Rotex For Boat Polishing?

[Custard]

Is there any way of using my Rotex 150mm for polishing a fibreglass boat hull? If so what accessories would you recommend?

By the way, the boat is afloat in a UK marina, I seem to have read that there's a safety device that you should plug in line when using power tools near water. Anyone any idea what that is?

Thanks!

 

[Sparktrician]

You might want to start with the Interface Pad, #496647 and select abrasives as appropriate.  The MPA 500 and MPA 8000 abrasives work really well with hard and soft felt pads respectively.  The add-on device needed near water is a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter. 

 

[Custard]

Thank you Sparktrician, much appreciated!

 

[wow]

The Rotex works great for polishing. If you were in the USA, I'd suggest that you look at Adam's Polishes for product to use with it. I have used many brands, but I've switched exclusively to them now...

 

[jonny round boy]

You might want to start with the Interface Pad, #496647 and select abrasives as appropriate.  The MPA 500 and MPA 8000 abrasives work really well with hard and soft felt pads respectively.  The add-on device needed near water is a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter. 

In the UK, known more commonly as an RCD adaptor.

If the boat's in the water, how are you going to polish the hull? [huh]

 

[Thistleman]

In the UK the safety device is known as a Residual Current Device and should be used whenever using mains powered electrical devices out of doors

 

[Mitchwood]

Use the Rotax with the polishing pad part no 493914 and a fine polishing sponge part no 493859. I have used this with Farcella polishing paste. Polishing sponge needs to be soaked in water and rung out. Gives fantastic finish to top sides of hull.

Charlie

 

[VW mick]

In the UK the safety device is known as a Residual Current Device and should be used whenever using mains powered electrical devices out of doors

That's what Johnny said an RCD

And would probably use 110v

 

[jonny round boy]

In the UK the safety device is known as a Residual Current Device and should be used whenever using mains powered electrical devices out of doors

That's what Johnny said an RCD

And would probably use 110v

You can't use an RCD with 110v....

 

[VW mick]

In the UK the safety device is known as a Residual Current Device and should be used whenever using mains powered electrical devices out of doors

That's what Johnny said an RCD

And would probably use 110v

Sorry that's what I ment ..I would just use 110v you don't need an RCD 
You can't use an RCD with 110v....

 

[Corwin]

Here's one you may like:

How to compound / polish gelcoat with RO 150 FEQ

 

[Sparktrician]

In the UK the safety device is known as a Residual Current Device and should be used whenever using mains powered electrical devices out of doors

That's what Johnny said an RCD

And would probably use 110v

You can't use an RCD with 110v....

I'm curious about your response, Jonathan.  Blakeley sells 110 volt RCDs. 

 

[jonny round boy]

So they do!

Well, turns out you DO learn something new every day. Or at least, today! Never seen one before - It seems they are a new thing, to comply with some new regulation (like we really need more....).

 

[wow]

So they do!

Well, turns out you DO learn something new every day. Or at least, today! Never seen one before - It seems they are a new thing, to comply with some new regulation (like we really need more....).

Probably a good thing - 110 Volts can kill you just as dead as 220!

 

[jonny round boy]

So they do!

Well, turns out you DO learn something new every day. Or at least, today! Never seen one before - It seems they are a new thing, to comply with some new regulation (like we really need more....).

Probably a good thing - 110 Volts can kill you just as dead as 220!

True, but UK 110v is centre-tapped, so if there's a fault to earth the maximum voltage you're exposed to is 55v.

But, as my old physics teacher used to say, the voltage just makes you jump about; it's the current that kills you!

 

[ccarrolladams]

The first time I was involved in polishing a boat was in the late spring of 1940 shortly before I turned 8, Electric hand tools were rare then and when available they were super heavy. Because I was a child I only polished by hand. What the adults used were a couple of pneumatic polishers, which to me looked like the kind then popular to polish autos.

The boat was lifted by a crane so we could reach the bottom of the hull, but the ground was soaking wet. Of course that was a long time before fiberglass boats. Still the finish needed to be polished after it was applies. Before re-finishing the hull was sanded, also a combination of pneumatic and hand work.

My family gave up our vacation home on the water of Long Island and all our boats for the duration of WWII. In the spring of 1946 my Dad bought a different Long Island home with a dock and a boat which had been stored out of the water since 1941. It took us many weekends to get it ready for the water. By then I was considered mature and large enough at almost 14 to use a pneumatic sander and then a polisher.

In the years since then up to 1950, I sanded and polished many boats. Since hardly ever could I stand on a dry deck to do so I always followed advice from those with more experience to stick with pneumatic tools around water. Dad owned such tools and also a couple of very large air compressors.

Perhaps a division of TTS, maybe even Festool, makes and sells such pneumatic tools outside North America?

 

[Sparktrician]

So they do!

Well, turns out you DO learn something new every day. Or at least, today! Never seen one before - It seems they are a new thing, to comply with some new regulation (like we really need more....).

Probably a good thing - 110 Volts can kill you just as dead as 220!

True, but UK 110v is centre-tapped, so if there's a fault to earth the maximum voltage you're exposed to is 55v.

But, as my old physics teacher used to say, the voltage just makes you jump about; it's the current that kills you!

One thing that was hammered into my head in electrician's school back in the Dark Ages was that under ideal circumstances, it takes only 0.1 amps to kill a person absolutely stone dead.  That's one tenth of one amp.  That means that in one circuit on a 15 amp breaker, there's 150 times the amount of current needed to kill a person.  As noted, the voltage is largely irrelevant; it's the current that counts.  I've accidentally encountered 120 VAC many times, and even 440 volts at 400 Hz, none of which are fun.  The one that really got my attention, though, was telephone ring current which is 90 VAC superimposed over 48 VDC at 20 Hz.  That will slap you around like no tomorrow.  I have the utmost respect for electricity and the potential for tragedy.  A portable GFCI is ALWAYS in my tool bag. 

 

[tbellemare]

I've never heard of anyone getting mortally wounded or even seriously hurt with a 110V jolt. I've experienced several myself. It's unpleasant, to say the least, but unless you have some condition or situation that causes you to be abnormally conductive, it's not likely to cause more than severe discomfort, in my opinion.

I grew up working with a Master Electrician that started his trade when the REA was "electrifying" farm houses. My Dad, my Granddad, and my Great Uncle, went around the rural area of eastern ND and "electrified" farm houses. They studied what it was all about and sold themselves to a bunch of people that were scared of electricity. It didn't make them a fortune but it was enough to keep the farm and raise a whole bunch of my Dad's younger siblings.

There are bars in Mexico where the machismo thing to do is hold onto both leads of the old fashioned, wind up meggers. It can be a game for shots or whatever... I don't think anyone has ever died - but then again, who would know?

The human body is only so conductive naturally. To conduct enough current to cause serious damage, it normally takes significantly more than 120VAC. Impedance is also a factor, which makes it slightly more involved than the easy way to consider electrical equations, which we all learned is: E=IR.

Plain old Ohm's Law is good enough for this discussion.

I think most people that get mortally wounded with electrical shock get moderately high voltage, (220VAC or so) between two hands or shoulder-to-opposite hand, involving the chest in the path of conduction. I could be completely wrong about that but what I learned from my Dad was that the intermediate voltages are what normally kill or hurt most. Higher voltages kill also but for other reasons, like molten buss bars that have exploded, sending shrapnel and the utility room is full of melted insulation smoke that kills after it suffocates.

My Dad got seriously shocked with 440 one time from his bald pate to right hand and fell off the ladder but was really only hurt from the fall. He should have been wearing a hard hat, but back then, once the building was enclosed, nobody wore hard hats unless someone was working overhead.

I'm pretty sure that I could shock someone from toe-to-ankle with ten thousand volts AC and just roast their foot. The conductive path matters...

Tom

 

[tkendall1517]

First post on the forum ... long time lurker and festool user. 110v can do damage! A coworker of mine was installing our cabinets on a bathroom remodel, and was told by the GC that the outlets that needed to be pulled through the back were shut off at the circuit breaker. When he pulled the outlet through, he grabbed it with both hands (completing the circuit through the chest as mentioned above) and was seriously shocked ... his memory is that he could not let go and was being shiocked for 10-15 seconds before using his legs to push away and throw himself off. It caused heart palpitations, an ambulance ride, and an overnight hospital stay. Granted this fellow was possibly not in the best heart health, but it was pretty scary for him and those on site, and quite expensive for everyone involved (GC using unlicensed electrician, which we had no idea about.) Our policy now is to turn off circuits at the breaker, verify with a multimeter, then electrical tape the connections, then still handle the wires like they are live.

Sorry to keep dragging this thread off topic, but be safe folks.

 

[tbellemare]

First post on the forum ... long time lurker and festool user. 110v can do damage! A coworker of mine was installing our cabinets on a bathroom remodel, and was told by the GC that the outlets that needed to be pulled through the back were shut off at the circuit breaker. When he pulled the outlet through, he grabbed it with both hands (completing the circuit through the chest as mentioned above) and was seriously shocked ... his memory is that he could not let go and was being shiocked for 10-15 seconds before using his legs to push away and throw himself off. It caused heart palpitations, an ambulance ride, and an overnight hospital stay. Granted this fellow was possibly not in the best heart health, but it was pretty scary for him and those on site, and quite expensive for everyone involved (GC using unlicensed electrician, which we had no idea about.) Our policy now is to turn off circuits at the breaker, verify with a multimeter, then electrical tape the connections, then still handle the wires like they are live.

Sorry to keep dragging this thread off topic, but be safe folks.

There's a good reason for tagout and a better reason for lockout...

I hope your whole crew can appreciate that the one who is in peril is the only one that has the key.

Tom

EDIT:
My Dad admitted to me the day he got fried that he forgot that rule and his good Buddy fried him.