An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I have an old 1HP Sears Craftsman rounter (It was my first router and one of my first tools in 1970. It has never given me a problem. I now have about 9 other routers, so it does not get used much, but it sits in an old router table and I decided to use it to build a jig the other day. I installed a straight bit (1/4″) with an extended shaft. The bit stuck out of the collet quit far (this old router was not designed for such a long bit) and to make a long story short, it had a lot of vibration. Apparently the vibration created a resonance, because the router slowed down and stopped. I thought the brushes were shot. No, it was something far stranger. I found one of the wires from the armature to the commutator broken. Then I found another, then another and another. Apparently the vibration set up a resonance that fatigued the wires. I should have probably just let it die a nobel death, but i could not bring myself to give up on it. I soldered a new wire to the commutator and attached the old wire to it in each case. It now works, but I probably should not trust it to last very long.
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Replies
I'd take it back to Sears and demad a refund. There's no excuse for a tool failing after just 40 years! ;-)
You know, I never thought of that! After all, they do say "Satisfaction Always" don't they?
You can always rely on your Knothead buddies for sound advice, Eric. ;-)
I purchased a 1/4" socket set
I purchased a 1/4" socket set from the first K Mart store that opened in Sydney- Australia in the early 60's. It was an opening special and cost me all of $2. Inside the lid was printed 'unconditional warranty, should this product ever fail to give satisfaction they would replace it'. Well in early 2000 the rachet broke. I took the tin and the rachet back to K Mart and although they couldn't replace the exact identical one they gave me one that was close. The checkout chick told me not to ever loose the tin.
wot
Something similar has happened to my 30yr old Elu Router. The wires from the little pcb to the brushes broke in 2 separate incidents.
The first time it was vibration. The second time I was routing a groove and the piece was snatched by the router. The bit survived the impact but the wire broke!
It always pays to have a good look inside a failed tool.
My 1974 Craftsman 1 1/2 HP ring collar (came after your CM) still runs fine. The D handle with trigger in it is the most comfortable and balanced router I have ever had in my hand. I still use it on the rare occasion I trim laminate. 3 sets of brushes over the years but it came from a period when the brand Craftsman meant more than it does today!
I hope that you replaced all the bearings while you had it apart. If not, you get to take it apart again.
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