# DA First timer with £20 Silverline



## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

(Mods - wasn't sure where to post this, please move if necessary)

Had my first stab at using the cheapo Silverline DA machine that's been discussed here: http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=83874










I've wanted to buy a PC for a while but when I have never tried anything like this before it was a bit too much money to spend on a whim. At £20 for the silverline I couldn't say no!

Went out a managed to get this Impreza bonnet in a single stage red for free from Blackbushe Motor Spares in Yateley.










Gave it a soak with a strong APC mix and a quick wash down, then masked off some 1ft sq areas along the front



















I only worked on 3 of the areas, all with the same Megs Polishing pad. I didn't clean it in between so this may have affected what I've seen. I did the following:
3 passes of #83
3 passes of SSR2
3 passes of #80










That left me with this: (1st sq: nothing, 2nd: #80, 3rd: #83, 4th: SSR2)










left: #83, right: SSR2









left: #83, right: SSR2









#83









SSR2









#80


















left: #80, right: #83









#80


















To surmise, I had expected to find it easier that I anticipated and it was. The pictures are not particularly good but the results are as you would expect, #83 has been the most aggressive but needs more refining, #80 has a bit of a nicer, deeper colour to it and the SSR2 somewhere in between. 
I'm going to go over the whole thing with #83 then #80 and see how it comes up.

The machine for £20 isn't bad at all. Fairly easy to use, no real vibration problems although I can imagine using it all day would leave you a bit numb. I can see it being a bit tricky on certain cars where you would really need a smaller pad.

If anything I am pleased to have bought it as I will now probably go straight for a rotary rather than spend the money out for a PC. Plus I've got a bonnet to practice on now!

Thanks for reading


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## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

seems to have given prett good swirl correction but not much in the way of burnishing the finish to a gloss.


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## joe_0_1 (Apr 7, 2007)

Thanks for the write up mate, it looks a nifty little thing! Is there different speeds?

Nice work


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## CupraRcleanR (Sep 2, 2007)

rmorgan84 said:


> seems to have given prett good swirl correction but not much in the way of burnishing the finish to a gloss.


I agree. Good effort but can't see why the "Orange and blue" Silverlines are overlooked when they are still pretty cheap and do a very good job in my experiance.

Good job to the OP tho. It may get even better with practice.:thumb:


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Is that a Megs pad? If so did it maintain the 1 rev per second speed even with reasonable pressure applied?


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

CupraRcleanR said:


> I agree. Good effort but can't see why the "Orange and blue" Silverlines are overlooked when they are still pretty cheap and do a very good job in my experiance.
> 
> Good job to the OP tho. It may get even better with practice.:thumb:


Probably just the 'scare factor' about a rotary for a beginner. And without a PTG it would be even more scary I suppose.


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## lethbridge (Jul 12, 2008)

thanks for the write up, looks good. What speeds did you work the polish on?


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## CupraRcleanR (Sep 2, 2007)

Pit Viper said:


> Probably just the 'scare factor' about a rotary for a beginner. And without a PTG it would be even more scary I suppose.


Fair point. :thumb:

I think Rotarys do get a bad name for putting the fear of God into you. If your sensible theres no problem.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

CupraRcleanR said:


> Fair point. :thumb:
> 
> I think Rotarys do get a bad name for putting the fear of God into you. If your sensible theres no problem.


True. Where I think this machine will come in is in providing a very inexpensive 'stepping stone' before a rotary purchase. As it's often a natural progression to go from a PC/UDM/G220 then to a rotary, it's also quite an expensive one, whereas for £20 odd someone can get used to machine polishing generally and various pad/polish combos before moving up (admittedly it's a different technique and skill, but it's still good practice)


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

rmorgan84 said:


> seems to have given prett good swirl correction but not much in the way of burnishing the finish to a gloss.


I put that down to just using individual products and working with a polishing pad rather than a finishing pad? I intend to try finishing with things like Vanilla Moose glaze & SV Cleanerfluid as I have some on the shelves.
Any thoughts on what to try to get more gloss?



joe_0_1 said:


> Thanks for the write up mate, it looks a nifty little thing! Is there different speeds?
> 
> Nice work


Yup, 1-6 I cannot remember what speeds these translate to though.



CupraRcleanR said:


> I agree. Good effort but can't see why the "Orange and blue" Silverlines are overlooked when they are still pretty cheap and do a very good job in my experiance.
> 
> Good job to the OP tho. It may get even better with practice.:thumb:


One of those is likely to be bought fairly soon I fear!



Pit Viper said:


> Is that a Megs pad? If so did it maintain the 1 rev per second speed even with reasonable pressure applied?


This I struggled with and I'm curious to understand why. If I applied what I felt was 'enough' pressure then it would slow right down whilst still oscillating. How did you find it with the SeriousPerformance pads?



lethbridge said:


> thanks for the write up, looks good. What speeds did you work the polish on?


Started on speed 1 then a few passes at speed 3. I will experiment with going higher though.


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## Gary-360 (Apr 26, 2008)

Good write up mate and good to practice too 

Question: What's with the nails in the first pic? You bought a hammer to experiment with too?


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

Gary-360 said:


> Good write up mate and good to practice too
> 
> Question: What's with the nails in the first pic? You bought a hammer to experiment with too?


Cheers Gary. This is purely the results of my first days experimenting. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can add more pictures/info as I learn a bit more. I can appreciate it's nothing new for the majority of people on here but I hope it will help people who have wondered about using a cheap DA sander.

The nails are from pallets I have been cutting up for firewood! We have LPG heating (big tanks behing the bonnet in the first few pics!) and it's so bloody expensive we don't use it.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Dave, I also found that the SP pads in their original size soon slowed right down under pressure but since I 'trimmed' them down to just over the backing plate diameter it's made a huge difference (they are 50mm thick ones though so the back plate still comes nowhere near the paint) - I can now apply basically as much pressure as I want and tbh. it's really difficult to actually get it to stop spinning. With very light pressure it spins at I'd say about 8-10 revs per second and at the normal polishing pressure it maintains about 2 revs per second.

As regards to the gloss levels on the test panel - #83 on a polishing pad is unlikely to finish down to a sharp, high gloss LSP ready state, and although the #80 will, it might not have had enough cut to attack the swirls on its own (the 2 sections in the final pic actually show this - the #80 is sharper but has left a few swirls, and the #83 panel just looks like it needs a quick pass over with #80 to finish off).
The combo of the 2, one after the other would, I'd imagine, have produced the desired results? Also could it be that they needed a touch more working time?


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

Pit Viper said:


> Dave, I also found that the SP pads in their original size soon slowed right down under pressure but since I 'trimmed' them down to just over the backing plate diameter it's made a huge difference (they are 50mm thick ones though so the back plate still comes nowhere near the paint) - I can now apply basically as much pressure as I want and tbh. it's really difficult to actually get it to stop spinning. With very light pressure it spins at I'd say about 8-10 revs per second and at the normal polishing pressure it maintains about 2 revs per second.


Sounds sensible, less friction from less surface area etc.

Does anyone make 125mm pads? I'd like to keep the Megs pads whole as I can see myself buying a rotary once I've got the hang of this.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Not sure on that (about anyone who does them), but I'd like to know about 125mm pads as well. I'd just put the slight reluctance to maintain rev speed under pressure with the SP pads (at their original size) down to the fact that they were pretty chunky with being 50mm thick). Anyway I couldn't believe the difference once I'd 'tailored' them slightly


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

Pit Viper said:


> Not sure on that (about anyone who does them), but I'd like to know about 125mm pads as well. I'd just put the slight reluctance to maintain rev speed under pressure with the SP pads (at their original size) down to the fact that they were pretty chunky with being 50mm thick). Anyway I couldn't believe the difference once I'd 'tailored' them slightly


Just bought the last 3 5.25" 3M polishing pads from Mr Singh so will report back once I have them to try


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Nice work and good write up.

For the price I dont think you can go far wrong with a Silverline.


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## Elliott19864 (May 11, 2008)

Think I will invest in the future. Thanks for the post


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

Pit Viper said:


> As regards to the gloss levels on the test panel - #83 on a polishing pad is unlikely to finish down to a sharp, high gloss LSP ready state, and although the #80 will, it might not have had enough cut to attack the swirls on its own (the 2 sections in the final pic actually show this - the #80 is sharper but has left a few swirls, and the #83 panel just looks like it needs a quick pass over with #80 to finish off).
> The combo of the 2, one after the other would, I'd imagine, have produced the desired results? Also could it be that they needed a touch more working time?


Thats the plan for the evenings this week mate. Will go over the entire front section with #83 then #80 giving it a lot longer to break the polish down too.


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

_daveR said:


> Thats the plan for the evenings this week mate. Will go over the entire front section with #83 then #80 giving it a lot longer to break the polish down too.


Good man :thumb: I think you'll get the results you're after doing that :thumb:


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## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

Pit Viper said:


> Not sure on that (about anyone who does them), but I'd like to know about 125mm pads as well. I'd just put the slight reluctance to maintain rev speed under pressure with the SP pads (at their original size) down to the fact that they were pretty chunky with being 50mm thick). Anyway I couldn't believe the difference once I'd 'tailored' them slightly


I've got a 3m 125mm on the way I think (or was it 135mm, can't remember atm lol).

I'm only going to be hitting it with SRP but I'll let you know how it handles with pressure applied :thumb:


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Mother-Goose said:


> I've got a 3m 125mm on the way I think (or was it 135mm, can't remember atm lol).
> 
> I'm only going to be hitting it with SRP but I'll let you know how it handles with pressure applied :thumb:


Cheers matey :thumb: I think those are 125mm off the top of my head. Should be perfectly fine as my SP pads are now this size and I can apply as much or little pressure as I want and it handles it okay (just varies the spinning speed from anything from 1 rev per second with moderate/heavy pressure to about 10 with very light pressure) .


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## addsvrs (Mar 2, 2008)

I have one of these will it do the same JOB???
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/n...refview=search&ts=1220194017921&isSearch=true


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

Don't see why not - seems to have roughly the same specs. I'd see if that front handle thing comes off though as it looks as though it would be a hazzard for coming into close proximity to the paintwork.


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

Mother-Goose said:


> I've got a 3m 125mm on the way I think (or was it 135mm, can't remember atm lol).
> 
> I'm only going to be hitting it with SRP but I'll let you know how it handles with pressure applied :thumb:


Sounds like the pad(s) that I've bought too. The dark grey/black ones?

I'd be keen to hear how you get on with SRP as this was something I wanted to try too.


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## BRYHER (Aug 19, 2008)

Pit it looks like the front handle is super imposed to show it will fold up or down ! http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/na...&isSearch=true

This is a great thread ,I am enjoying it greatly thanks to all contributors. Well done Pit for getting so many readers into action.
Michael


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## chris l (Mar 5, 2007)

nice looks good and a pretty good price tag :thumb:


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## SuperchargedLlama (Apr 25, 2008)

_daveR said:


> Sounds like the pad(s) that I've bought too. The dark grey/black ones?
> 
> I'd be keen to hear how you get on with SRP as this was something I wanted to try too.


They are the very same, from the same seller as well lol apparently it's going to be dry this week so they is a chance of getting some action on my dads Mazda 6 this week (which has a huuuuuuuuge bonnet), I've just EGP'd my fabia vrs so that will have to wait for a while until it gets a go


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## mart.h. (Jan 12, 2008)

im pleased i found this thread thank you for creating it daveR

can anyone post a link to some 5.25"???? pads to suit the silverline da machine please
thank you in advance


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

Either send a PM to Mr Singh on here or I think polishedbliss sell a few 125mm pads. 

HTH


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## mart.h. (Jan 12, 2008)

thank you your a star!!


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## ericgtisuffolk (Apr 26, 2007)

Got my Silverline sander/polisher today and tried it out,works very well and much easier to handle that the rotary one that I have.Very happy with the purchase,thanx for the option of buying this one.


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## Zetec-SS (Jun 8, 2007)

thanks mate, my Silverline DA came today...i sourced a mk2 mr2 N/S door (for free  ) which needs some TLC...i'll be doing it with AG SRP and etiher SSR2-2.5 or one of the Menz Sample polishes. i'll get some pics up as soon as the pads arrive


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## mikeyc_123 (Sep 22, 2008)

*Is this the same one but in blue??*

Hi All,

Was thinking about ordering one but can only find one that is blue on toolstation! Is this the same as your nice orange ones?

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/PowerTools/SilverlinePowerTools/d40/sd2670

Cheers

Mike


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## _daveR (Jun 3, 2008)

mikeyc_123 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Was thinking about ordering one but can only find one that is blue on toolstation! Is this the same as your nice orange ones?
> 
> ...


That's not the same Mike.

Check this thread out for ideas on where to buy them... http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=83874


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## VIPER (May 30, 2007)

As daveR says, that unit isn't the same as it's got no variable speed, so it's 10,000 or nothing, which is too high really. but the main issue would be that it only has 180w of power as opposed to the orange 'Hi-spec' one which has 450w. I think that the blue one would really struggle with maintaining pad roation speed under pressure and would very easily bog down. Not really fit for purpose really, I'm afraid, mate


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Pit Viper said:


> Probably just the 'scare factor' about a rotary for a beginner. And without a PTG it would be even more scary I suppose.


Its all about just being sensible...in the 8 or so years I have been using a mop I can honestly say I hav only ever burnt/damaged the finish 2 times....and a PTG wouldnt have helped because it was fresh paint and was still soft.

Trick of it its not to go too mental take your time and keep it on slow and work your way up.

There is a lot of scare/hype over mopping a car....dont believe it get out there and give it a go!


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## graeme (Jan 7, 2006)

I am going to order one of these soon. Been meaning to do the vectra and was going to buy a g220 but just cant justify the outlay for my car getting a full detail once or twice a year. 

The product i will be using is
- scratch x / SSR2.5 / SSR3 (depending on area) to remove defects
- menzerna final polish 2
- menzerna finishing touch glaze
- menzerna FMJ / Megs #21 sealant (not decided which yet have used the megs by hand with good results but want to try the menz)
- couple of coats of nattys paste as a LSP 

Tried this combo from step 2 by hand before and got good results so hoping by doing more prep (claying/tar remover) and wetsanding some stonechips i can get some wow factor from being a machine novice!!!


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