Rupes MkII backing plate explosion

FinishingTouchA

FinishingTouchA

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Just sheared off the center of the backing plate on my Rupes. Thankfully no vehicles or humans were injured.
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Thats insane, curious to know the specefics around this like speed,pressure,pad,how tight was the bolt etc. Regardless this should never have happened. Await response from Dylan.
 
Zubair said:
Thats insane, curious to know the specefics around this like speed,pressure,pad,how tight was the bolt etc. Regardless this should never have happened. Await response from Dylan.
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We run on speed 3-4 90% of the time with the occasional 5-6. Pads are buff n shine maroon. Bolt used to back out every time we used it when we first got it. Then we tightened it really tight with blue threadlock and haven't had any issues since.


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That would have been one scary experience. You are fortunate there was no damage or injuries.
 
Is there torque spec for the bolt?

I'm not going to knock Rupes, but I do wonder if you'll have to deal with "over tightening" or use product (thread locker) not approved or recommend by the manufacturer.

Again, not looking to start anything, just something I deal with tool manufacturers before.
 
This will not happen over normal condition, I can't imagine how this could happen though. I have my pad fly off, Rupes microfiber pad breaking but, MKII backing plate is so darn sturdy despite it having gripping issues.
 
Well, thats definitely a first and I'm sorry for the delay in seeing this.... SEMA has me running around like crazy so my time to jump online and check the forums is pretty limited. Always best to contact us direct if you need help as we don't check the boards ever single day.

That being said - the failure is really unusual because the actual metal part at the center of the plate looks to be bent/pulled out of the plate. I've honestly never seen anything like it before. Can you shoot me an email with your contact phone number - I'll get our director of manufacturing on the phone with you and have him see what could have possible gone wrong and determine the best fix - if its just a plate certainly we can send that to you free of charge and you're good, but I want his determination if there any other parts that should be replaced just to be safe. My email is [email protected]

Sean M at ShowShine said:
It looks like you have a washer mod. If that's the case then you're probably screwed on warranty
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Not at all true - unless the washer mod is the cause of the failure it has no impact on warranty.
 
Sean M at ShowShine said:
It looks like you have a washer mod. If that's the case then you're probably screwed on warranty
Click to expand...

That's a big negative ghostrider. While it is possible the washer mod could cause some issues (I supposed an improperly aligned washer could some how slice into the backing plate but even then this would be very rare and unique), we are not going to void a warranty over an unrelated problem.

There may be several causes of the issue, but it is very unlikely that "operator error" is the root. In reality, the biggest problem the washer mod would likely cause is accelerated pad wear because of the RPM the pads can achieve in free air (up to 5500 depend on the tool). We have no problem standing behind the quality and engineering of our tools.

I'm very happy that nothing was damaged and equally sad that the OP has to experience this. As Dylan suggested, and if you don't mind, please get in contact with him and have a conversation with our director of manufacturing so we can isolate the cause and see what we can do to help make sure failure's like this don't happen in the future.
 
I'm curious to know what the black gunk is on the backing plate centre and the counterweight. None of my Rupes has this, is it the locktite?
 
Dylan@RUPES said:
Well, thats definitely a first and I'm sorry for the delay in seeing this.... SEMA has me running around like crazy so my time to jump online and check the forums is pretty limited. Always best to contact us direct if you need help as we don't check the boards ever single day.

That being said - the failure is really unusual because the actual metal part at the center of the plate looks to be bent/pulled out of the plate. I've honestly never seen anything like it before. Can you shoot me an email with your contact phone number - I'll get our director of manufacturing on the phone with you and have him see what could have possible gone wrong and determine the best fix - if its just a plate certainly we can send that to you free of charge and you're good, but I want his determination if there any other parts that should be replaced just to be safe. My email is [email protected]



Not at all true - unless the washer mod is the cause of the failure it has no impact on warranty.
Click to expand...

Just got en email sent to you. Thanks for trying to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.


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lane5515 said:
were you using the washer mod?
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No washer mod, not necessary with the MkII

BrutalNoodle said:
Is there torque spec for the bolt?

I'm not going to knock Rupes, but I do wonder if you'll have to deal with "over tightening" or use product (thread locker) not approved or recommend by the manufacturer.

Again, not looking to start anything, just something I deal with tool manufacturers before.
Click to expand...

I have full faith they will do their best to find out what caused the problem :)

Sean M at ShowShine said:
It looks like you have a washer mod. If that's the case then you're probably screwed on warranty
Click to expand...

No washer mod, not necessary with the MkII

Zubair said:
I'm curious to know what the black gunk is on the backing plate centre and the counterweight. None of my Rupes has this, is it the locktite?
Click to expand...

The black residue is mostly from the safety guard that the backing plate rubs on, some may be from the pad washer/polish.
 


Please take a close look to RED marked areas.
It is clearly seen that there was a lot of friction and heat going between backing plate and the shroud aka Anti Spin. Yes I know it is common, but not THAT much.
So we can be assured that no 'washer mod' was installed.
A lot of friction created a lot of heat, heat created expansion, softens the material. That was probably the cause of the BP failure.
Only question is, why there was so much friction between those two ? No lubrication ? Too much torque caused BP to be in very close contact with shroud ? Improper BP mounting ? Who knows... not me.. me only knows how to shine things.
 
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