The title asks the question and this video will give you a DEFINITIVE answer. After watching this video, you will have a complete understanding of how safe it is to use a CERTAIN TYPE (orbital) of polisher on your paint.
Do NOT read this part until you watch the video, or you will end up confused on what these paragraphs explain.
To reiterate on what I covered in this video. I showed you
3-DIFFERENT POLISHERS:
1. A ROTARY polisher.
2. A DUAL-ACTION polisher. (the orbital AND rotary actions are BY DESIGN, using gears). This polisher performs TWO actions, and both actions are FORCED by design. Neither action can be stopped.
3. A ORBITAL sander/polisher: The PC-7424XP was NOT designed to repair paint. It was designed to work on WOOD. However, if used with a PROPER TECHNIQUE, this device WILL repair paint damage. It takes longer than the other two polishers to fix paint, but it is MUCH SAFER to use on your paint.
The mechanism that makes the pad turn is technically known as the "free-floating spindle assembly". That is why I was able to freely turn the pad with my hand. That is what the free floating spindle assembly allows. So technically, this is why that polisher is called a ORBITAL polisher/sander, NOT A DUAL-ACTION machine.
The reason that the PC-7424XP is NOT a dual-action machine, even though it has an orbital and a rotary action, is because the rotary action IS NOT TRUE. In other words, the rotary action is NOT by design. The polisher was not designed to rotate in a perfect circle, the way a rotary polisher does.
The rotary action happens as an offshoot of the ORBITAL action. In other words, the rotary action starts to happen because of how the orbital action is created, but when you apply enough PRESSURE,
the ROTARY ACTION comes to a STOP. Thus, the rotary action IS NOT TRUE, nor is it by design. It is a momentum reaction due to the design of the orbital action, which is TECHNICALLY caused by the design of the free floating spindle assembly. I just said the same thing TWICE, using two different descriptions.
The free floating spindle assemble describes the mechanical action that turns the pad in a orbital direction.
