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Old 12-31-2010, 04:40 PM   #1
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Porter Cable Orbital vs Cyclo

Have any of you polishers compared the end results of the Porter Cable Orbital Polisher vs a Cyclo? I own a Cyclo & like the results, but man, that thing is HEAVY! I've read here & on a polishing site about some people using the Porter Cable polisher for removing swirls & it's quite a bit lighter than the Cyclo. Wondered if anyone here has first hand experience? My joints are hurting just thinking about my annual job coming up in the spring!
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Old 12-31-2010, 05:00 PM   #2
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Polisher

I can not answer your question directly. I am in the process of polishing my 31 foot. I diid not buy a cycle polisher. I purchased a standard one speed side grinder to compound. it did OK as I had lots of corrosion. I then went to Harbor freight and got a variable speed for the second polish and seemed to do better. I have finished and tomorrow I will do the third polish with grade S using a six inch orbital air driven sander with lamb wool bonnet for the next two times to take out swirl marks. it is lighter and easer to use. I can't tell you how it works but will find out tomorrow.
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Old 12-31-2010, 05:14 PM   #3
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I can not answer your question directly. I am in the process of polishing my 31 foot. I diid not buy a cycle polisher. I purchased a standard one speed side grinder to compound. it did OK as I had lots of corrosion. I then went to Harbor freight and got a variable speed for the second polish and seemed to do better. I have finished and tomorrow I will do the third polish with grade S using a six inch orbital air driven sander with lamb wool bonnet for the next two times to take out swirl marks. it is lighter and easer to use. I can't tell you how it works but will find out tomorrow.

I'd like to know how that comes out too. I have an air compressor with lots of hose, so I could use an air driven orbital if it does a good job. Did you get that at Harbor Freight too? I used the HF polisher too. Worked fine.
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Old 12-31-2010, 05:17 PM   #4
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I have...

I own the Porter Cable. I purchased it several years ago for automobiles. I have tried it on a few small spots on my AS and it appears to do a very good job. No swirl marks that I can see. I used the polish from Vintage Trailer Supply and one of the blue foam pads that came with the Porter Cable. I'm not to the point in my restoration to begin the full-on polish job so I only did a couple test patches inside and out. So far so good. I do think I will buy cheap angle polisher with out orbit to do the first cut.
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Old 01-01-2011, 07:02 PM   #5
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Orbital sander

Today in Georgia was really rainy but 65 so a good day to polish. I finished compounding I used the variable speed and 10 inch foam pad to do lots of work. I then used the Ingersoul Rand 6 inch air sander the finish up. It was light and did a good job. The next step is to use it with bonnets to take off the hase and residue. I also purchased a 3 inch air polisher from Harbor Freight that also is air for $30 It gets in tight places and well worth the money.
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Old 01-01-2011, 07:36 PM   #6
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Come on Becky, just think of the arm workout you'll get, thats what motivates me ; )
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Old 01-01-2011, 07:46 PM   #7
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It would motivate me, but when I polished my 1976 Overlander about 4 years ago, I dislocated my shoulder. Now I have lots of pain in the shoulder (not to mention arthritis) and am kinda looking for something a bit lighter. Am going to the gym now & it is helping to build muscles in the shoulder.....oh, I hate getting old! I'm up to 3 lb weights in each arm, but extending the one out is a b***h!
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Old 01-03-2011, 01:13 PM   #8
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Today in Georgia was really rainy but 65 so a good day to polish. I finished compounding I used the variable speed and 10 inch foam pad to do lots of work. I then used the Ingersoul Rand 6 inch air sander the finish up. It was light and did a good job. The next step is to use it with bonnets to take off the hase and residue. I also purchased a 3 inch air polisher from Harbor Freight that also is air for $30 It gets in tight places and well worth the money.
Did you have any swirl marks after you finished polishing?
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Old 01-03-2011, 05:58 PM   #9
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GAT....tell us the news....any swirls??
Becky if you choose to use air tools you will need a decent size air compressor as they use lots of air and a little comp. wont keep up. I wish someone would chime in on the porter cable. I ran across on in a catalog and was also curious.
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Old 01-06-2011, 07:52 AM   #10
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GAT....tell us the news....any swirls??
Becky if you choose to use air tools you will need a decent size air compressor as they use lots of air and a little comp. wont keep up. I wish someone would chime in on the porter cable. I ran across on in a catalog and was also curious.
I know....I saw one on Amazon for $99 around Christmas & now they're at $116. I have a pretty good sized air compressor. I think it's 5 hp with a 40 gallon tank. Did tons of rivets with it & cut lots of aluminum with a nibbler when I redid my belly pan & banana wrap (thank goodness that's over!). I looked at HF at the air polishers, but none of them were random orbit. I think that's the key to no swirls.

Anybody????
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Old 01-06-2011, 10:45 AM   #11
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I used the Porter Cable orbital for final polish on mine and it worked well, removed any and all swirls left from compounding I did with the big Makita compounder. I used cotton terry bonnets over the big lambswool pad.

It does seem to vibrate some though due to the orbital, so it might bother someone with an arthritic condition in hands or wrists. I've never used a Cyclo so I can't compare to the feeling of using one of those.
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Old 01-06-2011, 11:35 AM   #12
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I keep getting drawn back to this post in Jordan's great thread http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...tml#post756419 where Geven is describing how he does it with a compounder with Nuvite F7 followed by a Porter Cable using Truck Box Polish.

cheers,
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Old 01-06-2011, 03:43 PM   #13
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Right on, Steve. After that, I traded a lot of emails and a few phone calls with Geven, and his method really works. If your oxidation isn't too bad, then you can completely skip the compounding with F7. Most of my trailer was in decent shape, I think because Terry and other POs had done a little polishing already somewhere along the line. So I didn't use the compounding wheel and Nuvite very much at all.

For the most part, mine was just many, many passes of a 2'x2' area with the Porter Cable and truck box polish. I didn't get it as shiny as they got Jordan's trailer in those pictures, but it looked pretty darn good, and I only put 17 hours into it to get roughly 85% of my trailer done. There are some pictures on my blog, here's one:





And here's a before and after close-up of the bit under the jalousies.









-Marcus
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Old 01-06-2011, 05:41 PM   #14
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LOOKIN GOOD! However it gets there.
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Old 01-06-2011, 07:56 PM   #15
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My polish story

I am almost finish polishing as much as I have the energy. My 76 sat under trees most of it's life on blocks so compounding was lots of work. Lowes has a 10 inch cotton buffer pad with a Velcro backing plate for a side grinder. With Nuvite it cuts but lots of time. I then used the backing plate and an automotive store had foam pads that polish without swirl marks. I then used an air orbital with foam pads and grade S to finish. Next I'm going to use spray auto retailer/wax to remove the last haze. I don't have experience with a cyclo and don't know how it compairs both in finish and labor. My point is Air driven tools if you have the compressor works well.and is light weight and I use it for other things.
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Old 01-07-2011, 10:43 AM   #16
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so the side grinder is better for compounding than a polisher? I mean the circular polisher not the Cyclo. I have both but no grinder. ( yet)
I love the Cyclo for polishing at the last stages, never tried it from the compounding stage. It does a great job on the cars too.
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Old 01-07-2011, 11:17 AM   #17
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Alansd, I'm not sure if we are talking in the same terms, My AS was corroded and lots of scrapes. I did not know beans about what I was doing and only later started reading on the forum how to go about this. I ordered Nuvite and later reordered and that time they sent pamphlets on tips. SO I learn best by mistakes that cost money or time. I bought a large single speed grinder from Lowes. It did OK but really went too fast 8000 rpm. It cut lots but was heavy and hard to control. I went to Harbor Freight and got a variable speed $50.00 and worked better for the second cut . I then went to finer Nuvite and foam to get most of crud. Finally I used the orbital to clean up areas and get into smaller places. A cyclo my have saved time I don't know. I do think that the sweat shirt material used would remove the junk and polish that other things cannot. Due to thousands of deep scratches I don't know from what I rather had to leave or sand out. I sanded and ruined the coating so it has places that will not shine as much. The price you pay I guess. I think my next shine will not take much compounding so I will try to get lots more off.
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Old 01-07-2011, 02:12 PM   #18
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It would motivate me, but when I polished my 1976 Overlander about 4 years ago, I dislocated my shoulder. Now I have lots of pain in the shoulder (not to mention arthritis) and am kinda looking for something a bit lighter. Am going to the gym now & it is helping to build muscles in the shoulder.....oh, I hate getting old! I'm up to 3 lb weights in each arm, but extending the one out is a b***h!
Much better than the alternative. Sal.
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Old 01-07-2011, 06:17 PM   #19
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Much better than the alternative. Sal.
That reminds me of my dad. He used to say that when he was suffering from cancer, about this time last year, when someone would ask him how he was. But in reality, the alternative IS better. At least that's what I believe (and my dad did too...he was just joking & he's free of his pain in heaven!) I don't think the shoulder will kill me, though! But I think I will get a Porter Cable & give it a "whirl" in the spring! I'm sure this snow is leaving some dandy water spots on my trailer! Thanks for all the advise.
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Old 01-08-2011, 07:40 AM   #20
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I guess the side grinder has its place. Levon did a polishing "class" at our last Spring Rally using one and rouges. It was very effective. Still lots of work though, there is no way around that.
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