My Flex DA got so hot today that it melted the backing plate Velcro and ruined my pad. Has anyone else had this issue? It was at 5 1/2 and we were using Meg 105. I always noticed how hot it got. What are the thoughts on the Cyclo? I can't afford to have my machines go down like this so I might try the Cyclo.
I would look into the Griots machine. It has 850 watts of power and a great warranty. I used one to remove 2000# wetsanding marks from my Passat. The Cyclo is quite heavy and cumbersome although it does work well.
Not exactly, over heating of a polisher comes for applying to much downward force causing the motor to work harder, you are create resistance which makes the motor work hard creating more heat leading to thermal shutdown, the extension cord has nothing to do with it For instance take a flex its got a huge extension cord attach a small 16 gauge extension cord and use the polisher, the 16 gauge extension cord will get hot but it but has no effect on the polisher becoming hot. Only thing that will happen is you will have a extremely hot extension cord that cant transfer enough amps to the polisher causing it to cut out. Melting the backing plate of a flex comes from the plate rubbing against the metal housing, they put a dumb felt ring but it does nothing, its just a terrible design. The polisher is a great design but the bp is not. If you ever run the machine on speed 6 its bound to happen. The friction between the plate and metal housing creates heat which transfers to the polisher which is why he is complaining about the polisher getting hot
Ya it was 5.5. It always runs hot. We use it a lot at my shop but no other machine gets this hot. There was moderate pressure but it was used for awhile,we were doing a black Bentley Flying spur, but it just blows my mind that it gets that hot. I think I need to find a new one like the Makita direct drive.
You would be wise to check out the Festool Rotex RO 150 FEQ. It's got a smaller stroke (3/16" versus 5/16"), but it is nonetheless very capable. It spins in the right direction, like a rotary. It is dual mode, so you can either run it as a random orbital or in forced rotation mode. In my opinion, in forced rotation mode, it is the most comfortable machine of this type to use. Big bucks, but mainly because Festool has a stringent agreement with their dealers. They are running about $495.00 right now. OUCH! But a wicked machine. Does your shop use a rotary as well? How about a good ol' random orbital? If you slap a Dynabrade Dual Action Buffing Head on a rotary you'll get a 3/4" stroke, random OR forced rotation mode, all for around $130. Let me drag an old write-up over from another site.
My friend Mike bought the Dynabrade Dual-Action Buffing Head: The aluminum housing measures 4-3/4” in diameter. With the backing plate removed, the innards are easy to see. When the power slide button is engaged, this latching pin is raised. This locks the entire housing to the drive, and the backing plate is forced to rotate. When the power slide pin is disengaged, the latching pin is lowered. The aluminum housing is able to rotate freely. This is set to the random-orbital mode. We removed the backing plate to cut the size down. It uses a standard 5/16”-24 spindle. Our plan was to remove the white foam along the outer edge. This way, we could fit the Meguiar’s 7” pads to the backing plate. This shot shows the overall diameters of the housing and the three plates we were going to use. The Mirka plate will be used as the primary plate for the 7” pads. The modified Dynabrade plate will be used as a backup. See? the Mirka plate is nearly identical in size to the plastic part of the Dynabrade plate. This is the Meguiar’s Soft Buff 7” Foam Cutting Pad. It is getting rave reviews. Our goal was to allow Mike to attach the trio of foam pads to the attachment. Mike will also be using the So1o Pad system, which wil fit nicely once we are done. An X-acto knife and some hand sanding easily removed the unwanted foam. Another way to cut the foam is to mount the backing plate onto a drill. Then, carefully push the X-acto into the foam as the drill rotates the plate. Voila! The plate fits perfectly into the recessed part of the foam cutting pad. The Meguiar’s WWHC7 So1o Wool Heavy Cutting Pad will work well with this machine. Here is a shot of the pad mounted to the machine. You can really see the offset! The slide pin. Wow, what an offset. This machine feature a 3/4” (12/16”) diameter orbit. For comparison, the Meguiar’s G110 features a 5/16” diameter orbit. We run the Makita at various RPM settings. It seemed to like 2,700 rpm with this 6-1/2” pad. Keep in mind that this attachment was designed for use with larger pads than we were using, so the counterbalance was weighted accordingly. From what I understand, Dynabrade spent a lot of time dialing in the balance for 8” and 9” pads. If you plan on using smaller pads and plates, count on some vibration. In terms of comfort, the optimum speed setting will be easy to find by adjusting the speed on the fly. Thanks to the 3/4” orbit size and the power and rpm capabilty of the rotary machine, you will be hard pressed to stop the rotation of the pad in random-orbital mode (even at slower speeds). I did not remember to weight the unit... D'oh! It wasn't unusually heavy, that is certain (credit the aluminum housing for the weight savings). This is a time saver, and if you are comfortable with a rotary machine, you will really dig this baby!
My Flex runs very hot all the time. No matter what I try to do and correct it. I posted a thread on a forum back some time ago where I took some temperature measurements and it was pretty hot. I don't remember exact details, but I do remember never getting any response from the US distributor (Powerhouse, I believe) after repeated questions via the customer service portal on their website. It's never melted the velcro on the backing plate, but it does run hot - a lot hotter than I would imagine would be within normal specs.
Yes we use rotary machines as well. We used the flex for more minor repairs and LSP. Thanks for the advice. I will look into this one
Not to drive traffic away or anything, but I dug up the old post I made regarding this subject. Not scientifically perfect by any means, but it is what it is. Hot Flex? - DetailCity.org - Auto Detailing & Car Detailing Forum
While the Cyclo has been around forever, and they apparently bullet-proof, I sort of grew out of love with it. Single speed, heavy, big. I just happen to personally think there are more effective/efficient RO machines available right now.
My flex has always run hot too. It chewed through my first bp so I put a new one on and it still gets really hot. It's kind of unnerving
For sure, the max I ever run mine at is sped 5, and after I use it a bit I let it cool down the use it again, but I only detail family and my own cars. So when I polish a car I'm in no rush so I have the time to wait.
Kevin B posted this earlier in the thread, You would be wise to check out the Festool Rotex RO 150 FEQ. It's got a smaller stroke (3/16" versus 5/16"), but it is nonetheless very capable. It may be slightly less effective because of the 3/16 inch stroke, but yes it is a forced rotation machine. They typically go for $450 quite expensive for a polisher though, but a great product at least thats what everyone says Bye the way if you search for it they will call it a sander don't get worried about that though you can use it as a polisher
