I hate to disagree with the absolute master of this stuff (Dave), but the Porter-Cable 7424 is not a true rotary buffer of the variety Dave uses on most of his stunning work. The big difference is pad speed. The 7424 is a random orbital machine with some (non-forced) pad rotation. In other words, if you apply too much pressure to the machine, the rotary motion of the pad will stall and all you get is a weak random orbital motion. That doesn't give you much correction ability - regardless of the speed at which you run it. Don't get me wrong, I have a 7424 and a 7424 XP along with a Flex and a DeWalt rotary machines. The 7424's are great machines, but not for medium to heavy correction.

A true rotary machine on the other hand has no random orbital motion and forced rotary motion. Translation: You cannot stall the pad. For heavy correction work (and a real upper body workout) these bad boys are the only way to fly.

So getting back to how fast you'd probably want to run a 7424, I'd say to run it flat out for the oxidation removal - especially with a wool pad. Even flat out, this particular machine just doesn't have the pad speed of a rotary. For final polishing and / or wax application with a foam pad, you can slow it way down. Hopefully Dave will agree - and not take me off his Christmas Card list.

Tom

to be honest i never looked up the machine i just thought it was there big box store rotary machine. You are 100% correct Tom there orbital machines are for final detail and wax only. In my shop i use Makita 9227's and have had others but none has stood up to the abuse the Makita has. Dewalt makes a nice burly "looking" machine but (like all my other Dewalt stuff) did not last long at all. I have herd Flex is the king cheese these days but with the longevity of my current buffer i may never wear it out so i can get me a new one lol.


good catch Tom, honestly i just overlooked that very important part of this. Whats funny is i have four PC 7424's in the shop but we use them for sanding the big orbit makes them a hog of a DA. :cool:

I agree on speed as well but like i said i start slow to get the compound spread out and working then ramp it up till your cookin (pretty much flat out) gel likes heat to bring out the gloss but go easy on the wraps and any vinyl it can distort them.

+1 Dave. They just upgraded the Makita 9227C to the 9237CX2 see link:

http://www.autogeek.net/ma927po.html

I just bought a dynabrade random orbital attachment for my old school Milwaukee buffer.

It wasn't cheap at 150 but it's badass for not getting swirl marks everywhere.

Was thinking about purchasing this: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...5139_200485139 and then using the porter cable for the final step. Can you send me a link to the pads I need to purchase for the totally buff and the vitreo or is just any wool pad for both.

Never heard of Clutch, to be honest if your always gonna have a boat (which I'm guess'in you are :D) then you should own a quality buffer. You dont really need the most expensive but nearly every 99 dollar tool i have ever purchased didnt last long. I have been pretty happy with my Makita stuff and i think they are like $220 or so. Just food for thought, that one will probably get ya by for a while but buffing gel is hard of equipment, takes a high load at times.

If you have a Harbor Freight in your area the wool pads there aint bad.

Heading to Harbor Freight now!

Curious about the results with the vinyl graphics.. I just bought Totally Buff and Vitreo to do my top deck which really needs a good polishing. But it also has vinyl graphics on it and I was planning on replacing the vinyl because I figured I would destroy them with the compound and buffer. Didn't the grit in the totally buff scratch the vinyl surface??

I just bought a Makita 9227 CX3 (that's the buffer plus two pads and a carrying bag for $190 including shipping on eBay...

So I bought the Dewalt 849 series rotary today. Anyways, I also bought these pads from Harbor Freight - http://www.harborfreight.com/7-1-2-h...pad-90451.html

These do not seem compatible with the backing plate that comes with the rotary. They are for a hook and loop backing plate which I assume is just velcro. Anyways, I didn't see anywhere on the packaging what size backing plate I should buy. Should I get a 6" backing plate.

Sorry for all the stupid questions just want to make sure I have the right stuff.

Blake