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The one I received was red instead of blue but this is a great piece to add to your arsenal. It feels very solid and has a good amount of weight. It comes with both the regular and the Velcro mount for versatility out of the box.Perfect for the price, just be careful as it can be very loud. I recommend wearing earplugs especially in closed environments like a garage, otherwise you will have your ears ringing after a good polish.
For the price this buffer is excellent. It has really precise speed control that starts up slowly. It will not get away from you.
Buffing will require some finesse at times, and if your muscles are straining, this is when accidents can happen, or you can hurt yourself. Controls are pretty basic. Assembly is fairly simple. For sanding, a Velcro backed hard plastic disc is included, but you will need to provide the sandpaper inserts.
Because of the tool is about 18 inches long, your hands end up positioned about a foot apart, in order to keep the torque generated by the buffer under control. The buffer is top heavy, so installing the side handle is highly recommended. Just a little inattention can result in losing control, or dropping the buffer, and you don't want to hurt yourself, damage your paint job, dent your vehicle, or damage anything else. The amount of vibration will vary according to the task, and motor speed. A special wrench for locking down the rubber backing pad is included. This unit comes with the accessories to get started right away.
The handle can be installed for either right or left hand operators. There is a `manual' but it does not contain any instructions, instead it mostly covers general safety. Things get harder when you do the sides, or curved or irregular surfaces, and have to both support the weight of the buffer, and apply pressure to the surface. Some minor assembly is required. When sanding or buffing fine dust is typically produced, so you may want to wear eye protection and a dust mask.If you are into weightlifting, using the buffer on a vehicle may not be too difficult, but for those not so physically fit, managing the weight and vibration, could be a challenge.
For buffing, it has a wool pad, and rubber backing pad. Just go easy when using it for the first few times. The speed control dial is on the top of the housing, and goes from 1 to 6 (maximum). This buffer has plenty of power to get the job done, and appears to be well worth the money. The supplied wool buffer is quite thick, and does a pretty good job, but you do need to apply pressure for it to work. For the average sedan, buffing the hood and trunk should be the easiest. Buffing non-flat areas usually requires changing angles, and varying the point of contact, and amount of pressure applied.
Users will need to find the grip and techniques that work best. The pictured buffer has a blue plastic housing and black handle, but the unit also comes with an orange plastic housing. You first attach the curved top handle, either with or without, the straight side handle. It has a ten foot cord with a twin blade plug, and comes with a set of spare brushes. There is a throttle switch on the bottom of the handle, with a lock button to keep the motor running. The buffer starts to whine at around level 3, and gets screaming loud at full speed, when ear protection is definitely recommended. Doing the roof can be tricky as well.The listed weight of eight pounds, may not sound like a lot, but if you are bracing your body, locking your forearms, and squeezing hard on the handles for an extended period of time, you may find your muscles a bit sore, or in `shock' from the vibration, if you overdo it.
The buffer does produce very good results, so if you have a strong back, and the upper body strength, it could be a very cool buy.
To assist in positioning the backer plate over the shaft, there is a small black push-in- realease button on the top of the polisher that allows you to put the plate SQUARELY and securely over the shaft, then release it to allow free motion. Without any mapped directions, I studied the parts for awhile, then decided first to remove the two plugs from the two side prongs, and then push the big square handle down over those protrusions. Then replace that big cap screw and tighten it using the special "spanner" tool (as it is called in the 'parts-to-order' page). Guessing, I used the long square wrench to plug one of the the two packaged square-holeplugs deep inside one of the handle holes and tighten with such. On the other handle hole I screwed in the short 'stick' handle (save the other small square-plug).I figured if you unscrew the rounded cap screw from the main shaft, then flip the backer plate upside down, it will fit over the shaft. Finally simply tie the wool bonnet around and knot together the stringpulls.Alternately, remove that backerplate (in reverse steps as stated) and instead attach the 'velcro' backerplate by easily screwing that onto the shaft instead of the bigger cap screw that held on that other backplate.Note: there is a 'speed setting' ( adjust it to 1 "low" ) before plugging in the electric and turning the switch on.Now. let's see if I can figure how to use it.
We bought this to buff out the clear coat on our 1991 Supra boat. Oh, did I mention that "me" is a female. It did a great job. It seemed heavy to me, but after getting the hang of it, the boat was buffed in no time. Yes, me and my husband used it. He had a bit easier time with it, but would need to take breaks, so that is when I would buff.
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