Question about longevity of Festool sanding pads

[jcrowe1950]

Hi Folks,

    I have a customer who came in last week complaining that the velcro on the sanding pad on an ETS EC 125 wore out in two months. I think the problem may be that the user is putting too much pressure on the pad thus heating it up and destroying the velcro hooks...does this sound right? I wish I could train all of my customers about how counterproductive it is to put tons of pressure on the sander when sanding but that's a hard habit to overcome....

    Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

[mrboult]

I’ve had two rotex 125s that I beat like hell over many years. Regularly putting huge weight into the pad in geared mode for super fast removal. The kind of weight that would stop any normal RO in its tracks. Neither pad has given up yet, both still hold paper wonderfully.

My 2nd hand ETS EC 125 also has a rather old pad on it, that Im also inclined to lean on somewhat and that is still gripping paper like new.

So my experience with festool pads is top notch reliability and durability. I’ve not really used the sander you refer to though.

I know I should not lean on pads, but sometimes I’m impatient and when you’re in the 60-80 grit sanding range it’s not really affecting the final finish if you start a more proper approach once you’ve done the bulk of removal and then work properly through the grits.

So I’m surprised any festool pad gave out in two months. Sounds more like someone used it without paper on. . It’ll sand great like that for about 30 seconds then your Velcro is melted flat.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

Hi Folks,

    I have a customer who came in last week complaining that the velcro on the sanding pad on an ETS EC 125 wore out in two months. I think the problem may be that the user is putting too much pressure on the pad thus heating it up and destroying the velcro hooks...does this sound right? I wish I could train all of my customers about how counterproductive it is to put tons of pressure on the sander when sanding but that's a hard habit to overcome....

    Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Some follow-up questions to ask the customer are:
-- Are they using dust extraction?
-- Are they using a net- style abrasive? If "Yes", are they using an interface pad (203344) , or just applying the net pad directly to the sander hook and loop? It is my understanding that net- style abrasives are really hard on the hook-and-loop, and require the use of these sacrificial pads.

Just some thoughts....

 

[squall_line]

Is the customer using abrasive net instead of stickfix paper?  There's supposed to be an interface pad to allow for that to keep it from ruining the hooks.

I wonder if they're using a hard pad where they should be using a soft pad (contoured surfaces or breaking corners)?

And of course, too high of suction can mimic high applied pressure if the client claims to be using a "soft touch".

 

[rvieceli]

I'm by no means an expert, but from my experience, the hooks on any brand of sander pad get screwed up by usually one of two things or both.

1. Using the sander without any abrasive on the pad. Don't ask, but we've ail probably done it  [eek] Catch that situation immediately and not much harm done. Keep it up and the pad is toast.

2. Using a net abrasive without an interface pad. The hooks protrude through the net and the same thing happens.

Ron

 

[Michael Kellough]

He probably abused the pad. I ruined the Velcro hooks on my ETS 125 by beveling the ends of a bunch of dowels. Too much heat was produced in a very small area. But I’ve never ruined the pad using the sander the right way.

 

[CeeJay]

I killed a pad on my Rotex by not realising the paper had come off and sanding half a table with the Velcro before I realised......

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chrisrosenb]

I have 2 ETS EC 125 sanders. Both purchased at the same time a few years ago. The hooks on both original pads failed within a few months. The pads were not abused & used with hook & loop paper. The replacement pads have held up fine.

 

[jcrowe1950]

He probably abused the pad. I ruined the Velcro hooks on my ETS 125 by beveling the ends of a bunch of dowels. Too much heat was produced in a very small area. But I’ve never ruined the pad using the sander the right way.

Ding, ding, ding....you win the prize......I did ask about net and protection pads and the guy that works for the customer and also is a fellow employee at Woodcraft related that they were grinding down oak dowel ends....I'll tell them to employ a flush cut saw followed by the sander on the resulting flat surface. I think also that the actual interface pad (10mm thick sponge) might help though that's not its intended use.

 

[Steve1]

I got an ETS EC 125 EQ maybe a year and a half ago.    I am just a DIYer and it doesn't get a heck of a lot of use. 

Past couple of months, I have noticed the sandpaper disc moving around a little.  I think the velcro connection is starting to degrade.  I use the original pad, and mostly 150 paper.  Pretty sure I am NOT putting too much pressure on it, but have to admit I try to get the maximum out of each sheet of paper before replacing it. I always use vacuum.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Not an accusation but I imagine very long sanding sessions with higher that necessary vacuum pressure producing more heat would degrade also degrade the Velcro hooks.

 

[mrboult]

Def seems like this sander has at least a batch or more with pads inferior to the usual festool quality. Given my comments above I’m astonished that the pads on a way less powerful machine would give up so easily. But it seems they can/do.

Unless all these examples are using net abrasive in an aggressive manner without a backing pad saver thingy, I have to assume there’sa bunch of crappy pads out there on these machines. Cos as. Said before, this isn’t even close to my experience with festool pads. I’ve used my rotex to shorten/finish lots of 10mm titanium tube to length. Lots of pressure, no damage.

 

[Df1k1]

I’m just a hobbyist so I definitely don’t use my ETS 150 as much as many do but after about 5 years the pad sort of came apart while I was using it. I brought this up on the forum and had a few people mention that it wasn’t unheard of. Sander never left air conditioned shop so heat wasn’t an issue.  Weird, but I guess it’s not designed to last forever
Still love it though

 

[mino]

Def seems like this sander has at least a batch or more with pads inferior to the usual festool quality. Given my comments above I’m astonished that the pads on a way less powerful machine would give up so easily. But it seems they can/do.

Unless all these examples are using net abrasive in an aggressive manner without a backing pad saver thingy, I have to assume there’sa bunch of crappy pads out there on these machines. Cos as. Said before, this isn’t even close to my experience with festool pads. I’ve used my rotex to shorten/finish lots of 10mm titanium tube to length. Lots of pressure, no damage.

Rotex (in rotex mode) would not heat up the pad locally like an ETS EC could.