Top Secret Pictures – How Rupes Bigfoot Polishers are made!

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Top Secret Pictures – How Rupes Bigfoot Polishers are made!


As far as I know, in the history of Rupes, no one has ever been given permission to take pictures inside the Rupes manufacturing facilities.


Note this picture...

And in case you missed it, I've cropped out the pertinent part....

To be clear, I was only allowed to take pictures in about 1/3 of their facilities. The other 2/3 are completely restricted from cameras.

One portion of these other two areas I was given a tour of and all I can say is what I saw was very impressive. There was another area that is 100% restricted to anyone without company credentials to enter and that's perfectly okay as I'm very thankful for their gracious permission to take pictures in the manufacturing portion of their plant.

I'd like to thank Presidente Guido Valentini and all of the rest of the staff at Rupes for their trust in both myself and Jason and we respect that trust and our relationship and the only pictures I will post are the pictures I was given permission to take and share at this time.


Here you can see a line of polisher heads with motors being installed.

Here's polisher bodies attached to the heads of polisher units.

Here you can see the drive gear for the head gears as well as the rear bearing installed.

In this picture you can see the drive assembly, drive assembly housing and backing plates have been installed.

Close-up pictures of the drive gears. These are stainless steel, precision ground and heat treated for long life and quiet performance.

Rupes invented and manufactures their own electric motors which are famous for their efficiency.

Polisher bodies with wiring and electrical controls installed.

Empty tool bodies ready for assembly....

Assembled tool bodies with lubrication grease being added to the drive assembly housing.

Counterweight assemblies with bearings installed...

These are machining marks for balancing purposes which equates to long life and low vibration under operation.

Coil windings ready to be assembled to tool bodies

Every component is made and assembled at the Rupes factory.

There are multiple machining processes on assembly lines and each process has redundant quality control measures in place to ensure exact tolerances and specifications are maintained.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Continued....

These pictures represent just a portion of their manufacturing facilities, there are different assembly lines for the various tools Rupes manufactures. I think the above pictures will give you a good idea as to the attention to quality and process control that goes into the production of all Rupes tools and removes any doubt that Rupes manufactures their own tools in-house.

Very impressive.


:dblthumb2:

 

[Chris@AutoCleanse]

That's pretty cool for sure, thanks for the behind the scenes tour. Looks like a top notch run facility. Thanks for posting and sharing.

 

[Tato]

Awesome tour, thanks for capturing the moments and sharing them here.

Just started using my Rupes 21 some weeks ago, proud owner here, even prouder now.

My regards to all Rupes facility members.

 

[Red Hawk]

Impressive to see where my DA's come from. Thanks for the tour.

 

[SilverRebel]

Very nice looking plant. It is so nice to get a factory tour.

 

[custmsprty]

Every time I look at these pictures it clearly shows the quality manufacturing processes and products Rupes uses and why I have three of their machines. I'm sure that all the Chinese knock offs aren't made with parts that even come close to the quality of Rupes parts. All you have to do is take one look at Rupes counter balance and their gears and that pretty much tells the story.

 

[Garyhw48]

Mike, Thanks a lot for the great tour and pictures. It's the closest we will ever get to being there in person.

A major part of my life has been spent in electronics. I went to school when I was a young man full time and had an electronics repair shop many years ago. The armatures being ground for balance purposes tells a lot of the quality that Rupes is trying achieve. I know a lot about this subject and I can see the quality in their products. Their windings in the armatures and field coils are top notch and very neat and solid. Bearings and shafts are neat and clean with no trash to cause premature failure.

Some very fine machining processes are in place and quality control. My father was a quality control man at TRW many years ago and it is very important in turning out a perfectly balanced machine. Some day soon I will get one of these machines in my hands to try out.

Thanks again for a once in a lifetime virtual tour.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

That's pretty cool for sure, thanks for the behind the scenes tour. Looks like a top notch run facility.

Thanks for posting and sharing.

You're welcome. At the time, I was the first person they ever let take pictures inside the plant and share them on a public forum.

Awesome tour, thanks for capturing the moments and sharing them here.

You're welcome.

Every time I look at these pictures it clearly shows the quality manufacturing processes and products Rupes uses and why I have three of their machines.

I have a background in process control in manufacturing and both RUPES and FLEX have top notch manufacturing plants. (toured Flex in 2011)

Mike, Thanks a lot for the great tour and pictures. It's the closest we will ever get to being there in person.

A major part of my life has been spent in electronics. I went to school when I was a young man full time and had an electronics repair shop many years ago.

The armatures being ground for balance purposes tells a lot of the quality that Rupes is trying achieve.

I know a lot about this subject and I can see the quality in their products. Their windings in the armatures and field coils are top notch and very neat and solid. Bearings and shafts are neat and clean with no trash to cause premature failure.

Some very fine machining processes are in place and quality control. My father was a quality control man at TRW many years ago and it is very important in turning out a perfectly balanced machine. Some day soon I will get one of these machines in my hands to try out.

Thanks again for a once in a lifetime virtual tour.

Keen observations Gary and that's why I took those particular pictures.


:dblthumb2:

 

[jdrains]

will the ccs pads work on the 15 mark2?

 

[Skimmer0220]

Very very cool, kinda makes me want a rupes now seeing as how well these polishers are made

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

will the ccs pads work on the 15 mark2?

I've never tried them myself as I use the system as it was designed to be used. Also recommend this in my how-to book here,



***NEW RUPES Paperback Book***


How to use the RUPES BigFoot Paint Polishing System
for Production Detailing and Show Car Detailing

Also just to note, you would get more action that is more answers to your questions if you had started a new and dedicated thread instead of tagging your question onto a thread that shows pictures taken at the RUPES factory.

Here's an article on how to start your own thread,



How to start a new thread & How to reply to an existing thread



:dblthumb2:

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Very very cool, kinda makes me want a rupes now seeing as how well these polishers are made

I agree, they are very well made. It was also an honor to be the first guy they let take pictures inside the factory and then share them with the world. Here's one of the pictures I took...

icture:

 

[Alturki]

Best polisher

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

will the ccs pads work on the 15 mark2?

If by the word "work" you mean will the pads attach and work your choice of product against the paint with the tool turned on they "yes" the CCS pads will work.


If you mean are they the best pad for the tool then I would expect the RUPES pads to be the best pads for the tool.

 

[Delegance Detailing]

I will say it is impressive that they make their machines already lubricated with a 'Lifetime" lubrication.