Cable twists around the housing and gets hot and makes it lock up and break the cable. I have three sanders out right now when they fix them, it will sand three houses and they tear up again.

You have not listed your model.
Generally, remove two or three screws holding the right hand control module together. Remove old cable, install new cable in housing, and cable end in throttle tube. Reassemble.

If it is 120 volts it's quite simple. First make sure to turn off the heat at the red emergency switch. This will not affect your system. Simply turn the switch back on when you are done. Remove the cover off the small box on the side of the pump. There should be one screw holding it on. You should be feeding the pump with BX cable from the controller (Aquastat or pump relay). Older steel BX carries the ground through the cable, and the connector, but the newer, aluminum BX has a ground wire inside the cable.Remove about four inches of the BX cable from around the wires. Just bend the BX at the designated length until it breaks. Twist the cable clockwise in one hand and counter clockwise in the other. This will open it enough for you to snip the cable,(not the wires) with dikes or tin snips. Or, you can unravel the BX from the open end. Be careful. BX is sharp. Insert a red head (anti-short) around the two or three wires and slide it into the cable leaving the four inches of wire still outside the cable. Install a 1/2" BX connector into the the round opening provided on the box. Screw the nut onto the connector hand tight and tighten the nut by placing a flat screwdriver onto one of the nubs on the nut and tap it around with the heel of your hand or any pliers or hammer if available. Slide your wires through the connector until the cable bottoms out inside the connector. Tighten the connector set screw. Now you have a black, a white, and possibly a green wire inside the box. Strip about 3/4" of insulation off of each wire. The three wires in the box on the pump should already be stripped, but if not, strip those too. Twist the wires together using your hands or pliers. White with white, black with black, and green with green. This ensures a good connection. Now, you can twist your orange wire nuts on to the pre-twisted wires. Use orange nuts because they are smaller and will fit into the small box better than yellow or red nuts. To ensure a proper splice, twist them until the wires start to twist in your hand . Fold the wires into the box, install the cover onto the box making sure not to pinch the wires and turn the emergency switch back on.

you can buy that gear from ereplacementparts.com you will need the type number off the tool to make sure you order the right one, they cost around 25.28 and for a type 2 the number is D839309

Hi Mark,
Hear is an exploded parts diagram for the sander:

http://www.powertoolspares.com/tool/makita/spares-and-accessories-for-9404/9404/spares/

Remove the three screws on the handle cover part 23 to expose the cable connection to the trigger switch.

There is a cable inside the sheath of you speedometer cable that looks like a long tightly wound spring. It may be about to fail. You can remove it and get a new one. If it can not all be removed from the top - you will have to undo the cable at the transmission to remove it. Be sure you get all of it out. When you reinstall the new cable be sure and lube it well. I use motorcycle chain oil - it is water proof and lasts a long time. Let me know if this helps. Thanks. (nice a '72 hope it is realy good shape)

This is usually indicative of someone pushing down on the sander too hard while sanding. The motor in this sander is strong enough to pull the belt around even with too much pressure on the sander. This causes excessive heat to build in the sanding belt and sander shoe which causes the belt to break down prematurly. It's also very hard on the sander's bearings and motor. Use an appropriate sandpaper grit that will do the job without excessive pressure on the worksurface. This will make your sanding belts and sander work longer and cooler.

What you need to do is work out if there is a break anywhere in the cable or if the speaker has become disconected or faulty.
If you twist the cable around (all over) with the headphones working and the channel comes back on (even for a split second) you at least know the speaker is working. Even if you get no responce from twisting the cable it might be worth fitting a new plug, as these are bad at breaking down and may not show with the twist test.
If you think it's the speaker inside. Then remove the ear pad and any foam (this is harder than it sounds). And you should see access screws.
If you need help with fixing a new plug or if it is the cable let me know and I will explain what you need to do.

Some belts have directional arrows printed on the inside.

I also have had this problem and I found that if I hold the unit tightly and squeeze the plastic housing the RPM's will stabilize as the unit warms up. Best fix is to replace the rubber isolators that prevent vibrations from the motor from reaching the plastic housing. The isolators have become hard through age or very cold temperatures.
I read somewhere that keeping the sander stored in a warm room can also help because when the rubber is very cold it becomes hard.

You should be able to get a manual for your generator online here. On many generators there is a breaker switch above the receptacle or a key switch that allows you to alter output, but sometimes voltage is determined by the type of twist lock plug/receptacle used and the wiring configuration. See helpful links here and here.
I hope this information allows you to resolve this issue. If you need further assistance, please post back with a comment to this thread.
If I've managed to answer your question or solve a problem, please take just a moment to rate this post....thanks!