Festool ROS Broken, advice needed

[wobblycogs]

Hi, about 4 years ago I splashed out and bought myself a Festool ROS sander (the ETS EC150/5 E to be precise). Unfortunately the other day it just upped and died on me. It was a weird failure as well, I'd used it that morning and it seemed perfect and then nothing, no sign of life at all. Naturally it's out of warranty but it's hardly used. I'm a hobbyist so it's only made its way though 3/4 of a box of 80 grit paper before it's given up, no way it should have died this soon.

So my question is how best to proceed. It seems there's two main circuit boards inside, one for power and speed control and the other for driving the motor. My assumption at the moment is that it's one of these that has failed. The problem is they are about £110 each so I'd rather not be guessing which is faulty, is one known to fail more often? An alternative is to send it off for repair but my research leads me to believe that'll be at least £200 and for that price I might as well just replace both boards myself. The alternative alternative is to sell it for spares but I honestly have no idea how much I'd get (ebay hasn't been very helpful in that regard).

Thoughts?

 

[johnnyb]

I'm just gonna put this out there. festool stuff is delicate. there I've said it.
from the extractors where the tops break. my 120 mitre saw chewed into a small black guard piece on a bevel cut? the ros are known for unreliability some being returned multiple times under warranty. I've n idea what's best for you but out of warranty festool are expensive to repair.

 

[DBT85]

Try emailing the customer service and ee what they say. Might not get you anything but you won't know until you ask.

 

[wobblycogs]

Thanks, and I agree. I only own a few bits of Festool stuff but they feel like they need handling with kid gloves. I don't regret the domino but the other bits I'm seriously thinking I made the wrong decision. When I compare my Festool stuff to my Makita SCMS it's night and day, that SCMS could probably be kicked down the stairs and still work.

An email has been sent to customer services explaining the situation. As you say, you don't know till you ask.

 

[Sideways]

I'm not a fanboy about Festool but the one piece of kit I own, the tracksaw, I knocked off a workmate 3 feet straight onto concrete. My heart sank, but it landed upside down on the plunge release which is now chewed but still works perfectly. I was quite impressed.
Sorry to hear about your sander. First try asking nicely. Then look into "fit for purpose". If all else fails, make it very public on your social media because many amateurs like us only stretch to Festool because of it's reputation. If it doesn't deliver, we need to know that it's not worth it.

 

[Doug71]

I would give them a call, I have found Festool are not great at replying to emails.
You will probably just get told to send it in and they will take a look but dig your heels in and ask to speak to one of the people who do the repairs, they will have some idea of what the problem could be.

 

[Jake]

Did you have it attached to an extractor? Tried it with a different plug-it lead?

 

[wobblycogs]

Yeah, I've tried with and without the extractor and with two different leads. I also tested the original lead on a different tool and it was fine. It's dead as a door nail.

 

[Distinterior]

It could just be the brushes that need to be replaced.....They have a wear level on them that shut the motor down rather than causing damage to the armature.

Edit. Two things that have just struck me though....1. You say its had very little use?....2. Isn't the ETS/EC 150 a brushless motor??!!, in which case forget what I've just written...

 

[julianf]

I use a kress tool a lot. So much that I have two the same for when one breaks so I get no down time...

I send them off to a place called JGPower (I think it's just a one man band or at least small enterprise)

Google and you'll get the details.

Always a good service. I guess I first sent them somthing about a decade ago and probably need a repair every couple of years.

(The kress tool - I often run it all day long, somtimes 10 hrs solid, so I accept that they need repair every few years)

 

[Alli]

I have a festool ETS150 and had a problem with it start/stopping/not working at random times. I found that one of the pins on the sander that the power lead attaches too was dirty/blackened. I cleaned this up and have not had a problem since. Might be worth a look.

 

[cowtown_eric]

1st step for me who ends up as resident millwright at #protospace is to put a shop vac on the switch and speed control and flick it on off several times. maybe more if yer prone to using compressed air to clean it, which only drives dust into the switch.

Next step is to use a vom to assess if the cord is giving power to where it should be

after that, I dunno. Those are he basics.. I've lost count of how many switches I've replaced because of dust.

Eric