What Is Vibration and Why Does It Matter?

[Team Adam's]

An excellent post from another forum I felt compelled to share. For those who have been around the detailing world for awhile you probably know Todd from his forum writeups. He is an exceptionally talented detailer who has worked for a variety of companies, including running his own very high end detailing business in Florida. He is a pilar in the detialing community and a wealth of knowledge.

 

I'm proud to say I've known Todd for awhile now and would consider him a good friend depsite the fact we have regularly found ourselves working for competing brands. Most recently hes taken a positioin with Rupes so I'm excited to finally say we're on the same side of the 'line'.

 

This post he recently made covers a topic that has gone overlooked with the introduction of other large throw machines that mimic the design of the Rupes. I'd further this point by saying we invested significant development time and research to the Gen5 Pad System to minimize vibration. Each pads mass was adjusted to as closely match the tools (Rupes as well as others) to minimize vibration as much as possible.

 

Take a moment to read Todd's post below. More and more, as knock-offs enter the marketplace it becomes important to understand that the innovators, and those that bring technology to market do so with lots of research. The copies that follow may look the same, but there are subtlties that make a huge difference, so as comparisons between tools abound remember as he says below - "this amount of engineering cannot be copied with sight and calipers"

 

Vibration Free: Why does it matter? 



 

When RUPES set off to develop the BigFoot System, one of the primary goals was to create a nearly vibration free polishing experience. While the obvious benefit is user comfort - a vibration- free tool will fatigue the user less and can reduce the risk the of long-term health problems such as carpel tunnel syndrome - it also reduces/eliminates most of the factors that cause wear to the tool in addition to producing a better finish potential. 



 

Vibration, for this discussion, is a factor of being out of balance. Random orbital polishers, by design, are quite unbalanced. You have a large mass (backing plate/pad/spindle) that is orbiting around a center axis point. The further the mass is away from the axis, the greater the unbalance, the more intense the vibration becomes.

 


RUPES BigFoot Polishing System remains the most balanced single-head random orbital polishing system on the market. If ran in free air at full speed, BigFoot Polishers, when used with the appropriately weighted BigFoot Pads will produce almost ZERO vibration. The reason that RUPES remains the only near vibration free large-stroke system on the market is because it is time consuming and hard to engineer (3 years) and nearly impossible to copy. 


 

While the internal counter balance of the machine is important, it must be married to backing plate and pad that are not only correctly weighted, but are also dynamically balanced and have a proper center of gravity. 



 

What is dynamic balance? It is the ability of a moving part to remain in balance. A couple examples are if you stick your leg out to the side, you might have to move the opposite arm out. Move your leg out, your arm needs to go out further - staying balanced in motion.(Bad example, but point made). Some tools, like a rotary tool, are inherently dynamically balanced if the pad is centered. That is the force on all sizes of the axis are equal and the tool operates smoothly. 



 

As mentioned above, an orbital polisher requires a counter weight that is properly married to the internal counterbalance system. But dynamic balance goes further. RUPES BigFoot pads also feature a proper center of gravity. Inside the tool, there is a shaft that runs through the bearing into a secondary counter weight on the top of the tool. If the pad is too bottom or top heavy, additional stress is placed on the shaft which can create excessive wear. You may have noticed that RUPES 100 mm and 150 mm pads are shorter in height than the 180 mm pads. This is part of maintaining a proper center of gravity.

 



So to expand on the opening paragraph and fully answer the initial question, why does vibration matter? 

Any vibration you feel is a result of unbalance and it creates excessive wear inside the tool.

 

Hold your tool our with one hand and run it full power… Feel any tingle/buzz? That tingle is placing unwanted side-load on the bearing inside the tool’s head. That tingle is your bearing wearing out faster than necessary.

 



Vibration also makes it hard to manage a foam pad’s behavior as it engages the workpiece surface. The result is that it makes it more difficult to achieve maximum gloss (although the difference is often so small not to be recognized, if your goal is to truly create maximum gloss, it is something worth remembering). 

RUPES spent nearly 3 years to develop a nearly vibration free tool when paired in the RUPES system. This amount of engineering cannot be copied by sight and calipers. The weight and center of gravity of the system is imperative to a long-lasting design that will produce consistent results. 





[Ricky Bobby]

Is this Todd formerly of Autopia?

[The Guz]

Yes.

[goheels]

Certainly one of my biggest complaints about the PC is the vibration at high speeds (5+).  I'm hoping that by moving down to smaller polishing pads from the 7", it will reduce this problem somewhat.  The bigfoot line seems like a solid upgrade.  If I wasn't just doing maintenance polishing and sealant application on my 2 vehicles it would get heavy consideration!  I couldn't imagine using the PC as a primary tool if I was doing detailing for a living.

[Team Adam's]

Is this Todd formerly of Autopia?

 

Yes. Formerly of Autopia/AG/Blackfire... now working for Rupes.

 

Certainly one of my biggest complaints about the PC is the vibration at high speeds (5+).  I'm hoping that by moving down to smaller polishing pads from the 7", it will reduce this problem somewhat.  The bigfoot line seems like a solid upgrade.  If I wasn't just doing maintenance polishing and sealant application on my 2 vehicles it would get heavy consideration!  I couldn't imagine using the PC as a primary tool if I was doing detailing for a living.

 

Years ago it was the only option... my hands have the aches and pains to show for it. Its good for what it is - a budget solution to break into polishing or to do only occasional work, but with advances in the tool world there are far better options that will beat you up far less .

[mc2hill]

Thanks for posting this info Dylan.  Todd is very, very knowledgeable about detailing and I am glad he is now working 'for all sides' at Rupes.  

 

I have been lucky enough to spend sometime with him at detailing events, and to hear his stories - some about detailing, others that cannot be repeated on a family-friendly forum (right Sizzle Chest!).  But I always learn something!         

[Team Adam's]

LOL... yep... a few of Todd's tales are not fit for AF.

[TheBurninator]

Years ago it was the only option... my hands have the aches and pains to show for it. Its good for what it is - a budget solution to break into polishing or to do only occasional work, but with advances in the tool world there are far better options that will beat you up far less .

 

Eventually a Rupes mini will get added to my arsenal and the PC can be moved to brush use only. Even with a 4" setup on the PC it still shakes a good bit.