I just bought my first router - a $15 Sears "Work-Lite" 6.5Amp - at a flea
market. I plugged it in and it works. I didn't get the impression that it
was well taken care of. I don't see any broken pieces or rust, but it's
caked with sawdust that has dried to the point of being cement. And the
other 3 routers the guy was selling were missing switches or had broken
plastic. I was wondering if anyone can suggest a checklist of things I
should do besides chuck it out and buy a good router )

Thanks,
Shawn
--
Shawn Wilson

http://www.GlassGiant.com

"Shawn Wilson" wrote in message
I was wondering if anyone can suggest a checklist of things I
should do besides chuck it out and buy a good router )

Nope, that should do it.

On Sun, 6 Mar 2005 19:15:12 -0400, "Shawn Wilson"
wrote:

I just bought my first router - a $15 Sears "Work-Lite" 6.5Amp - at a flea
market. I plugged it in and it works. I didn't get the impression that it
was well taken care of. I don't see any broken pieces or rust, but it's
caked with sawdust that has dried to the point of being cement. And the
other 3 routers the guy was selling were missing switches or had broken
plastic. I was wondering if anyone can suggest a checklist of things I
should do besides chuck it out and buy a good router )

Thanks,
Shawn

The primary thing to check is the collet. It needs to be clean as a
whistle and hold the bit tightly. If the bearings are rattling
around, chuck it.

Thunder

On Sun, 6 Mar 2005 19:15:12 -0400, the inscrutable "Shawn Wilson"
spake:

I just bought my first router - a $15 Sears "Work-Lite" 6.5Amp - at a flea
market. I plugged it in and it works. I didn't get the impression that it
was well taken care of. I don't see any broken pieces or rust, but it's
caked with sawdust that has dried to the point of being cement. And the
other 3 routers the guy was selling were missing switches or had broken
plastic. I was wondering if anyone can suggest a checklist of things I
should do besides chuck it out and buy a good router )

You should have read here about the ARHA mechanism of the Searz
routahs before even THINKING of buying that, Shawn. The inadvertant
Automatic Random Height Adjuster of those routers has been famous
here and hated by anyone awake enough to notice it. DAGS of the Wreck
for more info.

I've owned enough other Crapsman tools to have lost my pound of flesh
and gallons of blood over the years. I'm glad I didn't own that one,
too.


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As it seems to work, hang on to it. I have an old Sears (maybe 35 years, it
was my first router). I keep a round over bit in it which I just about
never change. For other work I have other routers, preferably 1/2" chuck.
I have a Freud FT2000 in the router table, and a PC691 for other work. When
Nawm did new shop cabinets, he moved about 15 routers. On Router Workshop,
they often grab another router for the next step. You can't have too many
routers.

Steve

"Shawn Wilson" wrote in message
...
I just bought my first router - a $15 Sears "Work-Lite" 6.5Amp - at a flea
market. I plugged it in and it works. I didn't get the impression that
it
was well taken care of. I don't see any broken pieces or rust, but it's
caked with sawdust that has dried to the point of being cement. And the
other 3 routers the guy was selling were missing switches or had broken
plastic. I was wondering if anyone can suggest a checklist of things I
should do besides chuck it out and buy a good router )

Thanks,
Shawn
--
Shawn Wilson

http://www.GlassGiant.com

As it seems to work, hang on to it. I have an old Sears (maybe 35 years,
it
was my first router). I keep a round over bit in it which I just about
never change. For other work I have other routers, preferably 1/2" chuck.
I have a Freud FT2000 in the router table, and a PC691 for other work.
When
Nawm did new shop cabinets, he moved about 15 routers. On Router
Workshop,
they often grab another router for the next step. You can't have too many
routers.


Thanks, everyone for the responses. I certainly won't chuck it. If I get a
better one I'm sure I can use this one for something.

The collet is now clean and runs smooth. No rattling. I routed an arc into
the beginning of a longworth chuck last night. It came out clean as a
whistle, though the ARHA made itself known. It was much easier to route at
the end of the arc than the beginning. ) I don't normally read the posts
about tool specifics unless I have one. Guess I should start. Still, by
akwardly keeping my fingers on the depth knob I was able to get it done.

Thanks again,
Shawn