Support assembly for surface treatment pad

A support assembly for supporting a surface treatment pad on a backing plate mounted on the spindle of a surface treatment tool, the support assembly comprising:

• a flexible front support layer having
• front and rear surfaces,
• a circumference,
• a diameter, and
• a plurality of petal-shaped segments, each petal-shaped segment separated from an adjacent petal-shaped segment by a radially extending slit;
• at least one circumferentially extending groove formed in the front surface of the flexible support layer functioning as a fold line along which each petal-shaped segment may bend in response to compressive forces;
• a rigid, unslitted rear support layer having
• a front surface and a rear surface, and
• a diameter that is less than the diameter of the flexible front support layer;
• a spongy, compressible center layer sandwiched between the rear surface of the flexible front support layer and the front surface of the rear support layer;
• a front attachment layer adhesively secured to the front surface of the flexible front support layer, the front attachment layer comprising a first part of a two-part releasable surface treatment pad fastener that is configured to cooperate with a second part of the two-part releasable surface treatment pad fastener that is adhesively secured to a rear surface of the surface treatment pad;
• and
• a rear attachment layer adhesively secured to the rear surface of the rigid, unslitted rear layer, the rear attachment layer comprising a first part of a two-part releasable backing plate fastener that is configured to cooperate with a second part of the two-part releasable backing plate fastener that is adhesively secured to a front surface of the backing plate.