Do you still use your flex with the melted BP? Or will it cause additional problems with the bearings or motor. I ask this because I too noticed some minor plastic being shaved on the outer edge of the BP. I continued to finish the car because I was only half way finished with polishing. Ive also noticed my Flex running cooler now that it doesnt touch.:shead:
LOL yay!! The term I invented "flex rash" is being used!! Actually, what I have, is the new felt ring and backing plate, and I want to soak it in white oil.
IME, once the felt ring gets wet, you're screwed. I didn't have any problems with Flex rash until I was spinning some pads dry. I guess some water got in there and expanded the felt. When I next used it, I was getting what I thought were weird dusting particles. Nope, they were little felt fibers. Glad I caught it before I did some serious melting to the BP. Note to self: Use UDM to spin dry pads.
Very interesting observation... I haven't thought about that before but makes a lot of sense... Thanks.
I may try to use my dremel to trim down some of that felt because it does stick out further now. I grabbed the nearest oil/lubricant I had at the time, PB Blaster, and soaked the felt. It was a temp solution and hopefully I won't need a new felt ring. Heh, the white foam on the BP is orange now.
Ok..I called Flex NA on this a few weeks ago....and they said the common cause is the felt falls down on the plate....its actually teflon impregnated....so the cure was add a few drops of glue to the edge were it meets the metal and felt to hold it in place....they are working on a fix ....I added a drop of silicone adhesive at 12...3...6..and 9 o'clock on mine..and no problems..just make sure you bottom the felt out on the housing first...I tapped it lightly with out any damage to it and then locked it in with a dab of silicone..... Al
Al, could you explain what you mean when you say you bottom it? Does that mean using silicone adhesive of the felt to the METAL housing? Also, are you lubricating the ring? I have a new bp and ring and don't know what to lubricate it with. I may just turn over the old ring 180 degrees, lube the flat side and trying using it.
no I am not lubricating it..by bottom out I mean make sure the felt is all the way seated down....then add a samll drop of silicone where the housing touches the felt..just a tiny dab just to hold it Al
thats exactly what happened to me on friday. running flex on speed 5 with orange ccs pad i found unusual looking fibers spitting out onto the paint. but the backing plate was not damaged in anyway. i did smell some burning also. im looking into the flex rotary also. i wish i didnt jump on the flex so early. because i feel that a machine at this price range should not have this kind of problem. i dont think we should do anything to solve/remedy our situations. i feel that flex na should further investigate the problem and hopefully supply whatever is needed to all flex da owners with parts to resolve the problem.
After reading all the issues with the Flex I am glad I went with the Makita BO6040 which is basically the exact same type of machine. My only complaint is the ergonomics/trigger location is not as nice as on the Flex but the quality blows the Flex away.
I've done probably 10 cars with my Flex (DA), and have not had a single issue with it. Great machine!
UPDATE for those who have flex rash. I used the machine this morning, low and behold, the screw has loosened itself. i dont know how it happened but i make sure its tight everytime i use it. this really upsets me. i'm using this machine and all i see are these fibers flying everywhere onto my paint and in the air. the felt ring seems to be rubbing up against the backing plate. i can see marks that the felt ring made on there. if i continue to use the machine im positive that once the felt ring loses enough material, my backing plate will start to melt from touching the metal housing. i cant imagine whats going to happen next.
Take the screw out, dab a little blue-loctite on the tip of the screw and re-tighten. Put it away for a few hours before use to make sure loctite is cured. You should be good for a long while. Also try not to polish on the edge of the pad.
Any updates from Flex on this? Shouldn't a backing plate with a little "taller" gears on it solve the problem by moving the backing plate away from the housing a bit? A $250+ machine should not have this problem... we should all be able to take it out of the box and work with it for hours... if anyone has any information regarding what Flex na is doing regarding this issue, please post up... I know from experience it takes a lot of people to get an issue like this resolved, so if there are any links where we can post up we're having problems it would be great.
+1 IMHO, there are 2 potential causes: 1) BP(back-plate) was not seated flushed with the main unit and user is not aware that it needs to, very unlikely since BP/pad will be wobly like heck. 2) Loose screw, made worse if user putting pressure on the side of the pad (pad is not flat on the surface) . I can make the BP touchs the felt this way even with the screw fully tighten. Unfortunately Flex can't fix the problem above on the factory since BP is user replaceable. I guess for now users have to be aware and check it before every use. BTW, Flex designer seems to think that raising the BP against the felt will create too much gap and invite dust inside the BP where it'll wear out the gear sooner (semi-seal gear system is what they after, I guess)
Did you speak with someone about this? An extra mm or even half a mm would solve the problem for most and still be pretty tightly sealed... this is dumb on their part and all Flex owners should demand a fix... I'm calling tomorrow to raise hell, even though I've used it for 3 minutes so far haha I know that I'll want to tilt it even just a little to get at some places on the car, and if that will cause my damn bp to melt I'm not having it. Please post up info if you spoke to anyone there
No I didn't speak with anybody at Flex, sorry if I sounded so. Well, I had a flex rash (burning smell while polishing). As I suspected before it caused by putting pressure while tilting the pads, BAD practice. So I stopped, checked the BP, put candle wax around the felt, cleaned the felt material from the gear mesh and re-assemble. So far so good and finish polishing w/o any problem.
