Who are/ What is Rupes?

Rupes S.p.A. has been manufacturing high quality tools based on the principals of ingenuity, creativeness, intuitiveness and forward thinking since 1947. Back then, tools were made in a small building in Milan, Italy. By 1969, with the introduction of their first electric sander, their reputation for being innovators was cemented. Today, Rupes is a high-quality manufacturing company with four different production sites. Now, like back then, each Rupes tool is designed with cutting edge technology and Italy's famous passion for excellence.

The name Rupes (Roo-Pes) stands for “Realizzazione Utensili Pneumatici Elettrici Speciali.” Translated from Italian to English, this loosely means “Manufacturer of Special Pneumatic and Electric Tools.”




What is BigFoot?

BigFoot is a complete polishing system created by Rupes that includes their random orbital polishers, polishing compounds and polishing pads. By utulizing a larger-than-standard orbit in their machines, Rupes quickly realized that each component became more critical for optimum performance. Instead of creating just a new, powerful, safe and highly-effective polisher series, Rupes created a new, powerful, safe and highly-effective polishing system.

Simply put, BigFoot is polishing made easy.




BigFoot Polishers

The heart of the BigFoot System, and the component(s) that garner the most attention are the Rupes BigFoot D.A. Random Orbital Polishers. To understand more about the BigFoot, we will break down some of it's features.



DA Random Orbital Polisher

Polishers can come in two styles: Rotary or Orbital. Rotary machines are pretty crude (and powerful!) machines that spin the pad like a top. The motor's speed directly controls rate of spin on the pad (RPMs). However, they create uniform polishing scratches that can quite visible (known as holograms)

Orbital polishers are another style of machine, in which the pad is driven in an orbit around a center object, similar to how the Earth orbits the sun.



Just like the Earth spins (it's how we get our days), the pad on a Orbital polisher spins as well. This combination of spinning and orbital motion is called Dual Action. This is why most orbital polishers are referred to Dual Action Polishers, Dual Action Orbital Polishers or just plain ole' DA's.

Because Orbital Polishers move the polish/pad in often-changing directions, they do not create the uniform scratches that create visible buffer holograms. It is easier to achieve a visible swirl-free finish with a DA Polisher.

DA Polishers are categorized by the way they engine drive's the spinning motion of the pad. On gear-driven DA's, booth the orbital motion and the spinning motion of pad are driven by the machine through a gear set. This style of gear-driven DA's are commonly referred to as Forced-Rotation Dual Action Polishers.

The other style of DA Polisher, known as a Random Orbital Dual Action Polisher uses the momentum of the orbital action to create the spinning motion of the pad. This disconnect between the spinning motion and the orbital motion creates a somewhat random motion of the pad (the pad orbits at the same rate, but the spinning motion is constantly fluctuates due to friction. Lift the polisher off the paint and the pad will spin rapidly, press the polisher hard against the paint and the spinning motion will slow or stall). Hence the name "random" in Random Orbital.

BigFoot Polishers are Random Orbital Dual Action Polishers.

Compared to Forced Rotation DA Polishers, Random Orbital Polishers are:

• Safer
• Easier To Control
• Less Powerful*

Rupes engineered the BigFoot Polishers to have the power of a Forced Rotation DA while maintaining the ease of use, safety and control of a Random Orbital Polisher. What started as an idea became an evolution.


BigFoot = Big Orbit!

The speed in which a polisher works is ultimately the result of the friction that machine can produce on the paint (and how well that friction can be focused). When it comes to machine polishers, the speed (distance over time) that the polisher can move the pad across the paint and how well it maintains speed under various loads (pressure) control the friction the pad produces.

The reason that rotary polishers are typically the most powerful is because they generate a a very high speed at the outer edge of the pad. Forced Rotation DA Polishers maintain pad rotation, even under pressure, which maintains speed and increases friction. Random Orbital DA Polishers tend to bog under pressure, negating the pad speed advantage and limiting the maximum polishing power.

To over come this drawback, Rupes BigFoot Polishers feature large orbits or strokes.

Orbit Size - Orbit size is the distance between the center point and center of the orbiting object

This orbit size is also known as the stroke or stroke length. The diagram below shows how stroke length is measured. It is the distance across the orbit, measured in inches or millimeters (mm).




When it comes to Random Orbital Polishers, orbit size/stroke length has a huge impact on performance. Most Random Orbital DA Polisher use a 5/16 or 8 mm stroke.

Stroke length has a direct effect on how far the pad travels per orbit and imparts more momentum on how fast the pad spins.

The advantages of an increased stroke:

• Increased polishing action do to increased pad speed
• Increased polishing action do to increased pad rotation
• Increased pad cleaning @ the polish/paint surface
• All advantages of a DA polisher are retained

Increased Polishing Action Do To Increased Pad Speed
The pad travels further (a greater circumference around) per orbit. This increases the distance travel, and increases friction

Increased Polishing Action Do To Increased Pad Rotation
The larger stroke creates more momentum as the pad whips around faster/further. This causes the pad to want to rotate faster and it resists bogging more. This also increases friction, and thus polishing power.

Increased Pad Cleaning At The Polish/Paint Surface
The increased whipping action of the larger orbit tends to fling debris, abraded paint residue and polish contamination away from the surface being polished, resulting in a better finish.

All Advantages Of A Random Orbital DA Polisher Are Retained
Even with a powerful and large stroke, BigFoot Polishers retain all of the advantages of a DA. It is harder to damage paint and near impossible to create visible buffer swirl marks.


Rupes Vs. Other Orbital Polishers - Stroke Length



Rupes BigFoot Polishers come in 4 styles of electric polishers and 1 pneumatic (air-driven) design. As the diagram above shows, Rupes Big Foot Polishers have a stroke (orbit size) that is far great the conventional DA Polishers.



Rupes LHR 21ES BigFoot - The Rupes "21" BigFoot has a enormous 21mm stroke, giving it big polishing power. It has been designed to work with (balanced for) Rupes 180mm (7 inch) polishing pads, making this the ideal choice when polishing large areas quickly.

Rupes LHR 15ES BigFoot- The Rupes "15" uses a huge 15mm stroke, giving it strong polishing action. It also is designed to spin faster than the "21" to make up for the smaller stroke. Engineered to work with Rupes 150mm (6 inch) polishing pads, the Rupes "15" is a great choice for polishing modern, curved body panels.

Rupes LH75 3 Inch Pneumatic BigFoot - The "AirFoot" LHR75 is an air-driven BigFoot Polisher. It features the same large 15mm stroke, but has been balanced for use with 100mm (4 inch) Rupes' pads.

Rupes LHR12E Duetto BigFoot - The Duetto features a traditional DA-polisher chassis, including a thumb switch and speed dial. It also features a large, 12 mm throw giving it awesome power in a small, lightweight package. It is designed to work with Rupes 150mm (6 inch) polishing pads.

Rupes LHR 75E Mini BigFoot - The Mini is the little BigFoot with a huge bite. Combining the same motor, 12mm stoke, and chassis of the Duetto, but modifying the balance to work with 100mm (4 inch) Rupes polishing pads and redesigning the head to fit into small areas, the Mini is the most powerful spot polishing tool available.


The BigFoot Polisher Advantage

The Rupes BigFoot Polishers have really combined the correction ability of a rotary polisher with the advantages of a random orbital polisher. Compared to other styles...

Rotary



A rotary develops its polishing power due to the high pad speeds generated on the outer third of the pad. However the inside of the pad is traveling a much slower rate. This limits the average speed of the rotary polisher.


Forced Rotation Dual Action Polisher




Forced Rotation Dual Action Polishers create a swiggly line pattern as the orbit and rotation occur in opposite directions. The inner-third of the pad is more useful as the combination of orbital and rotational movements creates more distance. However, the gear drive assembly limits maximum RPM to about 650 (according to Rupes) which limits power.

 

BigFoot Random Orbital



The BigFoot series of Random Orbital really gets the pad moving. The large orbits create large amount of movement, even with the pad barely rotating. The orbital action of a BigFoot creates more pad movement than a rotary at 1200 RPM! This is not counting the spinning motion of the Rupes.

When it comes to friction, the Rupes Big Foot Series of polishers can generate rotary-like correction power. (Note: The smaller the orbit, the higher the speed Rupes uses for the motors to maintain polishing power).

Because all DA Polishers move in a dual pattern design, the leave a shallower, more dispersed scratch pattern on the finish. In layman terms, DA polishers are able to reduce the amount of steps needed to polish the paint. When you combine the the DA Polishers natural tendency to reduce polishing steps with the BigFoot's near rotary like levels of correction, you have a huge time savings potential.


The Rupes BigFoot System - Pads & Polishes

While the large stroke BigFoot Polishers offer a lot of advantages, Rupes developed to optimize the large stroke advantages, while maintaining polisher balance and performance.

BigFoot Polishers push things to the limit - The large stroke of BigFoot Polishers places additional consideration on all parts of polishing system. The smaller, 8 mm stroke found on most polishers means that things like pad weight have little impact. You may get a slight vibration by using a pad that is too heavy for the counter weight, but that's it.

However, as stroke is increased, the whipping force becomes greater. Differences in pad weight that seemed minor at small orbit sizes become more and more critical. Rupes engineered each BigFoot design to work with a particular pad weight (counter balancing) for maximum comfort and product longevity.

If you have your own pads, weighed and developed for large stroke application, then it makes sense to have your own line of polishes, optimized to work with your pads and polishes. The result is a highly-engineered system where each detail was optimized for the best performance. Some of the advantages of the Rupes BigFoot System are:

• Product optimization
• Product color coded for ease of use
• Extremely smooth buffing
• System compatibility

Rupes BigFoot Polishes Polishing Gels

• High-lubricity formula engineered for each color-coded pad design
• Gel consistency prevents pad saturation on open-celled foam pads
• Consistent finish quality on most paint systems

Rupes BigFoot Polishing Gels are designed to provide maximum lubricity for optimized pad rotation with each polishing pad. The thick formula is specifically designed to work with the open-celled Rupes foams. The color coded range starts with the aggressive Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound to the ultra-fine Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish

Most to Least Aggressive:

Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound -Rupes Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound is a heavy-cut polishing compound that is capable of removing P1500 grade sanding scratches. Use Rupes Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound with a Rupes Blue Coarse Foam Pad or Rupes Blue Micorfiber Pad to remove deep scratches, acid rain etching, stains and oxidation. Color Code: BLUE

Rupes Quarz Gloss Medium Gel Compound - Rupes Quarz Gloss Medium Gel Compound is a polishing compound that is capable of removing P2500 grade sanding scratches from fresh paint. Use Rupes Quarz Gloss Medium Gel Compound with a Rupes Green Medium Foam Pad to remove car wash scratches, deep swirl marks, stains and light oxidation. It will even remove 2500 grit sanding marks from fresh paint. Color Code: GREEN

Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Gel Polish - Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Gel Polish is a paint polish that is capable of removing P3000 grade sanding scratches from fresh paint. It is also the ideal choice in maintenance or 1-step polishing sessions. Use Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Gel Polish with a Rupes Yellow Polishing Foam Pad to remove swirl marks, towel marks, buffer holograms and fine scratches. Color Code: Yellow
Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish - Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish is a finishing polish that is designed to smooth over any faint swirl marks or imperfections that rob paint of it's ultimate shine. Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish is the perfect final step for anybody who appreciates a mirror-like shine. Use Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish with a Rupes White Finishing Foam Pad to create the highest shine possible on all paint systems. Color Code: WHITE

All Rupes Polishes use advanced abrasive technology to over a high level of polishing power while maintaining a high-quality finish, reducing the number of steps required for a high-gloss, swirl-free finish.


Rupes BigFoot Polishing Pads

• Tapered design for maximum foot print
• Each pad size is weighed to the particular BigFoot Polisher
• Each polish has been designed to work with the foam
• Available in microfiber or foam

Rupes Microfiber Pads

Rupes Microfiber Pads are specifically designed to work with both Rupes polishes and BigFoot polishers. In order to get the weight correct and increase airflow (microfiber pads run hotter), Rupes added venting slots (which evacuates heat through the ventilated backing plate). Instead of using an adhesive which can detatch under the large strokes higher stress, these pads are manufactured using a polyurethane resin which is injected into the area between the hook and loop material and pad's face.

Rupes Microfiber Pads are offered in two color-coded designs and two sizes: 100mm (4 inch), 150mm (6 inch)

Rupes Blue Microfiber Cutting Pad
The Rupes Blue Microfiber Cutting Pad features a short and dense microfiber pile to remove swirl marks, scratches and oxidation from any color and type of paint. For maximum cutting power use the Rupes Blue Microfiber Cutting Pads with Rupes Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel. Color Code: BLUE

Rupes Yellow Microfiber Finishing Pad
The Rupes Yellow Microfiber Finishing Pad features a long, soft microfiber nap that is perfect for removing swirl marks and holograms from your vehicle's paint work. Use these pads with Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Gel to restore depth and clarity to all colors and types of paint. Color Code: YELLOW


Rupes Foam Pads

Rupes Foam Pads are designed to work with Rupes BigFoot Polishers and Rupes polishes for maximum performance. Each pad is an open-celled foam for maximum airflow. In turn, each color-coordinated polish features a gel consistency to avoid absorption of the product into the pad. They feature an extremely strong adhesive backing to hold up to the stress of the BigFoot Polisher's large orbit size.

Rupes Foam Pads are offered in four color-coded designs and three sizes: 100mm (4 inch), 150mm (6 inch), 180 mm (7 inch)

Rupes Blue Coarse Foam Pad
The Rupes Blue Coarse Foam Pad an open-celled foam compounding pad that is designed for maximum polishing action. Use this pad with Rupes Zephir Gloss Coarse Gel Compound to eliminate severe paint defects such as acid rain marks, oxidation, deep scratches, and 1500 grit wet sanding marks. Color Code: BLUE

Rupes Green Medium Foam Pad
The Rupes Green Medium Foam Pad is an open-celled foam light compounding pad that is designed to balance polishing action and finishing ability. Use this pad with Rupes Quarz Gloss Medium Gel Compound to polish away medium paint defects such as brush marks from car washes, medium scratches, oxidation and weathering. Color Code: GREEN

Rupes Yellow Polishing Foam Pad
The Rupes Yellow Polishing Foam is a tightly-packed, open-cell foam pad designed to smooth away paint imperfections without creating visible scratches. Use this pad with Rupes Keramik Gloss Fine Gel Polish to level fine paint defects such as towel marks or to remove heavy buffer holograms. Color Code: YELLOW

Rupes White Finishing Foam Pad
The Rupes White Finishing Foam Pad is a soft, open-celled foam finishing pad that is non-abrasive to the paint but firm enough to withstand the large stroke of the Rupes Big Foot Polishers. Use this pad with Rupes Diamond Ultra Fine Gel Polish to burnish the paint to a mirror-like shine. Color Code: WHITE


Putting It All Together: The Rupes Advantage








Ultimately, the Rupes System offers a color-coordinated, engineered system to optimized performance on all levels. This allows users, of all levels, to enjoy easy-achieve-results.




Putting The BigFoot To Use!



Always take necessary precautions and prep work prior to polishing paint:

• Wash paint thoroughly and dry completely.
• Test paint for contamination if necessary.
• Tape off any delicate trim or body lines which could be damaged.

The Rupes BigFoot System makes everything easy because of its color-coordinated system.

To use the Rupes BigFoot System:

Select the correct polish/pad combination

• Use speed 4-6 for polishing
• Use light, but steady pressure
• Move the pad approximately 1-2 inches per second
• Work in a cross-hatch pattern where applicable.
• Polish a section approximately 4 sq ft.
• Make 6-8 passes over the entire area

Selecting The Correct Polish/Pad Combination

Even with experience, variables such as scratch depth or paint hardness means that it always best to perform a test spot when dialing in the correct process. A test spot is nothing more than a 2' x 2' that is polished to achieve the desired results.

Always use the least aggressive method first:
White<Yellow<Green<Blue

Start polishing by selecting the White Pad and Diamond Ultra Fine Polishing Gel. Polish the 2 x 2 area, wipe off residue and inspect using a bright light or direct sunlight. If desired results are not achieved, move up to the Keramik Gloss Fine Gel Polish with the yellow foam or microfiber pad. Polish the section and inspect.

Continue to move up until the desired amount of correction is achieved depending on paint defect depth and paint hardness. Inspect the finish afterwards. If either Zephir/Blue or Quarz/Green were used, the paint finish may have a slight haze. Use either Keramik/Yellow or Diamond/White to remove the haze.

Questions or comments welcome.