Which da for sore hands?

solman

solman

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I have been a professional auto mechanic for close to 40 years now. My hands are sensitive to vibration and get tired and sore easily. I have a Flex 3401 but I find it bothers me a after a little while, say 20-30 minuets. This forces me to rush my work or just stop altogether.
I was wondering if a Rupes polisher would be a better choice for me? Also which model is their smoothest running one?
I don't really want to chance hurting the finish with a rotary polisher so I want to stay with the da type machine.
I only do my own cars but I like a nice finish on them.
 
I think you are best of with a rupes. These are the smoothest on the market for now
 
If vibrations are your problem then a Rupes 21 or 15 are your solution. After hours of using my 21 I'm thankful for having such a smooth machine. Your hands will thank you.
 
Rupes is definitley the smoothest running, but many people have trouble with the 21 stalling on curved panels (I think this is mostly a technique issue). If you want one polisher, than go with the rupes 15; it won't correct quite as fast as the 21, but there is less chance of stalling on curved panels. The Rupes doesn't have the flexibility to work well on very tight areas like A or B pillars, so consider how you might work on those - A rotary with 3" pad or air tool with 1" or 2" pads can tackle these pretty well.

If you're getting rid of the flex, I can PM you the address of my garbage can. :xyxthumbs:
 
Is the Rupes 15 faster than the Flex 3401?
 
If you really want smooth and have access to a large air compressor, the pneumatic polishers from 3M are smoother than any DA

If you are willing to endure the learning curve...rotaries are also a lot smoother than DA's
 
The Cyclo is the smoothest operating orbital polisher that I ever used!

Bob
 
Hmm,
Never thought of the cyclo......
It doesn't seem that popular or am I mistaken
 
solman said:
Is the Rupes 15 faster than the Flex 3401?
Click to expand...

If that was directed at me, I have zero time behind a rupes 15 and minimal time behind a 3401, so I could not comment. I will say that I doubt there is any DA faster than a rupes 21 on a flat panel, all else equal.
 
I seem to be very sensitive to vibrations and so moved from a DA to a cheap rotary. The difference was huge, now able to polish for long periods without any problems. No doubt expensive machines may be great and a rotary does take longer to learn to control but I have no regrets with my cheap rotary
 
What size backing plate you are using?...I changed my flex 3401 backing plate to 5 inch and it's not bad at all.
 
I've noticed certain pads on my 7424XP make a huge difference in vibration, might look into a different pad?
 
Another vote for the cyclo. It's so smooth you can use one hand! Even though you shouldn't. Lol. I got a old one that is not variable speed but it's still money. Pretty much bomb proof.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using AG Online
 
Rupes, but if your serious about the vibes you should use the rupes pads too. The rupes pads run with the least vibs.
 
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