Flex Sanders and Sparky Vacuums

[E.K Taper]

Having real trouble with these! I'm sharing these with 2 other tapers and since November we've been thru about 4 sanders and 6 vacuums. One after another they just keep packing in. Last week the sander burnt out, literally melting the connection on to the head. We got the replacement , done 2 houses and the VAC packed in! It just comes on intermittently, 3 seconds on then 30 seconds off. Its a nightmare, but they are from Artex Hire so we get a replacement soon as. But they are starting to question US, as if we aint looking after them properly but they are cleaned out after each house so are we doing anything wrong???
We plug the sander into the Vac and turn the Vac to 'auto'. The Vac gets plugged into an extension cable which is plugged into a 3.5Kva generator which is switched to 110v. This is EXACTLY as the Artex rep told us in our onsite demo. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
EK

[amestaper]

Looking for a common denominator I presume this sander has been used on the same job and through the same power supply. I had cut-out problems with ours on certain sites if it was too far from the main power supply, or the genny was underpowered.

I would ask an electrician to check the power supply or move the sander off site for testing as something's seriously wrong for 10 pieces of kit to pack in.

[big g]

hi ek,sounds complicated,only thing im wondering are you totally unwinding extension cable,i had probs with sander and hoover although not as bad as that,but thats what my prob was the cable wasnt fully unwound,good luck.

[E.K Taper]

Amestaper, luckily the spark was in the house at the time and checked the power supply and couldnt see any problem. Big g, thats a good point, I´ll ask the other2 boys about the cable. I always unwind it fully but dont know about them! Cheers

[krispie]

Hi E.K from the tother side of planet. I am guessing at what you mean by 'melting the connection on the head' but I run three of the Porter Cable clones and one in particular loves running a head bearing and if the lads don't think to check the failing bearing it will get hot enough to melt the plastic nut. As for the vacs do they start to smoke or just play up? I know the electrical filter that runs the auto start/stop dont always like the dirty electricity that genies put out. Cheers Krispie

[E.K Taper]

Hi Krispie, I think that may have been what happened with the melting connection, it happened with one of the other lads so I never saw the damage. The vacs just cut out all the time, Like they start up and before you've got a line of screws sanded it cuts out again! nightmare stuff
Welcome to the forum mate

[E.K Taper]

Well thats another sander bust! The young fella using it called me up to say that the head just stopped rotating? Driveshaft maybe? Nightmare. We've only had it about 3 weeks. Losing the rag with it now. No-one else gets this sh*t, we must be doing something seriously wrong, but how? We have followed everything the rep told us to do! What speed do you guys use them at? Rep says to keep it at 5, is this right?
cheers

[amestaper]

Mine has never been slower than 5. Sure it sounds like a broken driveshaft and you have the unluckiest sander I've ever heard of. We always had problems with a shared sander but that all stopped when I bought my own.

[krispie]

Was it a rental E.K ? If so then you don't know how old the drive shaft is and they all go eventually. If it was brand new then it was possibly was just been leant on too much for too long, I have seen them almost knotted and still running, they really put up with torture. If it has recently had a drive shaft replaced and they reused the same sleeve then it probably helped it fail as a broken drive buggers the inside of the sleeve.

[big g]

hi ek,ditto what krispie says about hired sanders,you dont know how old driveshaft was and wouldnt put it by speedtape to change shaft without renewing casing,think thats nothing to do with electrical probs you were having,still think thats something to do with extension,and ditto what ames says,always run mine on 5.

[krispie]

If this was perhaps the unit that had the failing bearing that melted the knob off the end, and they have simply replaced the bearing and sent it out again then that also makes sense.
The cable would have really been stressed/tortured and suffered a kink inside the sleeve, meaning it was only a matter of time before it went.
I have had the lads stall our units and burn out the amature without the drives breaking at the time but no doubbt weakend by the event.
I am amazed at the loads these will endure.

[E.K Taper]

Thanks Krispie and Big G, yes its a hired sander but not the melted one! . I'm sure this one was brand new, so they said, we maybe think the lad has been a bit harsh with the sander- banging it into corners etc but he says not.
Big G, the other boys didnt extend the cable fully before but are doing that now
cheers for the help lads

[sq ames taper]

Just wondering how much you guys pay a month to hire sander& vacum? I've spoke to a few tapers on site with different answers 1 says £30 for both another says £54 just for the sander

[big g]

hi sq,would think the higher price is nearer the mark,but have you not got a link at the top of your page for gyproc tool hire,click on that.

[sq ames taper]

Yes the link says £54 pm, but the taper that says he pays £ 30 for both was pretty adament, just wondered if there was maybe some kind of discount for longer term members or if your hiring a few tools etc

[big g]

hi sq,dont hire my sander but ive been hiring my taping tools for 3 years and get a 10 per cent discount,you would need a £200 deposit to start as well.

[sq ames taper]

Cheers big g, i already hire a 3" finisher from bg & have had an account for about 6 years so hopefully i might get a discount, me& my mate share a sander but its nearly 7 years old& on its way out and neither of us have the money for a new one

[E.K Taper]

We hire from Speedtape (Artex LTD) and its £84per month +vat, thats for sander and Vacuum.
Where does your £30 a month guy hire his from?????????

[sq ames taper]

We hire from Speedtape (Artex LTD) and its £84per month +vat, thats for sander and Vacuum.Where does your £30 a month guy hire his from?????????

To be honest EK ithink he's bull shi***g , i dont know him very well and the company i worked with at the time went into administration so probably wont see him again, been told The same price as you by bg hire dept, think ill have to percevere with the radius 360 for now

[Brian S]

Nothing wrong with the Radius 360, and the Flex edge sander,sq, they're saving you £84 a month, and they're lighter to use