Some DIY Maintence will put Used tools back in Main Stream Operation:
Professional grade tools are made to withstand long hours of use and abuse. Many home shops have a number of Professional grad tools but for the most part most home shops have tools that are some what less in quality.
No matter what grade of tool you have none of them are made to be the "last tool you will have to buy".
What is nice is that for the most part the average grade as well as the professional grade tools are designed and built to be reparied which will translate into many years of service.
For the home shop items such as pads Cheap Rashad Vaughn Jersey , electric cords Cheap Greg Monroe Jersey , onoff switches and motor brushes can be easily replace and done so without a huge pinch in the pocketbook.
A lot of these repairs can be done without even taking the housing off the tool. So to extend your tools service life and get the most from it lets examine a few things you can do.
Always remember SAFETY FIRST:
The first thing before anything else is done is always remove the power source. Make sure that the tool is unpluged or if it is cordless remove the battery. Do this before you pick up any other tool.
If you are going to have to unassemble any part of the tool you need to remember that you will at some point have to put it back together.
When I start to take something apart I get a shallow cardboard box to lay the parts in so that I can keep them seperated and organized. This will make reassembly go much smoother. Watch for different lengths of screws and bolts. A perfectly good tool can be ruined because you try to put the wrong screw back in and strip out a thread.
Enemy #1
The number one power tool killer is HEAT. If you want your tools to last you have to keep them running cool. Any motor by its very nature has armature windings Cheap Malcolm Brogdon Jersey , gears Cheap D. J. Wilson Jersey , and bearings that turn at high rates of speed. A natural law says that with any action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So if while your power tool preforms a certain operation the opposite reaction is that it will create heat. If your tools are so hot that they are uncomfortable to hold in your bare hands then its time to do something or the end is near.
Remember a Cool Tool is a Good Tool.
So what is the best way to maintain a Cool Tool?
Keep it clean. Any tool expert will always tell you that keeping dust and dirt from gathering around the motor of a power tool is one of the most important factors of long tool life. All your tools that use universal motors have air intake slots so that air can be sucked through with a fan. A natural byproduct of woodworking is dust and that dust will get sucked into these intake slots. Besides these intake slots every tool has plenty of other nooks and crannies that will grab that dust and hold it.
Presto: OVERHEATING
If your shop is equiped with an air compressor then daily cleaning will be a snap. Make sure you know which slots on your tools are intake and which are exhaust then while it is running shoot a nice refreshing jet of compressed air into the intake side and watch that ole dirt and dust go flying.
If you are not so lucky as to have compressed air then the maintaince is a little more difficult but just as important. You will need to take the housing of the tool off and manually clean the air intakes with a clean brush. If dust and dirt are caked onto the fan blades it will be necessary to remove that also. Just make sure you use something that can not scratch the surface of the blade so as not to upset the blade balance.
Just this one simple maintance procedure will put many extra hours of use into your tools.
Motor Brush Replacement
I have a Craftsman 38" electric drill that was one of the first power tools that I ever could say was mine. My father gave it to me when I left home after graduating from High School. This drill and I have been through some times. I used it and to be honest abused it quite a bit.
Finally one day I need it for somthing I was working on and when I got it pluged up and pulled the trigger Cheap Matthew Dellavedova Jersey , nothing happened. I checked the power supply Cheap Thon Maker Jersey , and all of the other things like wiggling the cord with no results. Then I happened to grab the chuck and kind of twist it a little and since ole dummy me had the trigger squeezed all at once the thing took off and tried to take my fingers along with it.
This brings me to a simple DIY operation that if done on a regular basis will avoid those skin burns that I got.
Check and Change the motor burshes.
If your tool wont start up without a little help from you or you see a lot of sparks flying around the motor housing ( a little sparking is ok just not more than 14") or if that motor just doesn't sound or feel right it could be the brushes need replaced.
Now saying the brushes need replaced might have you going off looking for brushes Cheap Spencer Hawes Jersey , which you will never find. What you will really find that everyone calls brushes are small blocks of hard graphite with little springs attached to them.
Accessing the brushes is easier on some tools than others. You may have to remove the tool housing or you might be able to access the brush cover from outside the housing.