Tool repair, trick for reviving an old switch
 

Have a bit of free time over the holiday, so working on fix it projects.
High on the list is determining exactly what power tools I want to keep.
I have a neat Black and Decker tapping gun, sort of like a drill but
with internal auto-reverse. Switch was iffy, took it apart to try and
find a replacement. Did find this drill on the B&D site, parts drawing
marked obsolete circa 1969. Dang. Took the switch apart and cleaned
everything, now it works great!

Next on the list was an old Sioux All-Angle drill with a switch that
would only work sometimes. Took it apart to find the fan had
disintegrated, so made a new out out of Delrin. Got into the switch,
cleaning everything. No go, sometimes it switched, sometimes not.
I could have bought a new Sioux drill I'm sure, with the shop-rate time
I've spent, but there's just nothing like resurrecting something many
would toss out.

I'm NOT taking it apart again for pictures, so will describe best I can
how I fixed it.

On one end of the switch is the two contacts. Pivoting in the middle of
the switch is a U-shaped brass part, with a short post to locate a
spring. Up top, a toggle moves the other end of the spring to
over-center the spring and move the swinging contact. I'm sure many have
seen one of these apart.

What I finally did was on the bottom of the U shaped contact, I made two
very small slot cuts with a thin Exacto saw blade. Securely clamped in
my Kurt vise with about .050 standing up. I then took a drift punch and
bent the center tab I'd created back about .020.
This tab now bears on the far wall of the inside of the switch and moves
the bottom closer to the over center point. Put it all back together,
and it works like a charm! Perhaps a dab of hot glue would have worked
too, but didn't want to chance something like that coming apart down the
road.

Another area needing attention was the cord. No way was I going to find
a new one with a suitable strain relief molded. So I cut the cord a few
inches past the end of the rubber and pulled out the wiring and
insulation. Chucked a drill in a collet in the lathe and holding the
rubber, drilled out the center (which is a decidedly non-precision
operation!) Rubber was bonded to the original cord, so wasn't too hard
to get most of it cleared out. Spritzed the inside of the strain relief
and end of the new cord with clear lacquer and did a quick assembly.
Maybe not good as new, but good enough for another 20 years...G

BTW, for the era I suspect this drill was made (late 40's), very nice
job of packing things into a very small space. Made to last a lifetime,
I've hopefully extended that life another lifetime.


Jon

Tool repair, trick for reviving an old switch
 

On Nov 25, 4:46*pm, Jon Anderson wrote:
...
Another area needing attention was the cord. No way was I going to find
a new one with a suitable strain relief molded.

Jon

You can often fabricate a sturdy if not always pretty strain relief
out of several layers of heatshrink, stepped in length to get the
taper that spreads out the bending strains, over a clamping ring of
tape, string or tie-wraps. Reheat it to soften it just before
squeezing the handle halves together and the heatshrink will mold
itself to the cavity better. If you can find some the adhesive-lined
heatshrink will grip the cord tightly. Since there's rarely a push on
the cord a few tie-wraps inside the housing rather than in the groove
works pretty well too.

jsw, lab tech

Tool repair, trick for reviving an old switch
 

On Nov 25, 5:15*pm, Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Nov 25, 4:46*pm, Jon Anderson wrote:

...
Another area needing attention was the cord. No way was I going to find
a new one with a suitable strain relief molded.

Jon

You can often fabricate a sturdy if not always pretty strain relief
out of several layers of heatshrink, stepped in length to get the
taper that spreads out the bending strains, over a clamping ring of
tape, string or tie-wraps. Reheat it to soften it just before
squeezing the handle halves together and the heatshrink will mold
itself to the cavity better. *If you can find some the adhesive-lined
heatshrink will grip the cord tightly. Since there's rarely a push on
the cord a few tie-wraps inside the housing rather than in the groove
works pretty well too.

jsw, lab tech

Spark plug boots from an old set of car ignition wires sometimes can
also work well as strain reliefs for power tool cords.

Tool repair, trick for reviving an old switch
 

William Wixon wrote:

that's how it used to be done, fix it instead of throw it out.

That's how I was raised. My dad remembers the Depression, and grew up on
a farm that had it's origins in one of California's Spanish Land Grants
a few years before it became a state. -Nothing- was thrown out that had
any possible chance of being reused.

I've been known to spend stupid amounts of time fixing something just to
keep it out of the trash. Like the crank powered flashlight I bought at
Grocery Outlet. A screw came loose inside and munched a tooth on the
plastic gear. Spent about 1.5 hours making a new gear, lubing it
properly, and hot-gluing the screws so they don't back out again. Works
better than new. It's a good feeling!

Jon

Tool repair, trick for reviving an old switch
 

"Jon Anderson" wrote in message
...
Have a bit of free time over the holiday, so working on fix it projects.
High on the list is determining exactly what power tools I want to keep.

-snip-


BTW, for the era I suspect this drill was made (late 40's), very nice job
of packing things into a very small space. Made to last a lifetime, I've
hopefully extended that life another lifetime.


Jon



:-) congrats!
that's how it used to be done, fix it instead of throw it out.

b.w.

Tool repair, trick for reviving an old switch
 

On Nov 25, 11:37*pm, "William Wixon" wrote:
...
that's how it used to be done, fix it instead of throw it out.

b.w.

Still is, around here.

jsw