RS400- help needed

[imaginarynumber]

Hi all

I was using my RS400 sander today and thought that it seemed to be "pulsing" slightly, ie running very slightly slow and then faster again. Eventually the speed dropped massively and the lower half of the motor housing became noticeably warm and slightly smelly..

I thought that it might be the brushes so I removed the top and took the brushes out to see if they were nearing the pop out insert. They seemed to be fine.

I then thought that it might be the good awful plug-it playing up again. Months ago I had pushed some cable strands into end to maintain a decent contact (I have had to do this with most of my plug-it tools).

I removed the base plate, the brass counterweight thingy seems to spin quite happily, I can't feel any abnormal friction/clunking, making me think that it is not the bearings.

At the moment, under no load it seems to be running slower than the lowest speed setting and moving the speed dial seems to make it go from very slow to slightly less very slow.

I am at a loss, any suggestions as to what might be going on?

 

[richard.selwyn]

Don't like the sound of your plug it. I've only ever once had a problem - the cable I use everyday on my boom arm eventually got sloppy after 6 years. Just put a new one on and problem solved. I was having trouble with the sander cutting out. As each festool comes with a plug it (ok not all but most) I have over a dozen spare. I would be wary of using a faulty one as if you knacker the connection in the tool thats much harder to fix.
Sounds like you don't like the plug it - I wish my other brands had it as it saves so much mucking about. Did you try another cable?
Otherwise, I guess its a call to Festool.
Happy New Year
Richard

 

[AlexThePalex]

At this sage, I'd take out one part at a time and see when the tool works and when not. To diagnose the problem you can take out any or all of the three important parts (switch, socket and electronics module) and the sander will still work if you wire it up correctly with some spare wires. Just make sure you know what you're doing and don't harm yourself or make a short circuit that will let the fuses blow.


For diagnostic purposes only! If you don't feel comfortable doing this don't even go there!


- Take a normal non-Festool power cord with a mains plug on 1 side and nothing on the other.

- Open the tool and take out the plug it socket of the sander and connect the power cord to its connectors instead. Close the tool up again.
  See if it works ok now and if the speed dial works correctly. If that's the case, it's the plug it cord or socket.

- If not, try the same but now take out the electronics module too.
  If it works ok now it's probably the electronics module.

- If it still doesn't work you can take out the switch too. Close the tool again and try it out. You'll have to plug and unplug it with the mains socket to turn it on and off.

- If it still doesn't work at this stage and you're sure it's not the brushes either, then there is someting wrong with the motor itself.

 

[imaginarynumber]

Sounds like you don't like the plug it - I wish my other brands had it as it saves so much mucking about. Did you try another cable?

Hi richard

I love the idea of the plug-it, so much that when they first hit the market I, so much so that when they first hit the market I converted a lot of my tools.

I was unfortunate enough to have one of the earlier bad batches of cables that contaminated my tools with the carbon/arcing. Festool did an Apple when people mentioned problems with the connections (ie blaming the problem on the owners not putting the plug in properly). Ironically as time has gone one I have noticed that some of my heavy handed employees are guilty of not tightening the leads properly.

Most of my retro fitted tools have been un-retrofitted and now have standard leads. The others, with dirty pins, are "helped" by shoving tiny bits of wire into the female holes. It is far from ideal but it works, so long as nobody un-does the plug.

To Festool's credit they did offer, quite sometime ago, to repair the tools even though some are our of warranty. I haven't sent them back because of a combination of being disorganised and downtime. TBH I don't see the point of having them fixed because i know that it is likely that the problem will arise again. I just wish that the plugs had been designed to be either 0 or 100% connected and not 70% (opps... time for arcing).

 

[imaginarynumber]

At this sage, I'd take out one part at a time and see when the tool works and when not. To diagnose the problem you can take out any or all of the three important parts (switch, socket and electronics module) and the sander will still work if you wire it up correctly with some spare wires. Just make sure you know what you're doing and don't harm yourself or make a short circuit that will let the fuses blow.


For diagnostic purposes only! If you don't feel comfortable doing this don't even go there!


- Take a normal non-Festool power cord with a mains plug on 1 side and nothing on the other.

- Open the tool and take out the plug it socket of the sander and connect the power cord to its connectors instead. Close the tool up again.
  See if it works ok now and if the speed dial works correctly. If that's the case, it's the plug it cord or socket.

- If not, try the same but now take out the electronics module too.
  If it works ok now it's probably the electronics module.

- If it still doesn't work you can take out the switch too. Close the tool again and try it out. You'll have to plug and unplug it with the mains socket to turn it on and off.

- If it still doesn't work at this stage and you're sure it's not the brushes either, then there is someting wrong with the motor itself.

Thanks Alex

I will try that. Incidentally do you know what tool I need to remove the brass semi-circle at the bottom of the motor? I guess I need someting like a mini angle grinder key to stop it spinning

 

[Brice Burrell]

I remember reading a thread in the Festool section of the Woodworking forum that Festool offers a surprising number of tools with regular (non-Plug-It) cords in Australia.  Also, some members here have mentioned Festool has a regular cord that is retrofit of the RO150 here in the US.  I suppose if you're dissatisfied with the Plug-It you could look into getting tools without the Plug-It or have yours retrofitted.  I don't know if that's an option or not, but it might be worth a call to Festool UK to find out.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Incidentally do you know what tool I need to remove the brass semi-circle at the bottom of the motor? I guess I need someting like a mini angle grinder key to stop it spinning

That's the counterweight that turns the rotational motion of the motor into a vibration. The screw that holds it is screwed directly into the shaft of the armature. I never had to remove it so I can't speak out of experience. But it seems easy to me to make the key needed to fit into the two recesses on the side of the screw. I'd take a strip of metal, and with a grinder make a u shaped hole in it on one side. Then drill two holes on both side of the u and tap them to fit a screw, so that the two screws work as pins to fit into the recesses.

[attachimg=1]