RO 150 - 1-1/2 years old, occasional use - Fine mode stopped working??

[PaverMan]

I purchased my RO 150 from my local Woodcraft about a year and a half ago.  It was my FIRST Festool purchase, purchased with a CT26 package.

The sander's been great until yesterday.  I was doing some LIGHT drywall compound sanding while I refinished my stairway going to the basement.  The first setting (the finest) will no longer make the sanding pad spin.  The more aggressive setting works fine. This is sooooooo disappointing and frustrating.  After paying almost $500 for a sander, I thought I had something that would last forever (much like a lot of my other LESS expensive tools have).

I've tried switching the mode a few times, turning it on and off, checking that the pad is properly attached, etc.  Nothing has worked.  I searched the forum to see if I could find another member who had a similar problem but noticed that you can't search the forums by choosing the specific category - seems strange to me that this isn't an option.

Anywho - someone please advise.  I have my basement torn apart to move everything out of the way and the wife is going ballistic because we can't easily go up and down the stairs until this project is complete.

 

[Brice Burrell]

One of my frustrations with the Rotex, and other Festool random orbit sanders, is that it is too easy to stop the rotation of the pad in normal use.  On perfectly flat surfaces the sanders rotational spinning works fine, on narrow or uneven surfaces is where you can stop the rotation of the pad inadvertently.  This leaves you with a heavy and very expensive orbital sander.  Because of this I almost never use my Rotex (RO125) in random orbit mode. 

I'd suggest you try a light touch with the sander with very little or no downward pressure and see if the pad rotates properly.  If not I'd say give Festool a call.

 

[PaverMan]

Brice,

Thanks for the reply.  This is not a "stop rotating under force" situation as you described.  This is a "doesn't rotate at all even when the sander isn't being used, it's just turned upside down and started.  The pad literally just spins effortlessly in random orbit mode with NO friction whatsoever.

I believe the gears are no longer engaging in this mode - I probably should have been more thorough in my explanation in my original post. 

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

I would call Festool.  Your sander is still under warranty.  Once you deal with Festool Service you will be amazed with the customer service!!! 

 

[TylerC]

[member=30395]PaverMan[/member] First off, I apologize for your headache on this, and I understand your frustration.

Give a call to our service team at 1-888-337-8600. Based on what you've said, your sander should still be under warranty. We want to get you back up and running as quickly as possible.

If you have additional trouble while getting this handled, please let me know.

 

[Tayler_mann]

Read in the manual I beleiev there is a part to ha he every so often on the sander. It is stated in your rotex's manual with part number. I do not have a manual or the time to undergo looking online but I thinknit even states hat the eccentric mode will not work when it get worn. Just a thought to look at before making a service ticket.

 

[TomE]

While you're waiting for Festool to solve your problem might consider getting a manual sanding pad with vacuum attachment available at most any big box store and use one to make your wife happy.

Shouldn't need a beast like a RO 150 to sand drywall anyway.