Auxiliary Equipment For Polishing

Offering the same action as that of a drill or angle grinder, the backing plate on a Rotary machine polisher spins around on one axis. For detailing purposes this will provide the highest level of "cut" when compared to Dual Action and Direct Drive. Imagine running an abrasive pad and compound over the same fixed point 1000's of time per minute. This is going to generate quite a bit of heat, softening the paint in the process and allowing the abrasiveness of the pad and compound to remove all the lacquer, potentially. This might sound somewhat alarming, but this would be the worst case scenario. With the correct use of a Rotary polisher they are perfectly safe to use on paintwork and have been used by detailers for many decades. What you have to bear in mind is the potential for error is always there if you happen to get a little heavy-handed. Also, when it comes to the finishing process, side holograms and buffer trails are certainly easier to come by when using a Rotary machine polisher. Such issues are easily fixed, but when time is often money, spending extra hours working on correction can prove costly.

As it says in the name, dual equals two actions. Dual Action Machine Polishers have two movements on the backing plate. It firstly spins like a Rotary but then also spins around on a counterweight axis. The "throw" of the machine is the distance between the centre point of the backing plate and the centre of the counterweight. A larger throw will give you a larger working area, also making them faster but additionally give a little less control close to the edges. The smaller or tighter the throw the more controlled the machine will be near edges, but the smaller the overall work area. Anything between an 8mm and 15mm throw will be normal and preference of which of the two is better often falls on the user. Anything larger than 15mm would be better suited for large panels such as vans or campers etc. Less than 8mm and we would be looking more at specific sanding machines or smaller backing plate sizes to start with. Backing plates on Dual Action machine polishers should not be swapped unless a purpose-built kit is supplied with an alternative already. The counterweight is designed for a certain weight/speed of backing plate rotation. Anything larger or smaller is going to cause vibration that could potentially result in the machine suffering from broken bearings. Start off with a cheaper Dual Action machine polisher and this will more than likely provide significantly higher base level vibrations, purely because of the cheaper parts used in construction.

Now that we have covered some fundamentals of what the Dual Action machine polisher can offer, you may ask why is this the most commonly chosen movement for so many? Safety. The two movements help to reduce the potential for burning through the paintwork massively. If you apply too much pressure to the polisher during use the second spin of the backing plate, it will likely stop and the cutting power will drastically drop. To get the sweet spot for efficient polishing, it does take a little more practice, but if you aren't in the magic window you won't cause unwanted damage unlike a Rotary machine polisher.

Providing the best of both worlds, Gear Driven Machine Polishers offer all the power of a Rotary, but with all the safety of a Dual Action. So, why would you not just choose a Gear Driven Polisher in the first place? Two reasons, the weight and cost. Gear Driven machines, as the name describes, contain a geared polishing head. This means the backing plate is not freely spinning compared to that of a dual action, but predictably moving around in a predetermined pattern. What you end up with is a capable machine polisher that will pass over the same spot more frequently when compared to a Dual Action, but not as much as a rotary. More cut, fewer holograms; a real goldilocks story. Gear Driven polishers still make up less than 10% of all machines used by detailers, mainly because of the cost and weight. These are two big factors that will often turn detailers off from switching away from their preferred Dual Action or Rotary. If you already have a machine working effectively, then why switch to a new one for a little extra performance?

Gear Driven isn't likely to be a machine polisher that a beginner starts with, just because of the cost compared to the other two, you will rarely find a budget version. That said, if you are a beginner with a healthy budget, it presents a great solution. Gear Driven Machine Polishers offer the easiest and smoothest user experience of all three movements. One downside however is the gears do make these machines heavier and over the course of a day you will end up with arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger (possibly an upside) so this is something to bear in mind.