My Rotex 150 is SUPER HOT!!

[Zonial]

Hi Festool family! This is my first summer with my newer model Rotex 150. That being said, I live in AZ where I'm currently at 114 degrees. During my build today, I started sanding my project and working through the grits as normal. Started with 80 granite and worked to 120. After only 6 boards of walnut that measure 8"x8"x6" and roughly 20-25 minutes of sanding, my rotex was HOT!!!

The best way to describe my experience:
On a hot summer day, lay your hand flat on concrete. You know that you can only keep it there maybe 5 seconds.
On winter, when you place your hand in front of the portable heater. That's how hot the air was coming out the vents.

I literally could not hold the sander from the handle. I had to hold it from the very top and the dust extractor hose.

I had to stop, check my paper, pad and even removed the (brand new) hard pad. Everything looked good. Tried to raise the ct26 power to maybe, maybe cool it down but nothing. Still hot. Very hot.

What the hell am I doing wrong? By the way, this was all on random orbital mode, new paper, and new pad.

 

[peter halle]

As a born and raised kid in AZ I can't even begin to understand your recent temps.  The tool will generate heat above your scorching ambit temps.

You have the options of returning if under the return policy or talking to Festool (best way is by phone and the number is on your tool) to see if something is wrong.

Stay cooler!

Peter

 

[ear3]

My experience is that the R) 150 can get pretty hot around the motor at times.  I would put it near the threshold of uncomfortable, such that I will occasionally 2move my hands a bit down the body, but it's never gotten burning hot.  As Peter mentioned, though, the AZ climate may be exacerbating what you're experiencing.

 

[squall_line]

As the others have said, something to keep in mind is that the tool will never be cooler than the ambient air, it's just not possible in our current understanding of physics.  And because of that, if your workshop is 100 degrees, the tool itself will be 100 degrees, which isn't very comfortable to hold to begin with.

It's somewhat like riding a motorcycle across the desert - you don't want to have any exposed skin or even to have ventilated riding gear.  The ambient temps over 98 degrees will raise your body temperature if you allow the hot air to blast across your skin constantly, and the "dry heat" will also dehydrate your body.

If a Rotex naturally runs warm, running it in >100 F temps certainly won't make it any cooler.  Are you running in those temps, or is that "just" the temperature outside?

According to the manual it will shut off if it reaches a critical temperature, but that temperature may be beyond the threshold of your personal comfort.

 

[Bohdan]

Just another point.

If you are pressing down on the sander it will use more power to keep up the revs. This will make it run hotter than just guiding it and letting it do all the work.

 

[AlexThePalex]

There is nothing wrong with the sander, though a brand new RO150 generates more heat than when it's run in.

But the sander will generate heat and that's not a problem when you have normal room temperatures, but when it's 114 outside the sander's heat got no place to go.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

There is nothing wrong with the sander, though a brand new RO150 generates more heat than when it's run in.

I seem to remember a my RO90 getting a bit warm when it was new, but as it broke in and loosened up some, it didn't run so warm.
I haven't really experienced that with the RO125 though? It never felt like that in the first place.