150/3 Plug problem

[guyk]

for the second time the plug end of the sander has shorted out sent it in the first time great service but now 6 months later it has gone out again has anyone have problems like this with there 150
went and bought another sander so i am not without one hope this one last longer i might add i do use it allot i would guess 40 hours a month

 

[Brice Burrell]

Do a search and you'll find numerous threads covering this topic.  Here's a quick summery of the topic.  Sometimes the Plug-It cord or tool end socket will go bad on their own, but more often than not it is user error by not tightening the cord enough.

 

[AlexThePalex]

As Brice said, this happens numerous times. But unlike Brice says, if a cord has multiple ways of tightening it including the wrong way, then there's no user error but a design fault.

I mean, I'm all for personal responsibility and the fact that people need to know how to do things right themselves, but come on, if we get this much reports while we're talking about DEADLY voltages, something's amiss ......

Maybe I'm horribly mistaken about this, but I tend to think that when deadly voltages are involved, there should be ZERO room for user error.

With all Festool's UL troubles we read on this forum, I'm surprised this one actually made it through. One day this fault is gonna light a tool on fire and Festool's gonna be sued.

 

[Nick C]

It's possible to connect the cord and tighten the collar enough so the cord dosn't fall out, but not enough to make good electrical contact. The result will be excessive heat at the connection point, or possibly arcing, which is an obvious safety hazaed and can damage the tool, the cord, or both. The only remedy is to make sure the collar is fully tightened, which is not always easy. For me, I have the most trouble with the track saw. Due to the location of the plug-in point, I struggle to grasp the collar tightly enough to turn it all the way. My solution? I leave the cords connected. Always. Whatever convenience I might gain by leaving a cord connected to the DC and just swapping out the tools is not worth the risk. If I ever use the boom arm, I will use it only to manage the vac hose, not the power cord.

 

[Brice Burrell]

It's possible to connect the cord and tighten the collar enough so the cord dosn't fall out, but not enough to make good electrical contact. The result will be excessive heat at the connection point, or possibly arcing, which is an obvious safety hazaed and can damage the tool, the cord, or both. The only remedy is to make sure the collar is fully tightened, which is not always easy. For me, I have the most trouble with the track saw. Due to the location of the plug-in point, I struggle to grasp the collar tightly enough to turn it all the way. My solution? I leave the cords connected. Always. Whatever convenience I might gain by leaving a cord connected to the DC and just swapping out the tools is not worth the risk. If I ever use the boom arm, I will use it only to manage the vac hose, not the power cord.

It is much easier to tighten the Plug-It cord with the saw beveled.  After a few times on and off it gets easier to attach the cord.  Also, a lot of tools have an indexing mark so you know when the cord is turned all the way and correctly attached. 

 

[woodie]

Festool should switch to these.
http://www.neutrik.us/en-us/video/powercon/powercon-true1/

They have a positive locked position and handle plenty of current. Plus they're made in a neighboring country.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[TurnagainD]

We recently went through 2 cords on our Rotex 150.  That sander has had heavy use over the last 3 months, after a closer look I noticed a bit of fine sawdust packed in on the prongs.  Just enough to prevent a solid connection and arcing the female terminals.  Something to check out anyway.

 

[ward]

As i posted elsewhere i had this problem after two days of heavy use of my ETS 150/3ES I had to buy a new $40 dollar cord even though the tool/cord was clearly locked in and taken apart in front of TWO Festool/Tooltec employees, they did offer me a free female socket (a $5 value)

Buy the thicker cords for the domino, they have thicker wire and will at least minimize the problem. I also feel that the internal wiring is to small  a gauge, one should over engineer a tool, not make it to specs. I was shocked at the small gauge wire in my sander when i replaced the female port, and like you, I had to but another sander because i could not afford down time. I want to buy festools because i want one, not because one failed due to poor desighn as others pointed out. . .

All long term relationships will experience betrayal and loss, the question is are we so Naive to believe that a corporation wants more than profits? Where do they spend their political speech dollars? There are many unanswered questions here and unfortunately i would bet that the thinking is relatively short term, 10-20 not century's. When will Tooltec start a tool recycle program to have zero waste? What about recycling blades and abrasives. big start up costs then major savings. it's in all our interests if we want to live on this planet in a few century's

 

[allen r austin]

it seams to me the  150 is the problem, but  Festool is very easy to fix in the field - had to fix my 150 today!!. The last time my cord burned out i got 2 replacement plugs from Festool . Just take off the top of the sander remove the 2 screws from the plug then the 2 screws from the wires and replace 5 minutes  top .
Allen

 

[imaginarynumber]

As Brice said, this happens numerous times. But unlike Brice says, if a cord has multiple ways of tightening it including the wrong way, then there's no user error but a design fault.

I mean, I'm all for personal responsibility and the fact that people need to know how to do things right themselves, but come on, if we get this much reports while we're talking about DEADLY voltages, something's amiss ......

Maybe I'm horribly mistaken about this, but I tend to think that when deadly voltages are involved, there should be ZERO room for user error.

With all Festool's UL troubles we read on this forum, I'm surprised this one actually made it through. One day this fault is gonna light a tool on fire and Festool's gonna be sued.

In my (limited) experience, warning Festool Europe that something is potentially fatal is a thankless task.