My Harbor Freight rotory buffer just made it through another round....

My $35 Harbor Freight Rotary tool died…..or did it?

While using my $35 Harbor Freight rotary buffing tool yesterday, the same tool I have used for the past two years I set it down.

I picked up the tool and pressed the on switch and nothing happened.

After confirming the power was still on I figured oh well the life of this tool is over. The tool owned me nothing. It lased far longer than I had hoped. I have another new one still in to box as a back-up. May as well toss this one in the trash and continue with the new one.

But wait,...........I remember seeing replacement brushes when I opened the box when I first got the tool. I kept the replacement brushes in a bag with all the other stuff that came with this low cost light weight tool.

Using the prongs on the power cord like a screwdriver I unscrewed the brush caps on the tool, removed the brushes which were only about 1/3rd gone vs the new ones, replaced them with the new ones that came with then tool, put the caps back on, plugged the tool in and pressed the switch. It zoomed back to life!

I’ve now done three complete compounding wax jobs on my boat with this $35 harbor freight tool.

Amazing. Simply amazing.
 
Last edited:
Presentation said:
My $35 Harbor Freight Rotary tool died…..or did it?

While using my $35 Harbor Freight rotary buffing tool yesterday, the same tool I have used for the past two years I set it down.

I picked up the tool and pressed the on switch and nothing happened.

After confirming the power was still on I figured oh well the life of this tool is over. The tool owned me nothing. It lased far longer than I had hoped. I have another new one still in to box as a back-up. May as well toss this one in the trash and continue with the new one.

But wait,...........I remember seeing replacement brushes when I opened the box when I first got the tool. I kept the replacement brushes in a bag with all the other stuff that came with this low cost light weight tool.

Using the prongs on then power cord like a screwdriver I unscrewed the brush caps on the tool, removed the brushes which were only about 1/3rd gone vs the new ones, replaced them with the new ones that came with then tool, put the caps back on, plugged the tool in and pressed the switch. It zoomed back to life!

I’ve now done three complete compounding wax jobs on my boat with this $35 harbor freight tool.

Amazing. Simply amazing.
Click to expand...

Good for you......i don't care what's sometimes said negatively about H.F..I love them.....
 
Just bought mine last week...on sale for $29.99. Also bought the Porter Cable 7424.
 
What speeds do you find yourself using on the HF Rotary? I tried applying the Meguiars Flagship Cleaner / Wax and didn’t have good results at all.

After spending the last 2 hours reading the 100’s of pages here, I read that spritzing the HF fake wool pad with a bit of water will help the pad from drying out. This is what happened with the product – it just soaked into the gelcoat and did not actually lay any sort of wax on, and started jumping around. I applied the cleaner/wax with the II speed setting.

I am guessing for final buffing you run the rotary at a higher speed…right?

Anyhow - hope I am not hijacking but wonder what sppeds you have the best luck with.
 
Here's my advice -

1. I use the HF buffer around speed setting #2 or slightly below.

2. I only use the buffer to apply the compound/polish.

3. I hand apply the flagship wax. Pretty much wipe on/wipe off with that product. I usually do a 2' x 4' area. It's goes much faster than using a buffer.

4. If the compound/polish is drying out too fast, lightly spritz water on the gelcoat, not on the pad. There's a fine line between too much and too little water. Too much and the compound/polish stays wet too too long. It takes forever to work with the wheel and the pad becomes ineffective.

I've had my buffer for 6 years now and probably done about 25 boat detailing and car detailing jobs. Best money I've spent.

Doug
 
5 years with my HF buffer. The trick to making it last is not using a long extension cord.
 
I used a 50' cord with mine but it was a heavy duty 12ga wire, what will cause problems is the cheap 14 and 16ga wire cords these will cause the buffer to heat up and burn out due to resistance in the wire.
 
Just bought my HF buffer today. It was on sale for $19, so if it burns up in a few uses, then so be it. But you cant beat HF cheap tools, I am so glad they are down the road from me!!
 
deeman said:
What speeds do you find yourself using on the HF Rotary? I tried applying the Meguiars Flagship Cleaner / Wax and didn’t have good results at all.

After spending the last 2 hours reading the 100’s of pages here, I read that spritzing the HF fake wool pad with a bit of water will help the pad from drying out. This is what happened with the product – it just soaked into the gelcoat and did not actually lay any sort of wax on, and started jumping around. I applied the cleaner/wax with the II speed setting.

I am guessing for final buffing you run the rotary at a higher speed…right?

Anyhow - hope I am not hijacking but wonder what sppeds you have the best luck with.
Click to expand...

What I did on mine is buffit out first with a good automotive (3-M) rubbing compound that will get any oxidationoff then wax it. I used a wool pad it came out nice with the HF buffer I did itat hi-speed
 
Mumaluke said:
Nope - http://www.harborfreight.com/10-inch-random-orbit-waxer-polisher-43424.html
Click to expand...

wish2fish said:
I think this is the one everyone is using though.

http://www.harborfreight.com/7-inch-electronic-polisher-66615.html
Click to expand...

Mumaluke said:
Oh - Yea I guess I am using a different buffer. But it still works great!! I just started using the Meguiar's Restoration System.
[h=1][/h]You can see in this photo the difference!

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd401/mumaluke/Sea Ray/IMG_0547.jpg
Click to expand...

You'd be getting even better results with the rotary vs. the random orbital.
I did my buddy's '87 19' Seville ( I used a Makita rotary though), but you'll see much better results with a nice compound prior to polishing than with the Random orbital.
5fc8d298.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,117
Messages
1,426,458
Members
61,032
Latest member
Brock340
Back
Top