In july of 2006 I purchased a ES125 sander from a Festool dealer. Loved the sander, I used it mainly for finish sanding with 180, 220, 320 grit sandpaper.
This sander was my first Festool purchase, and led me to buying a T55 saw, a 1400 router and Midi vacuum.
Yesterday I was sanding some primer on some cabinet face frames with 220 grit, when the sander started to wobble real bad. After shutting it off I noticed the pad had split, causing part of it to seperate from the mounting screws. Of course this had to happen just two months out of warranty.
I contacted the Festool dealer from whom I purchased it and was told that the plastic probally deteriorated over time.
And a new pad will be $30.00.
Now I have two Dewalts that are almost 8 years old, they get all the hard sanding jobs, never had a problem with the pads. I have burnt up motors on PC333 before a pad failure.
This makes me wonder as to the quality of materials Festool is using.
Thanks for letting me rant.