I have been asked to share my idea and design for the flex pad on the edgers with rubber pads, so here is what went through my mind:
Working with new or less skilled floor men I would share my knowledge of how the unit cuts and where it cuts, the best words and description that I could come up with was "clocking" the edger so the cut would be as much as it can with the grain of the flooring.
Knowing how much pressure and clocking all comes down to a flat smooth cut with one goal in mind; what I do now needs to make the next step easy. So after the edger we would hand rub, palm sand or do whatever it takes to "hide" the scratch. I always liked the cut of a flex plate but never liked the units it was on because they were wide and hard to get into tight areas. I worked with a couple of friends and we all shared the same ideas with the flex plate, things like how fast it needs to cut on new wood vs. remodels and how the paper is installed to the flex plate.
The new flex plate will allow the paper to be hook-and-loop or bolt-on, so that is a plus. It will hold 7/8 or 5/16 center hole, but I like the 5/16 the best. The hook-and-loop paper is nice because it will cut fast with less scratch, this helps a new person do great work. Now keep in mind that it will cut like a rubber pad but it will not leave the hard cut like the rubber pad.
My idea was to give me a unit that will fit in tight places, not eat the corners, flatten the doorways, keep a uniform scratch and allow the next step to be done faster and with less work. My overall impression is it will work great on new wood and with a remodel floor it will not scratch the floor up so bad that the hand work is a pain. The casters need to be adjusted for the new pad and the dust control is fair, so I put on a dust skirt that makes it very good.
I am not making the flex plate and the only way to get it right now is through your dealer if they order it through Revolution. The one dealer that has it right now is Sanderparts.com, but as more folks try it I hope more dealers will give it a try. Please, if you try it let me know you think...
