Changing the Brushes on a Festool Rotex 150 Sander

[Frank Pellow]

Peter, thanks very much for letting me know that my instructions helped you.  When I write reviews or how-to articles, I always hope that some folks out there are interested and it is always gratifying to hear from anyone who is.

 

[jaymon5]

I would like to thank you for the informative breakdown as well.  I just purchased a RO150 and while I did not find the brushes under the plastic insert, I know that when I need to replace them I will know how.

The journey to reach 1000 hours begins now.

 

[fin]

bloody hell lol. i think ive worn brushes out on 2 cordless drills. one got nicked the other is the one im using just now. its a canister motor so i cant replace em. its sparking like mad now. other than that ive never worn out brushes on anything apart from a really really old drill i used for mixing plaster with that had belonged to my grandpa.

my last power planer was in need of new brushes when i stripped it down but the bearings had all disintegrated aswell and the smoke started to escape so its knackered. need to replace that with a festool planer

 

[semenza]

Dear Frank Pellow,

Just read a long article about recent studies into what makes people "happy". Nowhere did it mention the experience I had this morning when I found your excellent piece about the brush replacement. I had suspected brushes were my problem, but looking at Festool's parts diagram did absolutely nothing toward finding them. Also I thought I was going to have to send off for new ones, but following your tip, looked under the plastic tray in the box and YES! there they were. I was finishing a piece that was due today when the thing shut down, it took me exactly 20 minutes to get back to the job after finding your post.

Can't thank you enough, if you're ever in Oakland, look me up and I'll buy you several beers,

Peter Smalley
Allied Wood Products
Oakland, CA

Welcome to the forum! Glad you were able to track down Frank's helpful topic.  [smile]

Seth

 

[videoprogram]

Does anyone have any info on doing this to the RO 150 FEQ ? R.E. Part 1 of 6, there is only one screw in the back by the plug and it doesnt seem to loosen the casing. Any ideas?  am i just not pulling hard enough?

I'm wondering if they made it harder to DIY but I could just be missing something

Thanks!

 

[AlexThePalex]

Does anyone have any info on doing this to the RO 150 FEQ ? R.E. Part 1 of 6, there is only one screw in the back by the plug and it doesnt seem to loosen the casing. Any ideas?  am i just not pulling hard enough?

I'm wondering if they made it harder to DIY but I could just be missing something

It really is only that one screw. I took the tail cap off once when my RO150 was pretty new and it went very easy. But things tend to tighten up on sanders due to the heat and the dust that gets in everything. For instance, I can't get the detachable dust chute (51) off anymore.

[attachimg=1]

 

[videoprogram]

Does anyone have any info on doing this to the RO 150 FEQ ? R.E. Part 1 of 6, there is only one screw in the back by the plug and it doesnt seem to loosen the casing. Any ideas?  am i just not pulling hard enough?

I'm wondering if they made it harder to DIY but I could just be missing something

It really is only that one screw. I took the tail cap off once when my RO150 was pretty new and it went very easy. But things tend to tighten up on sanders due to the heat and the dust that gets in everything. For instance, I can't get the detachable dust chute (51) off anymore.

[attachimg=1]

Got it! Thanks I just pulled harder and got it

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I hate to highjack Frank's excellent thread on replacing the brushes in older RO 150's. However, if this thread is coming up in a search for someone trying to do brushes in the RO 150 FEQ, it may help to append that information here for future reference. So if Frank doesn't mind too much, here are the instructions for the RO 150 FEQ. It's a large image from a screen capture, so I will leave it as a thumbnail.

 

[Frank Pellow]

I don't mind at all Rick.  Thanks very much for the update.

 

[Pohnpei]

Don't see any of your six pictures,Frank,have they disappeared?
The new one page picture is not that helpful

 

[andreasg]

Frank, you sure use your RO150 a lot have just used mine a couple of days on quite aggressive sanding on an old stair. Just starting out doing this I do wonder about any long term consequences of all the vibration. Any comment on this since you use yours soo much?

 

[Tinker]

Don't see any of your six pictures,Frank,have they disappeared?
The new one page picture is not that helpful

Same here.
I had checked the "Unread" page and noticed a thread had been started by Frank.  Any threads started by Frank Pellow I do not skip.  [member=7]Frank Pellow[/member], your threads are always full of valuable information, and even tho i had missed it way back in 2007, I checked it out as I figured it would still be relevant.  The written info is still very clear and very thorough without wasting a lot of words; but no pics.

I have an ancient RO 150 that has had far more use than any other sander I have ever owned.  So far, it has not slowed down. I have not yet had occasion to even look at the brushes, let alone replace.  Thanks for the info.
Tinker

 

[Frank Pellow]

Don't see any of your six pictures,Frank,have they disappeared?
The new one page picture is not that helpful

Same here.
I had checked the "Unread" page and noticed a thread had been started by Frank.  Any threads started by Frank Pellow I do not skip.  [member=7]Frank Pellow[/member], your threads are always full of valuable information, and even tho i had missed it way back in 2007, I checked it out as I figured it would still be relevant.  The written info is still very clear and very thorough without wasting a lot of words; but no pics.

I have an ancient RO 150 that has had far more use than any other sander I have ever owned.  So far, it has not slowed down. I have not yet had occasion to even look at the brushes, let alone replace.  Thanks for the info.
Tinker

I have no idea why the photos are no longer present.  I will check to see if I still have them somewhere and, if I do, I will post them here again.

 

[AlexThePalex]

There was a forum crash some time ago. The explanation was, if I recall correctly, that the server ran out of memory/disc space and lots of older pictures were deleted to gain extra space.

 

[Frank Pellow]

There was a forum crash some time ago. The explanation was, if I recall correctly, that the server ran out of memory/disc space and lots of older pictures were deleted to gain extra space.

In that the archives here are a valuable resource, that was a very short-sighted thing to do.

 

[Frank Pellow]

OK, I found the pictures and put them back where they belong.

 

[AlexThePalex]

There was a forum crash some time ago. The explanation was, if I recall correctly, that the server ran out of memory/disc space and lots of older pictures were deleted to gain extra space.

In that the archives here are a valuable resource, that was a very short-sighted thing to do.

I don't think it was done on purpose, but it is a loss indeed.

 

[Tinker]

OK, I found the pictures and put them back where they belong.

[member=7]Frank Pellow[/member] Thank you
I will save your pics just in case my own RO 150 comes to a halt, or even a slowdown.
Frank, you are the greatest of connoisseurs.
Tinker