Parkside Sander Dustbox Clip Repair

I bought this sander about a year ago to replace an older Parkside unit that was getting very tired. I was initially impressed with the dust collection box (compared to its predecessor).

...At least until it fell off whilst I was sanding!

When I went to reattach it to the sander, I spotted that the release clip had broken at its pivot point, and now the entire dustbox simply vibrated off of the sander within moments of switching on.

It's the usual old nonsense: Save a few fractions of a penny to maximise profits, whilst shortening the product life in the process. In this case, the clip's pivot relied on torsion of the plastic to provide both the pivot point and spring action for the release clip. Great idea (NOT!!); after all there's absolutely no way that it could fatigue when in a vibrating environment such as one might find on, say, a sander or similar.

Theoretically, I was still covered under the product's 3 year UK warranty. But it's a rigmarole when all you want to do is to get on with your sanding. Besides; any replacement is guaranteed to fail in the exact same way unless they've revised the design substantially.

This is my quick 'n' dirty 3D printer solution. It uses some self-tapping screws I had from dismantling something or other, and a spring I happened to have in my spares box.

After removing the remnants of the original release mechanism, and cleaning up the faces, I eyeballed the pivot locations - as shown in the pics, and then burned through with a heated panel pin held in some pliers. I then cleaned the surface to allow the holes to take the self-tappers. The spring is similarly heated, and simply pressed into the the body of the printed repair piece.

The only other job is to notch the dustbox body to clear the new pivot screws. I did mine very roughly using a pair of side cutters, but I'm sure a neater job would be more satisfying if I hadn't been in a rush.

It works as well as (if not better than) the original design, and I can now get on with my sanding without having to send the unit away for weeks for the manufacturer to inspect and provide replacement parts.

So that's one job that I can call "done and dusted"!

Happy printing!

Category: Tools