ETS 125 EQ not working right

[yellowtruck75]

My ETS 175 EQ has been making a high pitch squeel for a few weeks and didn't seem to be rotating right.  Tonight I went to use it and it won't even rotate when it is placed on the wood.  I have had this sander for only 6 months.  How do I go about getting it replaced with my waranty?  Do I return it to my dealer?

 

[peter halle]

Sorry to hear about you tool issue.  I assume that ETS 175 is meant to be ETS 125?  The best thing to do is call Festool tomorrow at the phone number that is on the label installed on your tool.  They will handle the service from there.

Peter

 

[yellowtruck75]

Yeah meant 125
[big grin]
Thanks

 

[mouppe]

This does not sound right at all. I would remove the pad, clean it and replace it. Maybe pass the dust extractor hose over the bottom with the pad removed. Then see if it works. If not, send it to Festool.

Could you keep the forum informed with what the problem is and how it was eventually fixed? It could be useful info for the future.

Thanks and good luck.

 

[yellowtruck75]

I took the pad off and found that there was a bit of Padauk dust caked up inside but even after cleaning it didn't change.  Seems like sander needs to ramp up before working.  This issue wasn't around when it was new.

Any idea on how long it takes for repairs?  Its going to hurt to not have my sander for a few weeks.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

It will spend more time in shipping than in our repair center. Once we receive a tool, usually 24-48 hour turnaround.

Probably 2 day shipping to us from your location, one day repair, 2 days back. So, estimate 5 working days.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

They are quick like 10,000 bunny rabbits.

 

[rmwarren]

I recently purchased the same sander and I am not sure it is working right. This may end up being a silly question but here goes...

I have other (Porter Cable) random orbital sanders, when I turn them on the pad spins at high speed, when I shut it off it coasts for a fair bit before stopping. The new Festool ETS 125 does not seem to spin other than a minor amount, I can stop it with my gloved finger. I just looked at the specs and it is rated in "opm" rather than "rpm", I assume this is "orbits" per minute.

The sander does sand albeit rather slowly in my opinion, it can take about a minute to remove a tablesaw burn mark from 4/4 poplar with 80g.

My question: is this sander supposed to actually spin at high speed or it the sanding all accomplished by the 2mm orbital stroke?

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

The ETS 125 is a finish sander. It has a small stroke and is not designed for fast material removal. It incorporates a pad brake which will prevent the pad from spinning at high speed.

 

[Jay Brewer]

I recently purchased the same sander and I am not sure it is working right. This may end up being a silly question but here goes...

I have other (Porter Cable) random orbital sanders, when I turn them on the pad spins at high speed, when I shut it off it coasts for a fair bit before stopping. The new Festool ETS 125 does not seem to spin other than a minor amount, I can stop it with my gloved finger. I just looked at the specs and it is rated in "opm" rather than "rpm", I assume this is "orbits" per minute.

The sander does sand albeit rather slowly in my opinion, it can take about a minute to remove a tablesaw burn mark from 4/4 poplar with 80g.

My question: is this sander supposed to actually spin at high speed or it the sanding all accomplished by the 2mm orbital stroke?

I had the same problem with a new one about a month ago. A couple of people on here told me to clamp the sander upside down on a bench and let it run for a couple of hours. It has worked fine since. It seems the sander needs more break in time then the other sanders I have used.

 

[rmwarren]

Thanks for the responses. To clarify - is the sanding disk supposed to rotate to remove stock or is the 2mm stroke the primary action? For all practical purposes this sander does not seem to rotate/spin.

Thanks again.

 

[rmwarren]

Thanks for the responses. To clarify - is the sanding disk supposed to rotate to remove stock or is the 2mm stroke the primary action? For all practical purposes this sander does not seem to rotate/spin.

Thanks again.

Ahh - I think I found my own answer in the Rotex literature: "The rotary orbital motion is a combination of two movement patterns: The pad both rotates and has an eccentric/orbital pattern at the same time. The aggressiveness results from the fact, that the pad is gear-driven and forced to spin as opposed to the random orbital motion where the pad spins due to centripetal forces"

The ETS being "random orbital" only. Looks like I need to read the descriptions a bit better.

 

[AlexThePalex]

rmwarren, the ETS both rotates and vibrates from side to side, the random eccentric orbital movement. This is standard with all sanders with a round pad. If yours is just new, wait with your judgement till you've properly broken in your sander, and that needs about 8 hours of run time. After the break-in period, it has almost twice the power than when it's brand new and unused. The brushes need to wear a bit so that they'll make optimal contact with the electric contacts on the anchor of the motor.

The fact remains the ETS is not a powerful sander, but it's meant to be that way and if you use it correctly you'll still get a very good use out of it. I have it and I use it very much.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Rmwarren, I'll add my comments here, they will touch on what Shane, Jay and Alex posted.  First, Shane mentioned that the ETS125 is a finish sander, meaning it's not going to be aggressive sander so you'll find that its not going to remove material as fast as some other sanders you may be used to.  Now to address your specific questions.  I think you and most people already understand how this works so bear with here.  Random orbit sanders both orbit and the pad rotates or spins.  The main sanding action is the orbit and the ETS125 has a fairly small orbit/stroke.  The pad spinning disperses or stretches out the scratch pattern, making it random.  So the pad doesn't necessarily need to spin fast for a random orbit sander to work.

And now I'm getting to Jay's comments about breaking the sander in.  While the sander is breaking in a few important things are happening, one of these things are brushes seating or wearing in to perfectly contact the armature.  Until the brushes seat the sander may not be operating at full power (sometimes as little as half power).  Also the pad is breaking in.  Remember Shane talked about the pad brake.  Again, until the pad brake is broken in you aren't getting the best performance as in the brake is slowing the pad a little more than it needs to.

So, you and anyone else that might be having trouble with a new Festool sander should understand that the sander will perform better after its been broken it (about 6-8 hours of use).  This is especially true of the smaller sanders like the ETS124, DTS 400 and RTS 400.  With the above said I'd strongly recommend calling Festool's service department if you are having trouble with any of your Festools.  They are very help bunch there.  Good luck and please let us know how it works out.      

 

[junk731]

You could also just have a dud. I got one because I have the RO125, first use the thing just wouldn't work right, had a look and the pad wasn't straight, found one of the 4 mounting screws loose and the hole stripped,sent it to Festool repair Canada. Unit came back fixed and I really tried to like and make this unit work. Used it for about 25 hrs and it worked reasonably with certain paper only at high speed but never good. I only wanted it for a finish sander. Talked to our Canadian rep and he suggested sending it back for adjustment, I did this and the sander still didn't perform. To qualify this I use my Festool sanders every day in my cabinet work and gave this sander a fair shot like many others, I was able to get an exchange and got the DTS400 which is working great. The ETS125 unit in my opinion is a very borderline sander with some getting a good unit and some not, if you want a truly great sander get the ETS150.

John

 

[Brice Burrell]

You could also just have a dud.......

....The ETS125 unit in my opinion is a very borderline sander with some getting a good unit and some not, if you want a truly great sander get the ETS150.

John

John, I think it's more of a matter of perception than a large number of bad sanders.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there is the occasional bum sander out there.  However, I think some people don't believe the sander is working up to snuff because they aren't using it for its intended purpose, they've got bad technique or the sander just doesn't meet their exceptions (I'm not saying that you are one of these people).   

 

[rmwarren]

Thanks for all the feedback. I probably only have 2 hours use on it so far so the break-in must be nowhere near complete. I have a load of maple waiting to be sanded so that should be corrected soon.

Thanks again.