At 21:24 22 November 2005,
wrote:
Gary,

Can you help me with some specifics. You said 'Orbital
machines are for
polishing wax'. But if my notes are correct, polishing
and waxing are
two different exercises, one preparing the surface
and the other
protecting it. Can you clarify?

Also, what is buffing? What is cutting? What's the
difference between a
buffer and polisher? 1750rpm and 8 in foam pads on
what type or brand
of machine? I see 6, 7, 8, and 10 inch pads; can typical
machines
handle multiple pad sizes?

I remember a little less than two years ago going through
a state of
careful study mixed with terminal confusion when I
was learning about
flight computers, loggers and electric varios. This
is d=E9j=E0 vu!

~ted


Sorry for the confusion. The terms often get used interchangeably.
Orbital polishers are what you would typically use
for applying and/or polishing an automotive type of
wax although I find it just as easy to do the waxing
by hand.
Buffing is a much more aggressive way to finish paint
and/or gel coat. Cutting refers to the use of stronger
compounds that you would typically use after the final
wet sanding step. It is the step between sanding and
buffing with super fine compounds like 3M's Finesse-It.
What you start with needs to be determined by the condition
of the existing finish. Plain wax will not remove any
imperfections in gel coat so for very slight imperfections
you would first try finesse-It and only move into more
aggressive cutting compounds if needed. You obviously
want to remove no more gel coat in the process than
absolutely necessary. Wax would be applied after final
buffing.