Anyone repair their own tools ??

My type of guys and girls here !!
S

 

When the right size driver bit is missing....

 

I had an 8 1/4 inch Hitachi sliding chop saw . Paid 700 bucks for it when they 1st came out . That was the tool to have back then ,, and I'd still prefer that one to most that are out today.
But ,, I replaced the trigger switch 2 times ,, and the brushes 3 times . The last time I tried replacing the brushes ,, the armature was wore so bad the brushes wouldn't help. I did try pricing a new armature ,, but I believe the tool repair company couldn't get one . Trying to resurface it didn't even come to mind then . I will remember this for the next time this comes up .

 

Thanks for that page Sir Sloth ,,, I bookmarked that page for future use ,,,,

 

After turning the armature take an old cut down hacksaw blade or similar tool and undercut the mica separators a small bit. It will help stop brush hop and arcing. the armature repair will last a lot longer.

 

Bought a Craftsman vibratory hand sander years ago at a yard sale for $3. Plugged it in and all it did was hum. Opened it up to find that a screw had backed out and jammed the mechanism. A little loctite and some torque still using it.

Have a standard DeWalt plug-in electric drill with the cord deteriorating. Haven't looked for a replacement yet but it should not be too difficult to replace.

Milwaukee Fuel Drill and driver set are the Holy Grail. Used them on my last job before I retired but just can't seem to get up the nerve to tell the wife I want to spend $400 on a great couple of tools. It's not as if we can't spare the money, but they're of good enough quality they'll probably outlast both of us. Maybe in that respect they're overkill.

Often wondered why older people often bought inexpensive tools even though they could afford much better ones. Now I know LOL.

 

Back in the late 70’s my mother worked in a Sears store. When power tools etc. (before the days of cordless) were returned supposedly broken, they’d spray a bit of red paint on them and put them on a table in a back room for employees to purchase, usually at 5-10% of the regular price. She’d ask me about various tools and if I wanted it she’d pick it up for me. Most I could order a new speed trigger for $4-5 and have it working just fine. Some just needed some cleaning and many actually had nothing wrong with them. Got a big 1/2” D handle drill that was fine after cleaning the chuck. And a little bit of paint thinner on a rag removed all the red paint. Thought about returning to a different store a couple tools I got for $2-3 but never needed to, was always able to fix them. Still have most of them.

Greatest deal was a 2 HP motor for a big table saw. Was supposedly burned out. Mom called asked it I wanted it. Told her to smell the thing and see if it smelled really bad/scorched. Nope. Sure, get it. Was only $3. Got it home checked it out and the centrifugal switch was acting up a bit. Cleaned it, used some emery and smoothed out the action and the motor was then perfect. Cleaned the red paint off and had a nearly new $200 motor.
Fixing tools…. Sweet!

 

Ya all sound as cheap as I am .
When I can't do it anymore , Im opening up a rental shop of all my tools .
Once the birds are over.
Sloth

 

The lack of desire/capability to repair things can be turned into perfectly functional items.
Years back, all the PC's where I worked had small to medium UPS's when the batteries died I was tasked with removing them and disposing of the "junk" USP's. I took a few of the larger ones home, bought new batteries, they are still working today.
Some on PC's some for standby LED lighting.