ETS 150/ 5 sander has torn two sanding pads on the first day?

[benwahl68]

Hello to FOG,
I just bought some festool tools used. When I ran the sander for the first time about 5min. of sanding(it was running great) the thing started to vibrate and looking closer I noticed the pad had separated from the hard black plastic backer. I called the guy I bought it from and he was great-brought me a new pad to replace it. I ran it for about 15min. and bam it tore off completely. These are the softer pads(like dense foam). I am now wondering if I'm doing something wrong? I don't think I was being to hard on the sander. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ear3]

Hmmm...that's very strange.  Maybe someone can chime in to whom this has happened.  But let me ask -- what were you sanding?

 

[semenza]

Hello to FOG,
I just bought some festool tools used. When I ran the sander for the first time about 5min. of sanding(it was running great) the thing started to vibrate and looking closer I noticed the pad had separated from the hard black plastic backer. I called the guy I bought it from and he was great-brought me a new pad to replace it. I ran it for about 15min. and bam it tore off completely. These are the softer pads(like dense foam). I am now wondering if I'm doing something wrong? I don't think I was being to hard on the sander. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi,

  Welcome to the forum!

      Could you post a picture?  Do you know how old the pads are?

Seth

 

[benwahl68]

The first time I was sanding small cutting boards- not end grain. I was sanding the edges but no sharp corners. The second time I was sanding a walnut box with dovetail ends. The second time it was all on the flats. I'm wondering if the pads had gotten old from sitting around. The guy I bought it from had lots of tools and these had not seen much use. The sander was running great so I'm kinda baffled.

 

[benwahl68]

Hello Seth,
Thanks! I should have taken some pictures. The man I bought the sander from took the old pad when he gave me the new one(new to me). It was torn away from the black backer and the foam fit back together so well I decided to glue it. It's at the shop drying now. If it tears again I will take a picture for sure. I'm going to order a new hard pad and hope for the best.

 

[leakyroof]

Hello Seth,
Thanks! I should have taken some pictures. The man I bought the sander from took the old pad when he gave me the new one(new to me). It was torn away from the black backer and the foam fit back together so well I decided to glue it. It's at the shop drying now. If it tears again I will take a picture for sure. I'm going to order a new hard pad and hope for the best.

. There is an age limit to the pads.  You May have been unlucky enough to have have experienced it first hand.... [embarassed]

 

[montyss]

if your using just the very outer edge of the pad when your sanding it may separate the pad . see if you can keep the pad as flat as you can getting more of the sandpaper in contact with the surface .

 

[Bob Wolfe]

A best before date on the pads, you got be kidding!!!!!  Where on the manual does it say that??
BW

 

[AlexThePalex]

It happened with others. Sometimes the foam of the pads degrades over time (years). It is best to get a new pad from the store.

Glueing the broken pad wil probably not work, the foam is still too brittle and will tear again.

Nobody here knows really why this happens. I have two pads that are already 8 years old and there's not a problem with it. Other people have mentioned here that a brand new pad they got from the store broke just like this. Maybe sometime they made a batch where the mixture of ingredients isn't exactly right?

 

[leakyroof]

A best before date on the pads, you got be kidding!!!!!  Where on the manual does it say that??
BW

  More of an issue with the pads for the LS130- they ARE known for quietly falling to pieces while sitting in your systainer.  They change color, so you do have a bit of a visible cue that decay is underway.

 

[benwahl68]

Thanks for all the responses,
I ordered a new pad from Amazon last night. I hope that fixes the problem. I had heard nothing but good things about the sanders. I hope it will hold up to heavy use once I get the new pad. You always take risk when you buy used.

 

[Gregor]

If you're using a soft pad it's imho best to not apply that much pressure, in the meaning of not compressing the pad to a thin flat piece.

 

[pingvinlakrits]

Softer pads requires careful edge sanding and as posted in this thread: better to center the pad than using the outskirts of the pad.
Harder pads lasts longer in my experience. I have the ETS EC 150/5 so I don't think those pads have been around long enough to degrade yet. I use "pad savers" for some projects where I anticipate more wear or risk of tearing papers and pads.  Last project was sanding down 96 doors, both sides, two to three times...  By the end of the project _I_ was literally ground down.  [crying]  [big grin]

 

[Joe Jensen]

I had a pad separate on an ETS, but that sander was maybe 8 years old on the original pad.  The foam disintegrated.

 

[NVA_WW]

I had the same issue happen to my soft pad on my ETS 150/5 two weekends ago.  It's the original pad that came with my sander which I purchased in 2009.  The 150 is my most used sander, so the pad had seen a lot of use.  I also own a hard pad and I'm sure it will fall apart some time this year.

 

[grbmds]

Not exactly the same subject, but is there some reason you are using the soft pad? I believe that Festool sells a hard pad and medium pad for the 150 sanders. Given you were sanding dovetails. cutting boards, and flat surfaces, I would use the hard pad for these jobs. Flat surfaces stay flatter with the hard pad. I don't even own a soft pad (only the pad the 150/5 came with and a hard pad). I haven't found anything that I would use a soft pad for at this point. If I were to need to sand curved surfaces I would like use the interface foam pad which is really soft.