If you were following the blog during last years SEMA Show, you may have remembered the announcement for the UDOS polisher. This announcement was just the beginning for this unit and over the past year, it has gone through some tweaks and changes. From a 4in1 unit, it is now a 5in1 designed for body shops, professional detailers, or weekend warriors. With a 110 volt, 1200 watt, 10 amp motor, and RPM range of 1,000 – 2,400 this unit can tackle sanding down finishes to applying sealants and everything in between. Below is a sale sheet directly from LC that outlines some other cool features of this unit, along with the final look. Lake Country hopes to have them in stock and ready to ship quarter one of 2020 and we do have them up on the site now. Click here to check it out and once we have a final price point we will put them up for pre-order!

As an added bonus, check out the video from James Melfi at the Lake Country SEMA booth this year. James is with David Patterson, who covers this unit, along with a new and exciting UDOS Foam Pad lineup!

Video Transcription:

00:00

Hey guys, James with detailed image. We are at SEMA 2019 we are with Dave, we’re at the Lake country booth and we’re talking all new products that they have to offer that are going to be shortly on the detailed image website. So Dave, what’s new. We are featuring the UDOS tool, again, we’re just about ready to launch and have this tool available to our consumers, to the technicians and detailers that have been watching it for the last year. So we have our final design right now. We have our prototypes here for the show, what it is a design freeze. So this is how the model will look when we receive it in March. We’ve got finished tools that are fully balanced and then we’re also showcasing the tool with our new Udo pads that are designed to work with the udos polisher and come with a completely new chemistry and a completely new pad profile that does something different than our current product line.

00:49

Okay. So it’s kind of like a totally complete system. Someone that maybe is not maybe new to paint correction, right? New to detailing could, could take this machine and have everything that they need to get a result that they’re after. Is that kind of the, the the thought process behind? Yeah. So this tool is going to be widely used in not only the detail market but in the body shop or collision or PV market as well. So the idea was simplicity. We want it to be easy to use for both the professional but also for the, for the body shop industry where they’re not as heavily involved in all the different intricacies of detailing. Sure. So they keep their processes pretty simple. We wanted to have it utilized in a, both a body shop setting in a detail setting and have the same simplicity for both.

01:33

So the idea is that the pads will work on both machines, whether it’s a dual action or a rotary. Obviously it’s designed, that’s the biggest thing. It can be. It’s, it’s two modes, right? Which is kind of totally new and totally crazy. And he’s right in the detailed stuff body shop world, right? You can switch easily between a rotary mode and a da mode, which is crazy. Yeah. So at a body shop setting, like you were saying, where they’re kind of, maybe that’s more common that they would use both. Maybe in some, in some cases it is. It’s becoming more common. So that’s where we feel like we might have a really strong hold in the market because we’ve seen the market transition to detailing or, I’m sorry, it’s a dual action polishing in the detail market over the last however many years. Dual action polishes have been around for a long time, but now you’re seeing the majority of detailers using them, sure, the body shop market is starting to see the same thing.

02:21

So they’re starting to use dual action polishes also, but it’s just a little bit different. So the transition is different. So we have shops that are strictly dual action. We have shops that are multi-tool and then we still have straps that are still stuck with the rotary polisher. And that’s all that they’re using, which is just fine. But yeah, our tool is as a perfect place for all of those. So it can again offer the ability for all of those things, you know, and just make it really, really easy. Yeah. Well it’s kind of a nice transition because if they’re comfortable with the rotary, they have it right. And then you can kind of slowly start getting him on the da side of things. Exactly. It could be a nice little transition and it can, yeah. Even if it’s just the finishing part. So that’s where we say you can use your rotary tool.

03:05

It’s everything all in one. You don’t have to have multiple tools to do it. But let’s just say if they’re not comfortable with the da or they don’t feel like it works as well as what they’re currently using, go right back. They can go right back or they can start to use it in the areas that they feel comfortable at. So every body shop doesn’t want swirls. So it’s really easy to say, Hey, well you can use this tool just as a rotary, but when you’re in your finishing step, let’s, let’s drop it down into one of our dual action settings. And what’s cool is it’s multiple orbits. So, not only do we have an eight millimeter setting for sanding, but we also have 12, 15 and 21 millimeter for a variety of polishing options and whether it’s the curvature of the panel, so you can do some standing with this as well. Yeah. Okay.

03:43

Perfect. And the reason we initially started with a target of six millimeters because we felt like that was a good sanding space for people. Okay. when we look at both the detailed market and in the body shop market, body shop does it a little bit differently where they have sanding and strokes specifically for purposes. So you’re going to get into your like five millimeter range for fine finishing and that’s where you see your, your high level low-profile Palm Sanders in the body shops. Okay. And a lot of times they’ll use tools that are 10 millimeter for what they call a mud hog or, or heavy sanding a primer. So what we’re seeing is high level technicians and the body shop side saying, well, I don’t really need to, I’ve created techniques to just use an eight millimeter and I can do everything with my eight.

04:27

So whether that’s body, sanding, primer, sanding and finishing whatever it is, they military eight millimeter is good enough for everybody. So that’s kind of where we started and we feel like it’s probably going to expand. Sure. But it’s a good middle point starting point for sure. For sure. Awesome. Awesome. All right, so now let’s transition over to the pads. Right. So we have the machine pretty kind of groundbreaking stuff. These pads, I’m a huge fan of the HDO line by Lake country a bit. It’s a pad that I’ve used forever. It was talking to Dave earlier and it’s this, this line is specific in the machine. Something a little bit different, a little bit new. So tell us a little bit about that. So unlike some of our pads in the past where we’ve designed a pad line specifically for a certain type of polisher, sure.

05:11

This had to be somewhat universal, so yeah, from the ground up. So the idea was that it needed to work for the guy in the bike shop. It needed to work for the technician in the detail world. Okay. But it also needed to work for rotary and da. So it needed to work for everybody. So a lot of variables, a lot of things you had to check off. Yeah. So body shop, they’re not typically seen microfiber or things that the detail world would use. So we decided to go with something unique and, and new, which we are having as our micro wool, very similar to a microfiber pad and design and overall aesthetic look okay. But to a body shop person or to somebody that’s traditionally used wool, it resonates with them a little bit better and it fits into what they’re used to.

05:53

So okay, it’s a great product that works great for the rotary, but it also cuts amazing on the dual action polisher. And this is something that we spent a lot of time on from the ground up on a fiber side. So we, we spent a lot of time understanding and educating ourself on the different types of sewing and then all the different fibers and filaments that go into developing those textiles. So we grow, we develop that on the ground up. And at the same time, what we did is we looked at our foam structure and this was where it became a little bit different. So the idea with this was that the pad line works great for a rotary and a da. Most body shops have transitioned away from wool just from air contamination. Sure. And they really want to use a foam pad.

06:35

So we, we decided to run a foam cutting pad that would be suitable for the body shop, but it was still going to be a a place where we might have had a void in our currently country product. OK. And that would work as a medium polishing or a light cutting pad in the detail world. Also, that paired with our finishing foam creates a three pad system that’s really easy to use, not overly complicated. And the pads are easily identified. There’s no confusion. You couldn’t say the khaki pad was for a wrong purpose. They’re very easy to understand that this is where this pad falls in line. Okay. So it’s, it’s a perfect system for us and easy to use. Yeah. So when we looked at developing the foam pad line, we really looked at it on a chemistry side and not only the, the design and profile, which is brand new and it offers a completely different user experience and feel sure.

07:27

But the foams, what we have is an active rebound technology. I like to say it, it feels the way it goes into pads more than anything, right? It’s like, you know, put some compound on it. Let’s go. But it’s like, it’s, it’s, it’s crazy. It is crazy. It’s, I, I’m a foam expert and I specialize in developing foam pads. But yeah, there are a lot of experts that helped me because it is that high level. So I kind of am able to bridge the gap because I know a lot about foam and that foam world. But really what I’m doing is I’m linking that to an end user’s world. So I’m taking what happens in the foam world and connecting that to what our consumers and what our detailers and what guys like you or me want or what I think we want.

08:11

And hopefully that that turns over. Yeah. And they feel the same way. So it’s really exciting. That’s awesome. It creates this super cool effect where similar to our HDO blue, which is what a lot of people liked about our HDO line, is it kept it sperm. This, it kept its consistency. Well, how does a rock to start with, right? As it starts working and you’re lubricating it with a compound Polish, whatever it kind of breaks up does, but, and that, and that’s what people love about it. It breaks in, but it’s still all that firmness. It’s, it’s a boiant that feels like a buoy where it gives a feedback or it kicks back. So it’s really great. Even when our finishing pad becomes soft and you feel with your fingers when you’re running on the machine, it has a lot of body to it. So you don’t have the issues where polishes aren’t breaking down because of pads becoming too soft when it’s high and humidity or you have some higher heat.

09:02

This polishing pad is still doing everything that you wanted to do when it’s 60 degrees. So the technology behind it is really, really cool. It’s something that when you feel in your hands, it actually doesn’t necessarily feel like anything really special, but then you get it behind on a machine and you know exactly what it should do. Yeah. But you’re not in 11th hour and it’s, there’s like micro morning and you’re ready to like tear your hair out. It’s doing what it should do. It’s going to be this really cool thing where somebody with a high technical knowledge like you is going to use it and you’re gonna be like, this is awesome. Yeah. And you’re going to give it to somebody that doesn’t have that technical ability. They still Polish it and they’re still a good technician. Yeah. They’re going to get all those benefits.

09:42

They might not see it the way that you do and it still adds value to their process because it’s, it’s real world stuff, you know? That’s cool stuff. That’s awesome. Yeah. So a lot going on at Lake country, a lot of new products. Stay tuned to the detailed image Ask a pro blog. I know there’s going to be daily blog posts there about all kinds of new stuff that’s coming out as well as daily YouTube videos. So stay on the channel. And we’ll keep you guys posted. Thanks again. Where with Dave at the Lake country booth, come check us out.