RO 150 FEQ Gets really hot

[HowardH]

I was doing some sanding lately and noticed the housing around the motor is getting very hot to the touch after only a few minutes.  It happens in either mode.  What's up with that?  ??? I wouldn't think it should do that.  I don't want to burn it up but that's what the 3 year warranty is for I suppose.  It's hot enough to make me move my hand away from that area. 

 

[Brice Burrell]

Howard, first the RO sanders do get warm during use, that's normal. Since you are saying your sander is too hot to comfortably hold you aren't talking about it being warm. I suspect your sander might be new?

If so what could be the issue is arcing from new universal motor causing the sander to heat up. Festool's sanders use universal motors and these motors need to break-in. During the break-in process the brushes wear to form a perfect fit (seating) to the armature of the motor. Before they seat themselves you could experience some arcing. The break-in process takes about 6-8 hours of use. If your sander has more than 8 hours of use you could be having a different problem. As always my advice is to call Festool. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Guys most questions can be answered by using the search, I know this type of issue has been covered before.

 

[webfarmer]

Great info.  My new Rotex gets too hot to handle as well.  It definitely has less than 8 hours.

 

[HowardH]

I spoke to David at Festool this morning about my issue with the handle really heating up. FWIW, he said it was because it is a 1 HP motor and it simply gets hot under load, it was perfectly normal. He did tell me that they developed a new handle that attaches to the front that they will send free of charge if you ask. It will keep your hand off the housing when you are applying quite a bit of force. It's not in the catalogue yet so if interested, give them a call.

 

[Forrest Anderson]

I spoke to David at Festool this morning about my issue with the handle really heating up. FWIW, he said it was because it is a 1 HP motor and it simply gets hot under load, it was perfectly normal. He did tell me that they developed a new handle that attaches to the front that they will send free of charge if you ask. It will keep your hand off the housing when you are applying quite a bit of force. It's not in the catalogue yet so if interested, give them a call.

Free?     That's a good deal - over here the handle costs the equivalent of US$25!  For your interest, here is a thread I started in April about it, which gives some photos and the part number.

Forrest

 

[John Langevin]

I spoke to David at Festool this morning about my issue with the handle really heating up. FWIW, he said it was because it is a 1 HP motor and it simply gets hot under load, it was perfectly normal. He did tell me that they developed a new handle that attaches to the front that they will send free of charge if you ask. It will keep your hand off the housing when you are applying quite a bit of force. It's not in the catalogue yet so if interested, give them a call.

Howard I am a little skeptical of David's answer. If that were indeed the case, I think we would have gotten a lot of negative feedback on this here in the forum. I have had my RO150 (Old version) for four years now and it does not get hot at all; just slightly very warrm.

Have any of our dealers out there gotten any/many complaints on this?

 

[HowardH]

I don't have 8 hours of use yet on the sander after 2 years.  I only use it for 10 minutes at a time on weekends or something.  It should be getting pretty close to the 8 hour mark so I'll be checking to see if it cools down a bit. 

 

[Bill Wyko]

I don't have 8 hours of use yet on the sander after 2 years.  I only use it for 10 minutes at a time on weekends or something.  It should be getting pretty close to the 8 hour mark so I'll be checking to see if it cools down a bit. 

Goes to show it gets the job done fast I guess. ;D

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I recently used my RO 125 for nearly 2 hours with few stops as I surfaced several thin boards I had resawn on my bandsaw and ran through my nicked planer knives.  I did not experience any significant heating up of the housing.  I did experience fatigue of my wrists, though!

Dave R.

 

[Aspiring FT Owner]

Brice,

Thanks for your insight.

Several months ago I returned my RO150 due to this issue and got a replacement thinking it was a defective unit.  The new one has gotten better the longer it's been used.  I know I have near the 8-10 hours by now on the replacement unit.

The same thing was happening to my Deltex as well, I loaned it to several other crew members on a job recently.  They all mentioned that it got quite hot, much hotter than the B&D detail sander we were also using.  Probably after another few jobs that will settle down as well.

HowardH just wait for the break in time to pass, then see if it's still as hot.

Hope that helps 

 

[HowardH]

I'll just have to think up more projects to test it out!  :  Went out to a local hardwood dealer this weekend and some 8/4 maple and purple heart so that should give it, and me, a workout.