Review: FLEX PE 14-3 125 Rotary Polisher by Mike Phillips

[Mike Phillips]

Review: FLEX PE 14-3 125 Rotary Polisher by Mike Phillips


First thank you to Chris Metcalf and FLEX Tools for their trust and appreciation for the work I do to showcase FLEX tools. Received a package from FLEX, inside is the new FLEX PE 14-3 125 which is the replacement for the older FLEX L3403 VRG Lightweight Rotary Polisher.

The polisher you see below is actually a proto-type, you can tell by the different colors of red used for the body parts.

Review
If you need a rotary polisher that offers higher RPMs for things like glass polishing, perhaps metal or gelcoat polishing, than this rotary polisher offers a RPM speed range from a low of 1100 RPM to 3700 RPM.

It's quiet, lightweight and compact in size, features that make buffing for extended periods of time a heck of a lot more enjoyable than most rotary polishers. The gears are precision machined stainless steel with exact tolerances so when they mesh during operation there's no growling like less expensive options that use stamped steel gears.

I primarily use this rotary for machine polishing glass as the best speeds for sub-surface glass polishing are above 2500 RPM. I normally use the Cordless FLEX PE-150 Rotary Polisher for doing paint correction and it WILL work for sub-surface glass polishing but the higher RPM of the FLEX PE 14-3 125 Rotary Polisher is a better option.

Plus... it's FLEX quality.



Where to buy?
At this time I don't have a preferred vendor to send people to if they would like to purchase this polisher but behind the scenes I'm working with partnership with a company that I will send all my product recommendations too.

Stay tuned...


Mike Phillips

 

[Mike Phillips]

More...

Here's a recent project, (May 17th, 2023, where I used the FLEX PE 14-3 125 Rotary Polisher to do Sub-Surface Glass Polishing to the original windshield on a very rare and highly optioned 1969 GTO Convertible.

This is the actual polisher you see in the review above. It the duller looking color of red on the plastic cap on the head of the tool is a sign it is a proto-type from FLEX in Germany.

More to come...


-Mike Phillips

 

[Fyane004]

Hi Mike, I have the ‎PE-8-4 80, and it's a silk. So I can already imagine the smoothness of this machine fresh out of the oven.
I had been thinking about buying the Forced Rotation Flex for a long time, but stumbled across the Makita po6000c, and an offer I couldn't refuse.
I've been out of detail for a while, due to my father's illness, which took him to the grave.
Now back to things, and among those things, I looked for this friendly forum.
Nice to see your reviews and teachings.
A hug from Chile.
Fran.

 

[Bill G]

Review: FLEX PE 14-3 125 Rotary Polisher by Mike Phillips


First thank you to Chris Metcalf and FLEX Tools for their trust and appreciation for the work I do to showcase FLEX tools. Received a package from FLEX, inside is the new FLEX PE 14-3 125 which is the replacement for the older FLEX L3403 VRG Lightweight Rotary Polisher.

The polisher you see below is actually a proto-type, you can tell by the different colors of red used for the body parts.

Review
If you need a rotary polisher that offers higher RPMs for things like glass polishing, perhaps metal or gelcoat polishing, than this rotary polisher offers a RPM speed range from a low of 1100 RPM to 3700 RPM.

It's quiet, lightweight and compact in size, features that make buffing for extended periods of time a heck of a lot more enjoyable than most rotary polishers. The gears are precision machined stainless steel with exact tolerances so when they mesh during operation there's no growling like less expensive options that use stamped steel gears.

I primarily use this rotary for machine polishing glass as the best speeds for sub-surface glass polishing are above 2500 RPM. I normally use the Cordless FLEX PE-150 Rotary Polisher for doing paint correction and it WILL work for sub-surface glass polishing but the higher RPM of the FLEX PE 14-3 125 Rotary Polisher is a better option.

Plus... it's FLEX quality.



Where to buy?
At this time I don't have a preferred vendor to send people to if they would like to purchase this polisher but behind the scenes I'm working with partnership with a company that I will send all my product recommendations too.

Stay tuned...


Mike Phillips

Mike,

So where does the 14-2 150 come in for you? Don’t need it because between the PE-150 and this 14-3 150 it covers all the various speeds you need? I’ll assume it was what you used for glass before this prototype was sent to you ? Or possibly a different brand model altogether?

 

[Mike Phillips]

For me - this is my go-to rotary for glass polishing because,

A: I already own it.
B: It offers much higher RPM for glass polishing.

But any high RPM rotary will work for glass polishing. Heck, slow RPM will work and even free-spinning random orbital polishers will work. It all comes down to,

How fast do you want to go?


I don't really gravitate towards or enjoy polishing glass but because I get asked to detail a LOT of very cool older cars, one thing these cars have in common is wear-n-tear. Specifically, ,wear-n-tear on the glass, which means swirls, scratches and wiper marks.

I have some really cool glass polishing projects coming up and a brand new article that will be appearing in Pro Detailer Magazine in a few weeks.

 

[theamcguy]

Mike how long did it take to polish that windshield? Thank you

 

[Mike Phillips]

Mike how long did it take to polish that windshield? Thank you

Probably less than 3 hours.

I can't stress enough the importance of doing a great job of taping off or "framing" the window frame with tape when working on classic cars like this. If you don't, you'll have polish slurry splattered under the trim itself and the the only way to remove it is flush with high pressure water - something I don't normally do as a professional courtesy to the owner and future owner of cars like this.

The above is just a guess because in this example, I wasn't just "polishing a windshield". I was testing multiple products and stopping to set up Timer pictures on my iphone on a tripod.

I have 3 more glass polishing project cars coming up that are all pretty cool.


Mike