Flaking Finish Inside Sander's Dust Extraction Port

[pws]

Good News — I bought my first Festool sander this week, a brand new ETS 150/3! What a sweetie to use. Being just a hobbyist, I thought long and hard about Rotex vs no-Rotex, 6" vs 5", and was finally able to make a happy choice mainly owing to the wealth of diverse and well-articulated sander opinions on this forum (plus a good hour at my dealer sanding wood). Thanks everyone!

[sad] Bad News — After about 8 hours of sanding spread out over 2 days, I noticed the silver powder-coating on the (metal?) ETS base is flaking off inside the dust extraction port (see photos below). and continues to further flake off if I touch it. Has anyone else experienced this? The ports on my TS55 and OF 1010 (same material/finish apparently) don't have this problem.

I've been sanding unfinished white oak with Rubin 2, 50/80 grits (a little more aggressive use than my expected regular use but seems well within the capacity of this sander). The metal sander base has gotten a little warm at times but that seemed normal to me.

Thanks.

 

[jonny round boy]

My ETS150/3 is a few years old now (can't remember exactly) but it did the same when new. It's not gotten any worse since.

I really wouldn't worry about it.

Jonathan

 

[semenza]

My ETS150 is like that too. Never looked closely enough to notice that it was the paint coming off. I just thought it was dust on the surface. I have been using it for years and it has not gotten any worse or migrated to the exterior surface. Interestingly the wear on mine is in the same place. Must be an air flow pattern at work. Probably just "sanded" off by the dust and abrasive particles moving through at high velocity.

As Jonny said I don't think it is anything to worry about.

Seth

 

[AlexThePalex]

Tools are mostly painted with a powder coating, meaning the paint is sprayed on as an electrostatically charged powder and then heated so it melts into a uniform layer. This type of paint becomes very hard and highly scratch resistant. Since heat has to be applied I guess it is a bit more difficult to evenly heat up the tool part on the inside, resulting in a lesser adhesion. Should have no influence on the paint on the outside.