Es125 sander RANT

[dave tinley]

In july of 2006 I purchased a ES125 sander from a Festool dealer. Loved the sander, I used it mainly for finish sanding with 180, 220, 320 grit sandpaper.
This sander was my first Festool purchase, and led me to buying a T55 saw, a 1400 router and Midi vacuum.

Yesterday I was sanding some primer on some cabinet face frames with 220 grit, when the sander started to wobble real bad. After shutting it off I noticed the pad had split, causing part of it to seperate from the mounting screws. Of course this had to happen just two months out of warranty. 

I contacted the Festool dealer from whom I purchased it and was told that the plastic probally deteriorated over time. 
And a new pad will be $30.00.
Now I have two Dewalts that are almost 8 years old, they get all the hard sanding jobs, never had a problem with the pads. I have burnt up motors on PC333 before a pad failure.
This makes me wonder as to the quality of materials Festool is using.

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[ForumMFG]

Dave,

Your Festool dealer and Festool are 2 completely differnce soruces for information.  I would call Festool and explain the situation so they can provide a solid answer and not "probally".  I have never heard of this problem before so that would lead me to think that maybe it really did have a defect or something?  Sanding pads are consumables and are meant to go bad and be replaced after a certain period of time as well so thats something to consider.

 

[AlexThePalex]

After shutting it off I noticed the pad had split, causing part of it to seperate from the mounting screws.

I am not so satisfied with the standard soft pad of my RO150 either, to be honest. It's way too soft for a 'standard' pad. When I even touch a wall or something with the side of the pad it gets damage. This is not what I am used to with pads from other brands I've used.

Maybe the hard pad is better, I got one of the new Multi-jet pads coming my way so I'll see how that works. But I wish the standard pad was a bit harder than what it is now.

But pads will deteriorate with use, that's normal because they're consumables indeed. Back in the family body shop we had to replace the pad of each sander at least twice a year. They got a lot of use each day.

But I've never seen a pad split in two. Mostly they just wear out or a chip breaks off, but never a full split. Maybe your ES125 pad had a flaw in it which caused it to break up.

Your Festool dealer and Festool are 2 completely differnce soruces for information.  I would call Festool and explain the situation so they can provide a solid answer and not "probally". 

But that shouldn't be. They're not a dealer for nothing. I've been to two Festool dealers last week to get me the new Multi-jet pad and both knew nothing about it yet. Both called Festool right away, while I was standing there to wait for an answer, and I got my information right there. That's how it should work.

Btw, I also emailed Festool to ask about the pad and the special introduction offer. I got a wrong answer back from the Festool representative and had to email him again to inform HIM about it. ;D
 

 

[ForumMFG]

Alex,

The only reason why I made that comment was because he got a "probally" answer.  That wouldn't be good enough for me so I would just call the people that make it to get a solid answer.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

I wear pads out in about 4 months on each of my sanders.

Never had one last long enough to split.

 

[Bob Marino]

Since this thread appeared on another forum, I have cut and pasted my response  to here.

  I am the dealer in question. I take full responsibility. Without getting into it too much, I emailed a response (at 6:30 AM) and said it sounded like a pad problem, rather than a sander problem. I was then asked the price of a new pad, which I emailed. (I did not forward the initial PM from Dave to Festool - I merely answered Dave's question).
I understand how frustrating things can get when an item doesn't meet expectaions 100%. Pads are not covered under Festool's 3 year warranty and can wear (as noted in above post) differently depending on a number of things. I guess we can differ if 3 years is a reasonable time for a pad to last. I did email Dave again though.
If there is an issue, it is with me, not Festool.

Bob

 

[AlexThePalex]

Huh? Am I correct in understanding this is about a THREE YEAR OLD pad? 

Get outta here. I'd be extremely happy to get three years out of my pad. I guess some people are never satisfied.  :

 

[Brice Burrell]

Huh? Am I correct in understanding this is about a THREE YEAR OLD pad? 

Get outta here. I'd be extremely happy to get three years out of my pad. I guess some people are never satisfied.  :

Well, I glad someone brought that up. While I don't know how often the Dave T. used his sander the pad is consumable and at a certain the user is responsible for consumables. At three years I think that point may have been reached. 

 

[dave tinley]

Huh? Am I correct in understanding this is about a THREE YEAR OLD pad? 

Get outta here. I'd be extremely happy to get three years out of my pad. I guess some people are never satisfied.  :

To  me its not a question of the pad wearing out. If it was I would not have said anything. Its not like the velcro wore out. Its the plastic that holds the pad to the motor. 
So I guess when you pay as much for a Festool sander and parts start failing quicker then a lower priced dewalt or Porter Cable then yes there is a satisfaction issue.

Now to be fair to Festool, I have been contacted by a representative and he has offered to send me a new pad.

 

[AlexThePalex]

So I guess when you pay as much for a Festool sander and parts start failing quicker then a lower priced dewalt or Porter Cable then yes there is a satisfaction issue.

But the pads are not exactly the same. That photo you posted did show where's the difference exactly. Festool has build dust channels into the pad that those other manufacturers like PC and Dewalt don't.

The design is thus pretty different and a 1-on-1 comparison is not entirely justified. Festool's dust collection is far superior to that of those brands you named because they only have 8 holes straight through the pad while Festool builds all these channels in that run from the middle to the side. I admit such channels would introduce a structural weakness those other pads don't have, but honestly, I would take the almost dustless working of Festool pads over that of those other brands' pads.

Even if that comes at the cost of longevity. But I think that 3 years of use out of a pad in a professional environment is pretty good. In our company we had to replace the pads twice a year. Of course our sanders (Rupes, Elu (=now DeWalt), Makita) were used for 2 or 3 hours per day at least, by over 10 different people.

Only gripe I have with Festool's pads is that they are too damn expensive. They're 2 or 3 times as expensive as others.

Now to be fair to Festool, I have been contacted by a representative and he has offered to send me a new pad.

Shows you that a good rant always helps.

 

[dave tinley]

As an update-
Bob Marino, the festool dealer contacted Festools senior man to alert him as to my problem.
I have been contacted by Festool and will be recieving a new pad some time next week.

Thanks for all the replies and an additional thanks to Bob Marino for going the extra step to take care of his customer.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Dave, I just assumed you sander didn't get much use and that was the reason for your dissatisfaction over the failure of the pad. From the picture your sander looks to be well used so I think replacement of the pad should have been your responsibility no matter the reason for the pad failure. All the same, I'm glad Festool and Bob have resolved the matter to your satisfaction. Good job all around.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Was that sander ever dropped before the pad broke?  I've not had any problems with the pads on any of my ETS or Rotex sanders.  Despite my having used them in inside corners thereby causing them to grab many times, the worst that has happened is slight tearing of the foam and edges of the hook and loop faces.

Dave R.

 

[imaginarynumber]

My pads on all of my sanders last years- that is until some heavy handed oaf uses them and applies too much pressure- thereby wearing down the "velcro"