ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE about old power tools

[soonerorlater]

Hi everybody

Can anyone help with some advice?

I have a bunch of old power tools - router, belt sander, circular saw, planer - bought 15-20 years ago that I stopped using 10yrs or so ago and left in their boxes in a damp workshop. very dumb. they were top of the range brands at the time: Bosch and Makita, and there's no way I can afford to replace them at the moment. are they worth salvaging and could I do it myself by stripping them down, oiling them, sanding off any rust, etc or should I get that done by a professional?

basically I'm worried about them blowing up in my face if it's not done properly, especially the router. and I'm wondering if I shouldn't just go for new cheap DIY versions that would properly cost much the same as paying for a professional clean and service.

thanks, any ideas would be much appreciated.

Jane

[Tabo]

Wow, years?

Try WD 40. Spray some in the housing and turn the tools by hand. If they rotate freely or with little resistance, then plug em in and see how they work.

There might be little bits of rust that fly off so wear some glasses.

Also watch for them getting hot, a sign of worn bearings or friction.

Good luck.

[Smoke~n~Mirrors]

You'll probably need to replace the brushes in the motors as they tend to get brittle if exposed to moisture for a long time.  The bearings might be in good shape since they are probably the sealed type.  I'd look online and see if you can get parts for the models you have if so go ahead and tear them down and carefully sand any rust off of the motors and clean them with a nonconductive cleaner.  (check a local electrical distributor) then replace the brushes and put them back together.

I would not advise just spraying WD-40 on them and running them as any rust that comes off at high speed may damage the coils insluation and short the motor out.

If you have any questions if you decide to rebuild them just ask here and I'll answer as best I can.

[soonerorlater]

thank you both. I'll put all that together and give it a go.
"years?" yes, afraid so. motherhood has a way of coming between a girl and her workshop ;-)

[Xenopus]

I've got tools that are 20 years old and only used occasionally, but they still work fine. One the other hand, my (admittedly cheap) chop saw rusted apart in about 8 years just sitting on my bench, so you never know, but I would certainly give them a try.

[soonerorlater]

the only one that never got abandoned was the drill, of course, a solid old Makita, still going strong and it's close to 30 years old now. (gee that's hard to believe..)
it sounds as though the company is paying me, I know, but they ARE good, that's why I don't want to give up on them unless I absolutely have to.

[maitreya]

please take photos

[soonerorlater]

okay, the shameful BEFORE photo (hoping it comes out bigger than a thumbnail..)
the little circular saw has had it BTW, no parts available, not even a manual online + it's very rusty:

[Maya]

Do you have manuals for these tools? I have some experience in restoring older tools. We can take one tool at the time and get it to work (if possible).
It seems that there is lot of rust. You may need something to remove rust and loosen things a bit (like WD-40).

Which tool do you want to restore first? The photo definitely helped.

[soonerorlater]

I've got the WD40 and I found manuals online for the router, belt sander + the planer. then I went and watched all those terrific "How An Electric Motor Works" videos on youtube, because I've never done this before. I thought I'd start by pulling the circular saw apart with a manual that's as close as I could get to the model, see if I can figure out how it would work if it worked, then if I can put it all back together without ending up with a handful of 'spare' washers + screws etc. Because I think it's too far gone to repair, but that way I've got practice material. Step 2 would be trying to clean and fix the planer. what do you think?

[maitreya]

try storebought phosphoric acid to remove rust

[BlindMansBluff]

Be carefull about getting chemicals on the motor windings. The copper wire has a sort of shellac insulation that if damaged can short out the motor.

[DirtyHowi]

the nice thing about makitas (especially the old ones) is they were designed to be reparied, even that old rusty saw probably still has parts available.  check around to see if there is a makita repair shop locally, they can probably hook you up with a copy of an owners manual and parts breakout, as well as new parts should they be needed.