Nuked my good friend the rotex

[woodtradesman]

This might be too much for some to see so if you can't stand to watch the shattered pieces of a former beast of a tool please look away.  :'(

Well, my old style rotex isn't as indestructible as I though it was. I manage to mangle it pretty bad. I was so bummed out about it I didn't even want to look at my b0rken rotex till friday when I decided to visit my broken friend

Rewind to last tuesday, I was on a 4' latter sanding exterior trim with the rotex about 8' feet off the ground on forced rotation mode when I hit a corner (reveal on trim and jamb). the force of the spinning rotex sanding pad against the corner snapped the rotex of my hand and propelled it directly toward the concrete bellow. the result; b0rken rotex! and to add insult to injury as I was climbing off the latter I could clearly hear a crackling sound coming from the inside of the rotex. As soon as I set foot on the ground I went to pull the cord of the power. Upon close inspection it was clear the two thing had happened: First the motor housing had broken in two from its weakest point, And two, as the rear cap (butt) of the rotex became lose so did a wire that touched off something in the magnetic field assembly and fried it, my heart sank.

I have already determined which parts I will need to reconstruct my rotex but I will be hesitant to use my rotex off the ground again as it just isn't designed to withstand a backwards fall.

 

[Eli]

That's a drag.  :-\

If you can bear it, please post and let us know how much that costs to fix.

 

[Steveo48]

How old is the rotex?  Possibly time to replace it (with a new warranty too)?  It could go something like this....

(Awww darn ) HONEY, I HAVE TO GO REPLACE THIS OLD BROKEN TOOL...  ;D

Also, consider tying your tools off, it might save something on the ground too, like somebodys noggin! 

Steve

 

[Loren Hedahl]

At least it didn't take you down with it!

 

[woodtradesman]

Eli, So far it looks like I can make do with a new magnetic field assembly, a new motor housing and two sets of new screws for a total of about $110 plus tax and shipping.

Steve, After carefully observing the inner workings of my broken rotex it is obvious it wasn't designed with obsolescence in mind so I seriously doubt I'll replace it with the new version, of course I might be slightly biased because also having a broken wallet is a great motivator to make do with what you have.

  About the strapping thing;  I'd be hesitant to strap anything to myself that spins with brute force.