Feedback Needed…Again! – Improved Terminator 3-Step Wet Pads

[Camzl1]

Again thanks for the feedback.

I have seen a couple of post where some guys were having problems with the aggressiveness of the #1 pad. I can assure you that we made this pad to be more aggressive than the previous generation, also what I have found in my experience is that in order for the #1 pad to be aggressive it has to have some material to bite onto. Hence in the very first post as the pictures showed, the edge surface of the piece coming off the cnc machine after D2. D3 was still giving me the bite I needed, and for photo sake, to see the coarseness of the surface, is why I chose D2 and to show that #1 could be aggressive enough to start with. In my experience if the edge is too smooth than the #1 pad will feel like it is not working and taking longer, and it will take longer, as the surface area is too smooth to allow the pad to work. Also I have found too much RPM and the combination of pad, backer and water, the pad vibrated and caused the #1 to have to work longer than you need it to. Read earlier post of me likening it to the analogy of a gillette razor with the vibration head. Try and back the RPMS down like I had at 1/2 way so that you aren't bogging the polisher but you aren't going so fast as to vibrate the pad. The water also needs to not be turned on wide open as you need the slurry to help with the friction. When you are using the #1 pad you should be getting very muddy water, not a run off. Follow these steps and hopefully this will improve your experience. On engineered stone you still need water as not to burn the stone but that's just for the #2 and the #3 pad. #1 pad will work with the same amount of water as on granite just don't use too little on the #2 and the #3 pad.

Thanks guys and have a great day.

[clhilde]

I took them out of my guys hands and played with them today.
I found the pad to be more agressive on a flat surrface when compared to the last formula but (and this is weird)when breaking the edge the old formula wins hands down.Next I tried using the old 1 with the new 2 & 3.This is great for lighter stones and on stuff like stove ends and fridge ends you can stop at 2 however this not the case on black.
On blacks the new 1 pad does way better on the flat but can not break a eased edge very quick.I do see alot of wear on the new 1 compared to the old.

I believe my guys review came from running the pads wide open.There is a big improvement as to speed of the pad if you have the rpms right.When you feel it want to bog down you know its working and after a few passes it glides smooth with out bogging and thats when you know its done.

[Joe Durfee]

Since I gave these pads to my primary polisher, I have noticed that we are having trouble keeping him with a backlog of work. He is polishing jobs (along with my 3 month rookie) faster than our CNC can edge them and in turn than my Combicut can cut them. A half million dollars of machinery cant keep up with two guys polishing (one season veteran and one rookie), go figure (I have two guys, running the machines also, one vet and one rookie with me pinch hitting as needed).

I am deleting the polishers from our programs starting tomorrow. The two jobs so far each saved about 53 minutes per cycle. I can have them polish and break the bottom edge (ZR5 profile) in about 2 hours. Breaking the bottom edge along with set up and take down takes about an hour and a half. The polish will be better (zero lines as compared to the faint lines if you dress your tools like we do to the Pate method). Four out of my last five kitchen have been the ZS profile so we only ran the four diamonds and let them polish by hand for whats it worth.

You have to follow the procedure that Eric outlined above or they will not work as well. As a little green Jedi once said, "You must unlearn what you have learned" to get the optimal results.

Vincent and the boys hit a home run with these pads, case closed.

[Msalemi]

Very happy to hear you are having success with the pads. Thanks for the feedback Joe - we appreciate you taking the time to thoroughly test with your guys and follow up on the thread. It's this kind of feedback that helps us to continually better our products and company in general. From the information I've gathered so far, utilizing Eric's outlined parameters seems to be producing superior results. Thank you again.

[Dustin Adams]

posted in the general forum

[CustomMarbleGranite]

Our experience is the same as most. You must turn the RPM s down in order to allow the pads to bite. I see much improvement from the last generation of pads. My guys have been polishing different profiles with them, finishing a bullnose yesterday and the edge looked great on antique persa. Also the number 2 pad seems to be wearing better than the last ones. Were going to keep testing them as I'm curious to see how long they will last.

[clhilde]

Our experience is the same as most. You must turn the RPM s down in order to allow the pads to bite. I see much improvement from the last generation of pads. My guys have been polishing different profiles with them, finishing a bullnose yesterday and the edge looked great on antique persa. Also the number 2 pad seems to be wearing better than the last ones. Were going to keep testing them as I'm curious to see how long they will last.

They seemed to wear a little quicker to me but then again my guys were running like normal before i got them

[clhilde]

We played with these pads at the show surfacing with them and IMO the will replace the alpha system we all love.The popped uba to a factory finish with out the use of mb just as fast.

Some body please send Cam a set so he can put them to a real test

[Todd Luster]

Chris found out today that he could take the 3 straight after a 1000 alpha and pop ubatuba on a face polish!!!

Nice!!

[Msalemi]

A big thanks goes out to all the SFA members who participated in the development of our Improved 3-Step Wet System! The feedback was excellent and we are happy to announce they are in stock and ready for sale!

[chad201008]

These 3 step pads are great but you have to follow the instructions in the first post to make them work. Speed is the most important thing to get the best shine. My polishers love them and can't wait for me to order more!

[chad201008]

Again thanks for the feedback.

I have seen a couple of post where some guys were having problems with the aggressiveness of the #1 pad. I can assure you that we made this pad to be more aggressive than the previous generation, also what I have found in my experience is that in order for the #1 pad to be aggressive it has to have some material to bite onto. Hence in the very first post as the pictures showed, the edge surface of the piece coming off the cnc machine after D2. D3 was still giving me the bite I needed, and for photo sake, to see the coarseness of the surface, is why I chose D2 and to show that #1 could be aggressive enough to start with. In my experience if the edge is too smooth than the #1 pad will feel like it is not working and taking longer, and it will take longer, as the surface area is too smooth to allow the pad to work. Also I have found too much RPM and the combination of pad, backer and water, the pad vibrated and caused the #1 to have to work longer than you need it to. Read earlier post of me likening it to the analogy of a gillette razor with the vibration head. Try and back the RPMS down like I had at 1/2 way so that you aren't bogging the polisher but you aren't going so fast as to vibrate the pad. The water also needs to not be turned on wide open as you need the slurry to help with the friction. When you are using the #1 pad you should be getting very muddy water, not a run off. Follow these steps and hopefully this will improve your experience. On engineered stone you still need water as not to burn the stone but that's just for the #2 and the #3 pad. #1 pad will work with the same amount of water as on granite just don't use too little on the #2 and the #3 pad.

Thanks guys and have a great day.

Follow what Eric says and these pads will work great-

[Camzl1]

Again thanks guys for testing and providing feedback. As Michael has stated they are available for purchase now since last week. When We got these I spent a lot of time testing the parameters to make these pads work along with Doug Garwood out in Utah of Basic Diamond. So I am personally glad to see them working for everybody as explained and to see the nice consistency of doing it that way.

Chris my DIY buddy. We have sent a set out to Cam for testing on top polishing and also Kris Jorgenson has a set also for that reason.

Again thanks to everyone