Clog Inside a Sander???

[EMWLou]

Has anyone ever had this happen, or heard about it happening, to one of their sanders? I've briefly mentioned this before here in another thread, but I have old style RO 150 that just doesn't pick up any dust. I just bought a new CT 26 and it arrived today. The new vac works perfectly with my ETS 150, TS 55, and Domino. However, the Rotex just makes a mess. I had thought it was just a product of the way the sander was being used. I'm sanding pre-primed pine with 80 grit paper. That combination of power from the sander, coarse abrasive, and soft wood, should lead to enormous amount of material being removed in short order. Which is certainly the case, but the vac doesn't seem to get any of it though. I'm convinced that there is a clog in the pathway inside the sander. Its the only thing I can think of. I haven't had time to take it apart yet, but I was hoping to hear if this is something that has even come up before.

Any thoughts?

 

[peter halle]

Hey Lou.

Yes the sanders can clog up occasionally especially if there is resinous wood.  Thank pine tar on a baseball bat.

Also the RAS can get larger chips ingested partially as I learned firsthand.

Peter

 

[Peter_C]

Have you tried removing the sanding pad and putting some air backwards thru it?

 

[RustE]

Have you removed the pad to see if there is any obvious build-up?  This area of the tool housing is where I find the most  caked dust on a Porter-Cable sander.

My next thought is using something non-metallic, like a zip tie or a length of  weedwacker line, to check for any heavy build-up.