[[email protected]]

I'm a weekend home handyman, not a real woodworker. A long term health
issue has me reluctant to spend any more money than I have to. I
recently had two tools go bad: a palm sander and a circular saw.

The palm sander was just a matter of a wire nut that had come loose
inside (great connector choice in a unit whose raison d'etre is
VIBRATION, I might add), but putting the "one-way construction" back
together proved too much of a challenge. I threw it out.

The circular saw problem is the brushes, I believe, and I may try to
fix it.

But for now, I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage, with his
enthusiastic encouragement. In the '60s and '70s he made some pretty
nice projects for the house, but he hasn't worked with power tools in
a while.

I found an orbital 1/2 sheet sander (chrome, of course) and a 6.5"
Skil saw. Both work, at least for the few seconds I tried them.

The sander has no visible defects, but I wonder if there's any
lubrication needed after possibly decades of disuse.

The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

[Puckdropper[_2_]]

" wrote in news:31d17dea-35e5-4b35-
:

*snip*


The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

You may need to replace the switch. If you can see the contacts, look
for signs of degragation. If the switch is fussy, it may also be an
indicator the switch needs to be replaced. That contacts may need to be
cleaned, however, and one trick that sometimes work is just flipping the
switch on and off quite a few times. (Unplug the saw and just keep
flipping the switch.)

There may be internal lube on gears and the like. Some of it will set up
and instead of making parts move easily keep them from moving at all!
You may need to clean and replace the old lube. (Be sure you use the
proper replacement lube!)

Puckdropper
--
Never teach your apprentice everything you know.

[dpb]

wrote:
....

But for now, I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage, with his
enthusiastic encouragement. In the '60s and '70s he made some pretty
nice projects for the house, but he hasn't worked with power tools in
a while.

I found an orbital 1/2 sheet sander (chrome, of course) and a 6.5"
Skil saw. Both work, at least for the few seconds I tried them.

The sander has no visible defects, but I wonder if there's any
lubrication needed after possibly decades of disuse.

Depends on whether it was sealed bearings or not...if it works and
doesn't screech, go for it. There are similar tools of that age and
older of grandad's still here on the farm that get very intermittent use
also--generally never had a problem.

If it's really old, there may be indication of an oiling location or two...

The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

Why "of course"? It didn't get dull from not being used; any surface
rust will go away on the first cut or two.

Unless there's something wrong w/ the cordset...

Same thing on the lubrication.

--

[knuttle]

On 9/19/2010 4:28 PM, Puckdropper wrote:
wrote in news:31d17dea-35e5-4b35-
:

*snip*


The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

You may need to replace the switch. If you can see the contacts, look
for signs of degragation. If the switch is fussy, it may also be an
indicator the switch needs to be replaced. That contacts may need to be
cleaned, however, and one trick that sometimes work is just flipping the
switch on and off quite a few times. (Unplug the saw and just keep
flipping the switch.)

There may be internal lube on gears and the like. Some of it will set up
and instead of making parts move easily keep them from moving at all!
You may need to clean and replace the old lube. (Be sure you use the
proper replacement lube!)

Puckdropper

Any time you have a switch problem I highly recommend unplugging the
piece of equipment and flip the switch a couple of dozen times.

I learned this lesson the hard way. Many years ago I was working for a
company in southern Michigan near the Ohio state line. We had a
Chromatograph that was not working, and I called the service rep who had
to come down from Detroit, about a 3 hour trip at that time.

When he arrived with all of his equipment, he came into the lab and
walked up to the machine and gave the one knob about two dozen turns,
then turned the machine on. It came up perfectly. After spending
another couple of hours checking the unit with his testing equipment, he
found nothing wrong with the machine.

The bottom line I paid the man for 6 hours travel time plus 2 in the lab
to have him clean the switch by rotating it a couple dozen times. It
was a very expensive lesson in electronic. Now the first thing I do is
flip he switch at the first signs of trouble. (This will only if the
switch has a mechanical contacts )

[Norman Billingham[_2_]]

"dpb" wrote in message
...
wrote:
...

But for now, I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage, with his
enthusiastic encouragement. In the '60s and '70s he made some pretty
nice projects for the house, but he hasn't worked with power tools in
a while.

I found an orbital 1/2 sheet sander (chrome, of course) and a 6.5"
Skil saw. Both work, at least for the few seconds I tried them.

The sander has no visible defects, but I wonder if there's any
lubrication needed after possibly decades of disuse.

Depends on whether it was sealed bearings or not...if it works and doesn't
screech, go for it. There are similar tools of that age and older of
grandad's still here on the farm that get very intermittent use
also--generally never had a problem.

If it's really old, there may be indication of an oiling location or
two...

The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

Why "of course"? It didn't get dull from not being used; any surface rust
will go away on the first cut or two.

Unless there's something wrong w/ the cordset...

Same thing on the lubrication.


In my experience, a common problem with power tools which have been unused
for a long time and stored in slightly damp environments is failure of the
suppressor capacitors. They sometimes fail dramatically with a flash after
a few minutes use - other times you just get a lot of sparking at the
brushes. Usually easy enough to replace if you can get them.

[[email protected]]

On Sep 19, 4:35*pm, dpb wrote:
wrote:


The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

Why "of course"? *It didn't get dull from not being used; any surface
rust will go away on the first cut or two.

There's something I didn't know. Thanks. I'll run the old blade
through some scrap and see what happens. It looks like it may have
been a pretty decent one at one time, with probably 80 teeth or so.
I've ordered the brushes for my broken saw and now plan to keep the
combo blade on that one and a finer one on my Dad's. If I don't have
to buy a new blade, so much the better.

Unless there's something wrong w/ the cordset...

Are the plug conductors supposed to be reddish brown? The saw runs
OK, but I can't in good conscience leave that arc-hazard on it.

Same thing on the lubrication.


By this, do you mean lube should not be necessary unless I notice a
problem?

Thanks for the help.

[GROVER]

On Sep 19, 3:37*pm, " wrote:
I'm a weekend home handyman, not a real woodworker. A long term health
issue has me reluctant to spend any more money than I have to. I
recently had two tools go bad: a palm sander and a circular saw.

The palm sander was just a matter of a wire nut that had come loose
inside (great connector choice in a unit whose raison d'etre is
VIBRATION, I might add), but putting the "one-way construction" back
together proved too much of a challenge. I threw it out.

The circular saw problem is the brushes, I believe, and I may try to
fix it.

But for now, I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage, with his
enthusiastic encouragement. In the '60s and '70s he made some pretty
nice projects for the house, but he hasn't worked with power tools in
a while.

I found an orbital 1/2 sheet sander (chrome, of course) and a 6.5"
Skil saw. Both work, at least for the few seconds I tried them.

The sander has no visible defects, but I wonder if there's any
lubrication needed after possibly decades of disuse.

The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

I served as a week end warrior in the national guard about 2 score
and some years ago. We were an artillery battery equiped with 105 mm
and 8" howitzers. Each year during summer manuvers we had to fire the
howitzers after they had sat in the armory unused for a year. The
first round was always fired with a very long lanyard with all
cannoneers far away lest a weakness in the tube cause a failure.

[dpb]

wrote:
On Sep 19, 4:35 pm, dpb wrote:
....

Are the plug conductors supposed to be reddish brown? The saw runs
OK, but I can't in good conscience leave that arc-hazard on it.

Well, clean them up a little with some steel wool or similar and, unless
they are extremely bad shape, which I'd think highly unlikely unless
stored in salt-air environment or somesuch, again; "good-to-go"...

Same thing on the lubrication.


By this, do you mean lube should not be necessary unless I notice a
problem?

If they were sealed bearings and they're not obviously binding, I'd use
it and worry about replacing bearings when and if they fail--they're
just bearings, after all. If it predates sealed bearings (would have to
be quite old), then it will be obvious where it is expecting lubrication
on inspection.

The prime thing I do for stuff like that that I forgot to mention
previously is to take the air gun and blow them out as best as possible....

A little WD-40 or other light not-sticking lube on switches, blade guard
pivot point, etc., etc., etc., ... and generally they'll just pick up
where left off unless were weak already.

--

[[email protected]]

On Sep 20, 12:56*pm, dpb wrote:
wrote:
On Sep 19, 4:35 pm, dpb wrote:

...

Are the plug conductors supposed to be reddish brown? *The saw runs
OK, but I can't in good conscience leave that arc-hazard on it.

Well, clean them up a little with some steel wool or similar and, unless
they are extremely bad shape, which I'd think highly unlikely unless
stored in salt-air environment or somesuch, again; "good-to-go"...


I probably have the plug, and can probably replace it in the same time
as it would take to do a decent job steel-wooling in the small space
between the blades. (No, I don't have a dremel. Come to think of it,
Dad probably does...)

If it predates sealed bearings (would have to
be quite old), then it will be obvious where it is expecting lubrication
on inspection.

I'll look. The Skil Saw is probably '60s vintage. The sander is quite
beautiful, actually - all chrome, no rust at all. Rockwell, I think.
Probably also '60s. Much as it pains me to ruin the esthetics, I'm
thinking of trying to pad the handle somehow to decrease the
vibration.

The prime thing I do for stuff like that that I forgot to mention
previously is to take the air gun and blow them out as best as possible.....

There's a good bit of brown oxidized Pleistocene Epoch sawdust in the
saw. I'll try blowing it out.

A little WD-40 or other light not-sticking lube on switches, blade guard
pivot point, etc., etc., etc., ... and generally they'll just pick up
where left off unless were weak already.

And that. Thanks.

[[email protected]]

On Sep 20, 12:32*pm, GROVER wrote:
The
first round was always fired with a very long lanyard with all
cannoneers far away lest a weakness in the tube cause a failure.

I'm hoping that these old tools do not have such catastrophic
potential failure modes.

Greg

[dpb]

wrote:
....

I probably have the plug, and can probably replace it in the same time
as it would take to do a decent job steel-wooling in the small space
between the blades. (No, I don't have a dremel. Come to think of it,
Dad probably does...)
....
I'd far prefer the original molded plugset over a replacement unless
it's really bad and suspect could've done the cleanup in the time spent
here already...

But, suit yourself; it's your tool.

--

[Dan[_16_]]

Much as it pains me to ruin the esthetics, I'm thinking of trying to
pad the handle somehow to decrease the vibration.

Keep it stock. Try foam pipe insulation or wear mechanic's gloves.

Per the sawdust: scrape out what you can. Use progressively smaller
tools to scrape. Wetting them with oil of some sort may help soften
the crud..

Blowing sawdust everywhere is going to be messy at best, and may be
harmful. God only knows what may have been around the last time they
were used.

[RP[_2_]]

On Sep 19, 3:37*pm, " wrote:
I'm a weekend home handyman, not a real woodworker. A long term health
issue has me reluctant to spend any more money than I have to. I
recently had two tools go bad: a palm sander and a circular saw.

The palm sander was just a matter of a wire nut that had come loose
inside (great connector choice in a unit whose raison d'etre is
VIBRATION, I might add), but putting the "one-way construction" back
together proved too much of a challenge. I threw it out.

The circular saw problem is the brushes, I believe, and I may try to
fix it.

But for now, I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage, with his
enthusiastic encouragement. In the '60s and '70s he made some pretty
nice projects for the house, but he hasn't worked with power tools in
a while.

I found an orbital 1/2 sheet sander (chrome, of course) and a 6.5"
Skil saw. Both work, at least for the few seconds I tried them.

The sander has no visible defects, but I wonder if there's any
lubrication needed after possibly decades of disuse.

The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

Make sure the guard works on the circ saw. Real important maintenace
item.

RP

[dpb]

Dan wrote:
....

Blowing sawdust everywhere is going to be messy at best, and may be
harmful. God only knows what may have been around the last time they
were used.

Cutting wood is messy by definition.

What, specifically, can you imagine is so dangerous as to be potentially
an issue in blowing out the innards of a power woodworking tool?????
Gad, I'm glad I'm an old pha... and not ingrained w/ this modern view
that the most ordinary action is life-threatening...

--

[[email protected]]

On Sep 19, 4:35*pm, dpb wrote:
wrote:

...

But for now, I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage, with his
enthusiastic encouragement. In the '60s and '70s he made some pretty
nice projects for the house, but he hasn't worked with power tools in
a while.

I found an orbital 1/2 sheet sander (chrome, of course) and a 6.5"
Skil saw. Both work, at least for the few seconds I tried them.

The sander has no visible defects, but I wonder if there's any
lubrication needed after possibly decades of disuse.

Depends on whether it was sealed bearings or not...if it works and
doesn't screech, go for it. *There are similar tools of that age and
older of grandad's still here on the farm that get very intermittent use
also--generally never had a problem.

If it's really old, there may be indication of an oiling location or two....

The saw plate had a good bit of surface rust, but I managed to get it
pretty clean. The blade will of course have to be replaced. Same for
the power plug. But what else might I be looking at?

Why "of course"? *It didn't get dull from not being used; any surface
rust will go away on the first cut or two.

Unless there's something wrong w/ the cordset...

Same thing on the lubrication.

--

Happy to report that I cleaned out and lightly wd-40'd my Dad's old
saw and cut a bunch of slices off a piece of MDF with it last night.
The saw teeth are getting cleaner, and the 40 teeth seem to make a
nice cut. It's not the most demanding material, I guess, but the saw
ran smoothly.

I also replaced the brushes on my Skil, which seems to have fixed it,
although it's still a little loud and "clangy". I think I'll be using
that one for less precise tasks. One complaint to any manufacturers
that might be lurking: Could you please make your parts either
completely symmetrical or visibly asymmetrical? The plastic cover I
had to remove to access the brushes was about two "politically
incorrect measurements" off from being identical in either possible
orientation, but only one way fit.

Next: The sander. I have high hopes.

Thanks to all.

Greg Guarino