This is my sander. As you can see, it's fairly old. I can't find a date anywhere on the box or manual, but the address on the box says "John Oster Manufacturing Co, Milwaukee 17, WIS. According the the US Postal Service, ZIP codes started being used on July 1, 1963, so we can assume that this either predates that or may be slightly newer (it could have been sitting on a shelf in a warehouse for a while.) (Another clue for the Wisconsinites- there's a shipping label from Wisconsin Bearing Co., Milwaukee 14, to Waukesha Motor Company in -surprise- Waukesha. No number.)The point is, it's old. However, I like it. Not only is there a certain satisfaction knowing this was built to last, but it is switchable between straight line and orbital sanding- a neat feature. As I was using it recently, it started to cut out intermittently, just for a split second. I noticed that it had to do with how the cord was angled going into the handle- the wires are broken. Now some would say "Go get a new sander- that thing's ancient anyways". But that's not how I do things. This has lasted this long, and the way it's made it is easily fixed.
There are 3 screws holding the cover to the body. Remove this and you have access to all the wires, save the last inch that connects to the motor. Now, the repair is just cut out the bad section, strip the wires, re attach, reassemble. So that's just what I did.
Half an hours' work and I have a sander good as new. It's hard to say how much I saved, since a quick glance at lowes.com reveals no 1/3 sheet sanders, only 1/4 sheet or rotary ones, but a good estimate is $40- $50. Not a huge sum, but for something used relatively infrequently, well worth it. Me and my antique sander live on for another day.#AA55
2 comments:
I am struggling to relate your experience to mine. You see, I have a wife (and she's older than that sander) who shorts out once in a while and want to know how to fix her.
Well, first you have to remove the cover from the body.....
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