# Rupes Bigfoot Orbital Polishers Virtual Museum Tour - Milan, Italy



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*Rupes Bigfoot Orbital Polishers Virtual Museum Tour - Milan, Italy*

As you walk into the main entrance of the Rupes Corporate Office you are greeted first by Giulia who besides being the receptionist is also in charge of all travel arrangements for Rupes staff and family. So here's a shout-out to Giulia as our air line flight, hotel and all travel arrangements were 5-START all the way!

*Giulia - Rupes Receptionist and Travel Coordinator*









Then the next sight you see are some glass display cases showcasing the various types of tools Rupes manufactures for a variety of industries. These tools include orbital sanders, orbital polishers, rotary buffers and complete vacuum extraction systems for their sanders.



















Would anyone like to guess what type of tool this is?










Next to the entrance lobby is room filled with tools spanning the history of the Rupes company starting in the early 1950's.

This is a two speed sander/polisher which uses an ingenious gear drive mechanism. To use a slower or faster speed you simply turn the the tool over and use the spindle for the speed required for the task at hand.



















*The 1955 Wander Sander/Polisher*









*This is another dual speed sander/polisher*









*The 1962 Marten*









*The 1976 Lar 23 Sander/Grinder*









*The 1962 Super 12000 Orbital Sander*









*The 1952 Stork 123 Orbital Sander*









*The 1959 SS 7000 Orbital Sander*









*The 1970 SS 7000 AI Orbital Sander with Vacuum Attachment*









*The 1960 RIK 12000 Sander/Grinder *









*Orbital Sander/Grinder*









*The Super Stork Orbital Sander*









This is a gage for measuring concentric accuracy it's sitting on an original wooden Rupes used by the founder of the Rupes company.


















*Rupes tools specially made for Rupes manufacturing*









*Decibel Reader* 









*Antique picture showing tooling manufactured by Rupes*



















I met the current Presidente of Rupes, his name is *Guido Valentini* just as you see on the machine in these pictures.










*Italian currency over the time span of the Rupes company...*









So there's a portion of the history and evolution of the Rupes family of tools taken while I was at the Rupes plant.

_Enjoy!_


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

Wow , that s great , thanx for sharing . Lucky man !


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