Rotex 150 getting very hot...

[Steve-Rice]

I just took delivery of a Rotex 150 yesterday and was anxious to try it out.  After just a few minutes of sanding with 40 grit granat in rotex mode on speed setting 6, I noticed the sander getting very hot around the motor housing. Is this normal?

 

[bobfog]

I just took delivery of a Rotex 150 yesterday and was anxious to try it out.  After just a few minutes of sanding with 40 grit granat in rotex mode on speed setting 6, I noticed the sander getting very hot around the motor housing. Is this normal?

I don't have the 150, but I have the RO90 and it also gets quite hot, quite quickly.

 

[Shane Holland]

Steve, it can get warm, especially in Rotex mode.

 

[leakyroof]

Some of that heat might from the stock pad versus using the Hard Pad for aggressive sanding with a coarser grit. I actually killed the regular pad in a small floor sanding job from heat breakdown. Switched to the Hard Pad and all is well

 

[PreferrablyWood]

Maybe slow it down a tad, when sanding in rotex mode with coarse sandpapir at the highest speed you putting the tool in its' absolute maximum stress level, and it might be questionable if it's that much more effective, The sandpapir will get clogged faster the surface you working gets hot too if it's new wood the sap will get extra sticky if it's paint it can melt rather than sand..

 

[imaginarynumber]

I just took delivery of a Rotex 150 yesterday and was anxious to try it out.  After just a few minutes of sanding with 40 grit granat in rotex mode on speed setting 6, I noticed the sander getting very hot around the motor housing. Is this normal?

My Rotex 150 runs hot, and like you I asked about it in this forum. It ran much hotter than my previous RO150.

That was about 4 years ago.

It is still working perfectly.

 

[aloysius]

Hot where?  The pad:  abrasive friction.  The gears:  bearing and/or geartrain friction.  The air cooling exhaust:  high armature current.  How hot?  Warm to the touch:  slow it down for the first hour or so.  Too hot to hold:  stop & take it in for evaluation.

It's a (relatively) precision tool, mnfr'd. to fairly close tolerances, that will experience higher initial friction, wear and heat generation as the various paired surfaces "bed in" to each other.

A new direct/gear driven sander like the Rotex and its competitors may take several hours to bed in properly.

 

[mkasdin]

I would agree that the tool needs to break in and then it should not get so hot, you are asking the most out of the machine in direct drive mode. As the above posters mentioned. Also if your applying pressure onto the work surface this could contribute to the heat build up from within the RO-159.

 

[nickao]

I have several Rotex 150. They get hot. I if I run one for 4 or 5 hours I put gloves on. No issues at all ever with them getting very hot damaging the sander in any way. My oldest unit is 8 years old and it's still going strong. I wouldn't worry about them getting hot, it's just not an issue as far as ruining the sander or it being broken.

Anyone that does massive, tough, sanding for long periods, knows these sanders get hot, very hot!

This breaking in thing, my sanders get as hot now as they ever did, not so sure what people mean breaking in. I have a brand new rotex next to my 8 year old unit. It may be I am the most lucky person in the world, but If I close my eyes and use them I cant tell the difference in their performance.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I was using my 8 year old Rotex 150 today for two straight hours and this thread came to my mind, so I paid some attention to the temperature of the sander, but I noticed it didn't get hot at all. It was not that warm outside, only 18 degrees celsius, so maybe that had some influence. But I remembered when I just had the sander it used to get very hot.

 

[imaginarynumber]

I was using my 8 year old Rotex 150 today for two straight hours and this thread came to my mind, so I paid some attention to the temperature of the sander, but I noticed it didn't get hot at all. It was not that warm outside, only 18 degrees celsius, so maybe that had some influence. But I remembered when I just had the sander it used to get very hot.

IIRC the brushes are towards the pad/gearing end of the Rotes 150, which is where mine used to get hot.

Mine is no where near as hot as it was when I first got it, that said it is the only Festool that i have owned that (out of the box) seemed to run noticeably hot.

 

[andyman]

Used mine for a couple of hours today no heat build up worked from 100 up to 360 grit