"Mark Modrall" wrote in message
...
Hi...

My wife's been after me about a couple of old appliances that should
either be fixed or tossed. One is a 4-yr-old waring blender that just
quit one day, no burnt smell or anything. Just stopped. I've hung onto
it on the thought that it might be a dead solder or something on the
switch. Usually in the past when blenders have quit on me, you can
smell some burnt part of the engine that gave out.

The second is an old canister vac that is just losing power. I took
the thing apart down to the housing last weekend and cleaned it out, but
it didn't help much. The actual vacuum part (blade and such under the
motor) was in a housing that I couldn't remove so I couldn't tell if
there was something inside I should clean.

Any suggestions on fixing them? Taking either to a repair shop would
cost more than either are worth, I'm sure. I just don't know where to
start.

Sorry if this is too mundane or newbie for the group.

Thanks
-mark

Blender...tear into it with a continuity meter, and see what happens.
As for the vacuum, if its the type where everything you suck up goes through
the impeller, years of rock/metal bits/screws hits against the impeller may
have chipped it down to nothing.