Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

[xantonin]

First time using a DA, I just picked up my G110 from ADS.

I was working on my dad's car for father's day yesterday, the entire day. I think I may have been using the DA for 6-8 hours.

My hands hurt like hell. I know I read in the instruction manual to relax, and I tried to most of the time, but then I felt I wasn't applying enough pressure.

I've marked my pads to see them spin while working, but I'm still not sure how much pressure to apply. If I apply just enough to keep the pads spinning without stopping, my hands hurt more. If I let it weight itself down, I don't feel I'm correcting the paint as much.

Sometimes I even tried lightly lifting the unit so that it spins even faster over the surface, not sure if that helped though but it sure spun faster (and was still making contact).

I'm sort of unsatisfied with my results, luckily my dad's car is a really light color so only I can see the defects. Overall it did good but I can still see swirls after using SwirlX.

Am I doing anything wrong or is the machine supposed to vibrate insanely?

I tried using the D handle to keep the unit level, but its vibrating action makes it tilt itself as I use it.

Man my hands hurt still... but I need to go outside an try fixing my car before work tomorrow...

[Carfire]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

I do not think you were using enough pressure.
Possibly you need a different polish/compound.

[xantonin]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

I think you're right. I remember reading a tip about using gloves to lessen the vibrations on your hands.

I think I may have to look into that. This thing feels like trying to control one of those electric bulls in the size of your hands. :/

[john m.]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Yeah the da can make your hands numb after prolonged use

If you have a scale wrap it in some plastic and put the machine on it and turn it on. Then apply different pressure until you are around 5 pounds of pressure or so.

Mike did a thread on this let me see if I can dig it up for you

[john m.]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

How to remove swirls with machines if you read through that you will see the scale thing I was talking about hopefully that helps

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

It sounds like you are getting close, and maybe just need a little more practice.

Any time you hold any machine for 6-8 hours you will end up with some soreness in your hands.

It also sounds like you need to tighten that handle down with the supplied allen wrench to keep it from moving- it should be tight enough that it never moves.

As for the pressure, you want some rotation, but not super fast rotation. It's really hard to describe in a forum...it's something you need to practice and get a feel for.

As for the swirls still remaining, keep in mind that SwirlX is the least aggressive consumer polish right now, so on deeper defects or harder paint you may need to step up to something like ScratchX 2.0, or make several passes.

Mark

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Yeah the da can make your hands numb after prolonged use

If you have a scale wrap it in some plastic and put the machine on it and turn it on. Then apply different pressure until you are around 5 pounds of pressure or so.

Mike did a thread on this let me see if I can dig it up for you

15 lbs. of pressure is what I always heard.

[xantonin]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess because his car is 6 years old with factory paint it's probably just really hard paint.

Awesome thread too John, I love the Elise. I'm going to read that.

I think I also need to work on my pad cleaning techniques.



Here in AZ it's really hot and especially dry, so while spreading the product with the DA to get ready for my first pass, it seems it's ALREADY dried out... I used a water bottle and had some distilled water. I think someone suggested using Last touch of Final Inspection, I forget which but I didn't have any of that.

So, to avoid getting my pads too dry I didn't want to "absorb" the wet-ness out of the pad by cleaning it... lol

[john m.]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

15 lbs. of pressure is what I always heard.

your right it is supposed to be 15 I guess I didnt hit the 1 on 15 like I thought

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Work VERY small areas if product flashing too quickly is an issue.

[xantonin]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Damn, that'll take forever then. Maybe I'll just be a humidifier for the garage, haha.

I just tried out the pressure. The DA weighs about 5 pounds, and looks like I was only applying maybe 5-10a additional pounds... I guess that was probably my weakness.

Seems that, for a newbie, marking the pads is actually a bad idea because you think "speed setting 5? Well 5,000 should be faster than that! Maybe I'm applying too much pressure"

At least, that was how I thought. Because I marked my pad I though that when I was applying pressure it wasn't spinning fast enough.

Well luckily my dad is really happy with the work. Whew, so glad his car is light colored.

Now to just work on pad cleaning.. I'm about to take some M205 to my car, and I've already used 2 of my 3 Polishing pads. I used one for waxing but I've got 2 spare finishing pads... I should have used one of those for waxing..

I need to work on cleaning them now. I think I'll just run them under hot water.

[Bounty]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Might sound like a dumb question but what car are you working on? And what product/pad combo are you using? Speed settings on G110? Work area size? Speed moving the machine across the surface? Number of passes over the work area?

Kind of hard to tell you what's wrong without the info above but let us know and I'll give it a shot...

[xantonin]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

I was working on a 2003 Camry LE (I think)

I was using mostly speed setting 5 with a polishing pad and mostly SwirlX. I tried some Ultimate Compound every now and then.

I noticed I'd move the G110 too fast a lot, so I'd have to catch myself and re-pass the area at a slow rate, probably about 0.5" to 1" inch a second.

I'd go left to right, then up to down, then left to right again, then diagonally sometimes, although that would depend on the work area.

I tried to work about a 1.5' foot to 2 foot area.

The machine vibrates a lot, so I didn't feel comfortable holding it too tightly and pushing it down. I think I need to work on how I'm holding it... :/

[Bounty]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

I was working on a 2003 Camry LE (I think)

Good...you're not working with a traditionally ultra-hard paint surface so you should be able to acheive the desired results with the tools you have.

I was using mostly speed setting 5 with a polishing pad and mostly SwirlX. I tried some Ultimate Compound every now and then.

Here's where I get on my soapbox and preach about the merits of a properly executed test section. This is probably the best advice I can ever give you: complete a test section first and don't do anything else until you're satisfied with that spot!

It is of the utmost importance that you tape off a section of paint and perform your testing. Try different pad/product/technique combinations until you get the level of defect removal you are content with. Why go around the vehicle "hoping" it'll turn out ok instead of being sure?

Remember that you can increase or decrease your level of corrective ability in one of four ways...pad, product, machine, and technique. Altering any of these variables can increase or decrease the amount of cut you are producing. Once you settle on the proper combination repeat the method exactly the same over the rest of the vehicle and your results should be consistent. No wasted effort...no hours spent polishing only to pull it in the sun and want to cry...nothing. Just sure and consistent results...

I noticed I'd move the G110 too fast a lot, so I'd have to catch myself and re-pass the area at a slow rate, probably about 0.5" to 1" inch a second.

Speed with a weaker machine like a G110 is of high importance. The .5" to 1" per second rule is fine.

I'd go left to right, then up to down, then left to right again, then diagonally sometimes, although that would depend on the work area.

If I'm reading this correctly you went over the work area with 2 or 3 passes? That's way too little...especially with a G110. I'd recommend at least six passes over the work area at a minimum. That's 3 vertical and 3 horizontal. You need to allow time for the product to do it's job and since you're not using very mechanically abrasive pads like LC CCS or Meg's cutting you'll be leaning heavily on the product to do the work here.

I tried to work about a 1.5' foot to 2 foot area.

Sounds good.

The machine vibrates a lot, so I didn't feel comfortable holding it too tightly and pushing it down. I think I need to work on how I'm holding it... :/

Try different positions on the bale handle and see which one you like the best and offers you the ideal combination of comfort and control.

[xantonin]

Re: Hands hurt, but not enough pressure?

Good...you're not working with a traditionally ultra-hard paint surface so you should be able to acheive the desired results with the tools you have.

Dang, I thought it was pretty hard lol. Could you give me some examples of cars that have traditionally harder paint?

Here's where I get on my soapbox and preach about the merits of a properly executed test section. This is probably the best advice I can ever give you: complete a test section first and don't do anything else until you're satisfied with that spot!

It is of the utmost importance that you tape off a section of paint and perform your testing. Try different pad/product/technique combinations until you get the level of defect removal you are content with. Why go around the vehicle "hoping" it'll turn out ok instead of being sure?

Remember that you can increase or decrease your level of corrective ability in one of four ways...pad, product, machine, and technique. Altering any of these variables can increase or decrease the amount of cut you are producing. Once you settle on the proper combination repeat the method exactly the same over the rest of the vehicle and your results should be consistent. No wasted effort...no hours spent polishing only to pull it in the sun and want to cry...nothing. Just sure and consistent results...

I sort of tried a test spot on the trunk. I guess because the car was light colored, I wasn't worried too much and just wanted to experience. And since it wasn't my car I was sorta worried about removing too much.

I just feel that if I were to do a test spot, in most cases the most aggressive product will always be best. I think that if you use the least aggressive product, it may remove some of the marks but not all. For example when you have random deep scratches, depending on the frequency, how do you determine to just use the product aggressive enough to remove them over the entire car VS removing all but them? Not sure I explained that right...

If I'm reading this correctly you went over the work area with 2 or 3 passes? That's way too little...especially with a G110. I'd recommend at least six passes over the work area at a minimum. That's 3 vertical and 3 horizontal. You need to allow time for the product to do it's job and since you're not using very mechanically abrasive pads like LC CCS or Meg's cutting you'll be leaning heavily on the product to do the work here.

Question, why is using the M9207 cutting pad not recommended for the DA?
That aside you're totally right, I didn't do enough passes. :/

Try different positions on the bale handle and see which one you like the best and offers you the ideal combination of comfort and control.

I'll have to experiment with that. Right now I've got it at a right angle.

Thanks for the reply too!