ETS EC 150/3 Hard to Control

[MA5TER5]

Ever since acquiring the ETS EC 150/3, I've found it hard to control. In my searching to troubleshoot:

• Turned the MIDI down to the lowest setting
• Supported hose and power cable
• Played with speed of the sander
• Tried different abrasives (Festool and 3M)
• Briefly used the sander without any dust extractor

No performance improvement. Some suggest you have to let the sander break in (I haven't spent enough time using to know for sure). I was thinking all this was just in my head. But recently I used a Mirka sander and Fein extractor at a community shop, both were well used but it handled like a dream.

What am I missing?

 

[WastedP]

I don't think the sanders need to be broken in, especially a brushless sander.

My guess is that the hardness of the pad isn't lining up with the hardness of the material.  A softer pad will conform to the material and, in my experience, cause less bucking.  But for sanding flat surfaces on soft woods, like cedar, I have levelled the material out with the Rotex on my lowest grit, then switched to the ETS EC with the next grit and a hard pad.

Lower grits are going to get more traction and be harder to control, but the ETC EC is generally a really smooth machine that's enjoyable to use for finish sanding.  It's not as great at material removal as other tools.

 

[MA5TER5]

I was skeptical of breaking in. Most recently I've been using 220 on plywood, and am scratching my head why comparatively the community Mirka I used was so much better. I'll look into trying a different pad.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Either exchange it for another or return it and get the ETS 150/3, the smoothest sander I've ever used.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Something seems wrong? I looks like you have tried the normal suggestions, so I would take it back to the original seller. They may have someone who can check it out or even test it. They can advise you and get this resolved.

 

[Mortiser]

I'm with [member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] . Something's wrong. Mine has been silky smooth since the day I got it. If it was a Rotex, there would be some suggestions. But in the case of the ETS EC, take it back and use another in the store or send it back to Festool.

 

[mrboult]

Yes, i agree with the last two posts. Something is wrong. I have the festool and the Mirka, and the festool might be smoother out of the two.

You’ve tried all the standard suggestions, and your experience/happiness with the mirka shows you’re not expecting or complaining about something unreasonable for the product.

Take it back to where you got it.

 

[Toolpig]

Mine is perfect. Send to Festool for repair or replacement.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MA5TER5]

Thanks all for the feedback.

Following up: I purchased the tool on Recon. After reading the feedback, I visited a local dealer where I demoed their unit and felt what a properly function sander was like. I sent the sander in for repair, it passed all the diagnostics and was returned to me with a note that the pad was installed incorrectly  : I tried it and to my dismay, same terrible performance. That same day, I took it to the local dealer where we tested it against their demo model, same wood, same extractor, same paper etc. Two employees both agreed the sander wasn't right. Sent it back to Festool again, this time with a more detailed description and the verification I received from two dealer employees of the poor performance. After they received it, got a call that they were just going to send me a different unit. Sure enough, brand new sander was sent to me. A long process but I do give them credit for taking care of me  [smile]. Does make me question what their "diagnostics" look like? Everything seemed fine, until you actually put it on wood.

FWIW, between that call and receiving my new sander, I saw one pop up on recon [scratch chin]