Frank Pellow
Member
- Messages
- 2,332
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
I have owned my Festool random orbital Rotex sander (RO 150 E) for about two years and it has been used A LOT. It is much more efficient (and clean) when used in conjunction with a shop vac (in my case a Festool CT 22 E).
I have had two ongoing design problems with this combination and both have been reported to Festool in hopes that they will correct things in future products. These problems are:
As to the second problem, the shape of the hose connection is different on the replacement model of my Rotex sander. The shape is now round. That will probably help some but it will not really solve the “pull off” problem, what is needed is some type of locking connection. By the way, I know that it won’t solve the problem because my Festool Linear Duplex sander (LS 130 EQ) has a round dust port and the hose sometimes pulls off it when I don’t want it to. It doesn’t pull off as often, but it does pull off when least convenient (e.g when I am up a ladder).
Of course, I need to use these things now, and can’t wait for some future fix. This picture shows how I fixed things.
The short extension cord with three receptacles is duct-taped onto the receptacle in the vac, and the hose is clamped onto the sander port. It is not pretty but it works.
I have had two ongoing design problems with this combination and both have been reported to Festool in hopes that they will correct things in future products. These problems are:
(1) The electric cord pulls out of the receptacle in the vacuum far too easily.
(2) The vacuum hose pulls off the connection on the sander far too easily.
The first problem probably stems from the fact that, in North America, our plugs have just got a couple of simple blades whereas in most places in the world the plugs are more substantial (and thus adhere better). I suspect that little ,if any, rigorous on the job testing was done with the north American receptacles in the Festool CT series of vacuums.(2) The vacuum hose pulls off the connection on the sander far too easily.
As to the second problem, the shape of the hose connection is different on the replacement model of my Rotex sander. The shape is now round. That will probably help some but it will not really solve the “pull off” problem, what is needed is some type of locking connection. By the way, I know that it won’t solve the problem because my Festool Linear Duplex sander (LS 130 EQ) has a round dust port and the hose sometimes pulls off it when I don’t want it to. It doesn’t pull off as often, but it does pull off when least convenient (e.g when I am up a ladder).
Of course, I need to use these things now, and can’t wait for some future fix. This picture shows how I fixed things.
The short extension cord with three receptacles is duct-taped onto the receptacle in the vac, and the hose is clamped onto the sander port. It is not pretty but it works.