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[jlhdiver]

My DW 423 Orbital Sander seems to have lost power, I can stop the pad with my hand easily.....is this a motor issue or is there a clutch mechanism that needs replacing???

[DEWALTDUDE]

You may have had a retainer, or a bearing wear out? Have you taken it apart?

[jlhdiver]

Yea,
I took it apart and checked the bearing, it didn't have any play in it.
I also looked at the brushes and they looked good....
Is it possible that only one of the brushes is working and that leads to less
power, or would it not start up at all?
Thanks

[randomuser123321]

Bit of an old post, but I had a similar issue with their orbital sander, model D26453.  List of symptoms in order of appearance
- Not starting; would have to flip the switch a few times
- Slow starting; would take a few second to ramp up to normal speed
- Not starting unless machine was shaken
- Loss of power while using; would improve if pressure applied to motor housing
- Finally it was 'dead'

This all happened in the span of 2 weeks.

I pulled the brushes, they were not excessively worn but one brush had a significant layer of carbon.  The armature where the brushes contact was also covered in a layer of carbon.  A bit of rubbing alcohol and superfine steel wool removed the carbon on the brushes and armature and the sander is now working fine.

I have used the sander less than 1 year so I was a bit surprised that it was so gunked up, but I have been using 320 grit paper for some projects and the inside of the sander was covered in superfine dust; I am thinking that may have been a significant contributing factor.

[Russ]

So orbital sanders can  get clogged up.   I've only used a orbital sander several times before and I noticed with the orbital sander I was using (it was a friend's) it had a real issue of containing the occasional bit of dust,  but it was fixed with some masking tape.

Mind you,  from what I gathered, this sander is more than a decade, if not older, old.   I don't know the model number, but it was made by Dewalt. 

To be honest, I didn't know these sanders had brushes either, but remember, it wasn't mine, so it's not like I could take it apart and see. 

I wonder though, this may be slightly off topic and may be more of a question than anything, but does Dewalt even cordless orbital sanders?  Or does something like that not even exist?   I imagine there must be as if there are cordless drills, there must be cordless sanders.

If anyone has any information, boy would that be cool to hear.