A quick two thumbs up for the 21 MKII

Matt@flyingchipmunk

Matt@flyingchipmunk

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With the glorious surprise warm day in the northeast I had the opportunity to finally break out the new 21 MKII. I've had the 75 mini in my arsenal for awhile so I'm not entirely new the Rupes family, but I do not have the 21 vs 21 MKII comparison.

Anywho, I'm a long time Flex 3401 user and while it will still be a staple in my arsenal as the forced rotation still has a home, the Rupes 21 MKII was a pleasure to use this weekend and will become my go-to DA. Such a well balanced machine and easy on the hands/wrists. I used it on 3 vehicles this weekend and felt far less fatigue than compared to using the Flex. (Audi SQ5, Ford F150 Supercab, Chevy Express cargo van) - to say the least the Rupes got put to use!

It's not a fair apples-to-apples comparison between the two machines abilities so I won't even go down that path. No scientific comparison going on here, just wanted to pass along my two thumbs up for a DA that was an absolute pleasure to use all day long, thanks Rupes!
 
Awesome! I'm also a long time user of the Flex 3401 and Flex PE8.

I recently ordered the 15 Mark II, 21 Mark II, and 75E. The 21 Mark II and 75E came a week or two ago. The 15 Mark II is still backordered.

I haven't used any of the Rupes yet but hoping to in the coming weeks.
 
Appreciate the kind remarks and happy to hear you are enjoying your 21 Mark II. Cheers!
 
Any issues with stalling on vertical curvy panels and could you feel the extra torque that prevented the stalling?
 
apthai said:
Awesome! I'm also a long time user of the Flex 3401 and Flex PE8.

I recently ordered the 15 Mark II, 21 Mark II, and 75E. The 21 Mark II and 75E came a week or two ago. The 15 Mark II is still backordered.

I haven't used any of the Rupes yet but hoping to in the coming weeks.
Click to expand...

I think you'll quite enjoy adding that mini to your tool set, great correction in tighter spots in a DA form.
 
mbpress01 said:
Any issues with stalling on vertical curvy panels and could you feel the extra torque that prevented the stalling?
Click to expand...

The only spot I ran into stalling issues was a tight curve on the lower door panels of the F150 where there was very little surface area of the pad meeting the panel. I brought the mini out to tackle those areas.

I only have the mini as a comparison point for the extra power preventing stalling. The best way I could describe it is I didn't even think about it most of the time. I've had to work the mini sometimes where pad stall was happening on previous vehicles, but with the MKII I was never actively having to think/fight against pad stall. It was only that one spot on the doors where I thought about it.
 
I wonder if the 15 would have stalled on that spot too?
 
Zubair said:
I wonder if the 15 would have stalled on that spot too?
Click to expand...

I haven't used a 15 so I'm not sure. I've attached a pic with a zoom-in showing the area. It's the tight smaller curve on the bottom of the door panel that is reflecting the chrome step. Part of it was access to area because of size of tool and the small amount of surface area to pad contact.

edit: and don't judge the wheels/rims, I hadn't worked on them yet in this picture :)
 
The more I use the 21 MKII the more I realize that troublesome spot on the 150 door panels was all about space and not being able to get the tool in there instead of the tools fault for pad stalling.

I've been working on another van and I've compared the mini to the MKII in tight spots and I have to say the MKII shines where the the mini will pad stall.

So now the only time I switch to the mini is where there are complex ripple like body lines. (2 tight curved lines next to each where it's just not possible to fit the MKII.) Oh and small strips of panels like door frames, above rear windows, etc.

Good stuff Rupes!

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk
 
Any chance you could you post a video of the mkii in action on those tough panels so all can see the pad rotate. I want to purchase one badly but after going through major issues on the first version I don't want to make the same mistake twice and video proof from an actual user would go a long way to alleviate those concerns. Thx much for these comments though. They are very helpful.
 
Yeah no problem, I've got another polish session tomorrow I'll see what I can put together on video of both in those tight spots.

Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk
 
Here's a video for you guys :)

https://vimeo.com/154467695

This is an example of a trouble spot that I had delegated to only using the mini to deal with the small surface area and curves. I tried to show a few examples in the video of how I figured out to make the 21 Mark II work here. I made sure to only correct that trouble curve with the Mark II so the before/after pictures in that video show that the Mark II did actually do the correction.

There's some comments on the video also, but basically driving the angle of the leading edge of the pad into the curve, then conversely the trailing edge of the pad out of the curve is how I dealt with this area. Even though there is pad stall when just too much of the pad is "lifted" off the body panel because of the curve as long as I applied the leading & trailing technique it assured correction coverage. Hope that makes sense.
 
Nice video highlighting this. I definitely saw this on body panels I encountered with the Mark II. I gotta say I was a little disappointed. However, as you mentioned easily corrected. For some reason I was hoping it would operate like a forced rotation and you wouldn't have to be mindful of it.
 
Nice video, I can clearly see where it stalls. I wonder if the new Flex 15 will stall there? Also Rasky has tested the G21 and the MKII 21 and has found the Rupes more powerful.

Try the same panels where you picking up stalling again but this time with the washer mod.
 
I'm impressed how much better the Rupes works with the washer mod!! Thanks Kevin Brown :xyxthumbs:

https://vimeo.com/154519108

Trip to the hardware store, break out the dremel and those are the results. It made a pretty big difference, far less pad stall. You have to really stay on top of the angle and pressure used, but it tackled those curves much better!

The last bit I put in there just for fun, totally not the right tool for the job to get that tiny strip on the wheel well edge, but I wanted to see if it could keep the pad spinning there :)

And the pad washer is much easier to use now with the washer mod!
 
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