become WET with product, (normal), they will stop cutting and polishing.
