Paint Preparation with FLEX ‘Das Original’

This article gives an insight into some of the dust free sanding equipment used for paint preparation by Russ Pike Furniture Painter for Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire.

I think its common knowledge that when tackling any sort of paint finishing, its what goes into the preparation that makes for a good or bad job. I’m a painting professional and specialist kitchen painter so I’m certainly no stranger to rigorous and meticulous surface preparation and fine finishing, its in my nature and therefore I have to invest in quality tools and equipment I rely on to help me achieve the high standards I set myself on each and every job I do.

I have an arsenal of quality power tools and specialist sanding machines of various leading brands, they all have a purpose and are used for often specific tasks and/or general day to day prep work. Flex tools have become part of his power tool fleet over the past few years with the FLEX PALM SANDER and the SUPRAFLEX sanding specialist for metal, stone, painted surfaces and wood . Flex have dominated the automotive industry for quite some time with their market leading polishing machines and grinders, more recent they now have a dedicated range of power tools for the painting & decorating industry and professional user.

They are designed to be user friendly in that they boast dust free facilities wherever possible, ease of use and versatility to what tasks they can perform. The Supraflex rotary sanding machine can be used with various 125mm abrasive discs for sanding and processing a variety of different substrates, the extraction hood that sits over and around the disc to aid dust free sanding also has a sliding attachment to enable work close up to the edge of a surface. This machine also has variable speed control.

The FLEX palm sander comes from a whole orbital family of palm sanders, you can choose from variable speed, delta and rectangular shaped, integrated dust bags and attachments for connecting anti static hoses for dust free sanding, the choice is endless or theres this great trio package that comes with is own systainer case. I purchased the basic model pictured above from the National Painting and Decorating Show last year, it has the hook and loop and fixing clamps so I can use pre cut abrasives or rolls of aluminium oxide paper. I paid £30.00 for it but I’ve actually seen them on the internet for under that!If your serious about sanding and surface preparation, the FLEX range of tools are well worth a look.

FLEX-Product quality

All FLEX power tools are CE-conformant and are subject to a professional quality  management system as per DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 throughout their production. Our  aim: 100 percent quality. We are so convinced of the quality of our products,  that we give our customers a 2-year manufacturer’s guarantee on every FLEX  electric power tool and accessory. Whichever FLEX you buy: it represents the  ultimate in user friendliness and durability. Perfectly balanced, easy to handle  and extremely rugged. Try it out! Put a FLEX to the hardest of all tests: your  own applications. We take our slogan: “Quality tools from professionals for  professionals”  seriously.

 As FLEX say: “You need good tools to do good work”.

This statement from FLEX was proven to Russ last October when he was fortunate enough to win a competition FLEX had be running on Facebook.

“As you do, you enter these competitions thinking that nobody ever wins but I’ll enter it anyway! I couldn’t believe it when I received a call from Stuart Colclough  the Sales Manager from FLEX to say I’d won an all expenses paid trip to visit their HQ in Stuttgart, Germany and see first hand how these machines were manufactured, I would also get first hand training and demonstrations from their experts. Always keen to learn ( or paint geek as the wife calls me) I obviously jumped at the opportunity”.

FLEX were the perfect hosts and Russ was chaperoned throughout out the trip by Stuart Colclough and his colleague Morton Wilmhurst, what these guys don’t know about Flex tools aint worth knowing, they have worked for the company several years each and can be found at most major tool exhibitions show casing their goods. Walking around the main production plant, Russ was able to see the whole manufacturing process with some of the machinery incredibly complex pieces of engineering in their own right. He also got the opportunity to chat with some of the production staff, many of them had worked at FLEX for 20+ years and seemed to share a similar passion for their craft, as Russ is of his.

It was a long intensive day at the FLEX factory, Russ tried and tested various sanding and polishing machines, learned about different dust extraction units and viewed first hand every stage of the manufacturing process. The incredible machines most certainly looked like their had been built to last as seems the case with the tools themselves and most types of German engineering.

By pure coincidence! It was that time of year when the annual Stuttgart Beer Festival was in town, so Stuart and Morton along with the rest of the guys from FLEX Germany suggested Russ should perhaps go along and sample a few small German beers (well it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?) and obviously a continuation of his FLEX educational trip to HQ in Stuttgart. CHEERS!!

If you would like to get to know more about FLEX and use social media, you can follow Stuart Colclough @flextoolsuk or why not join Flex Power Tools UK group. You never know you too could be going to Stuttgart in October.

If you own an existing wooden kitchen and would like to talk about the options available to you for refurbishing, please do not hesitate to Contact Russ for a open, no obligation discussion to your requirements