How To: Repair, maintain, and get the most out of your old tools.

The new cordless tool sets give you an option to purchase individual tools without a battery or a charger so you could make your own custom set. The old sets were not like this. They came with a few pieces in a hard carry case. You had an option to purchase only a handful of separate tools, but they came in their own case along with a battery, and a charger. Basically, you couldn't get the bare tool without anything else. For those of you that still use older tools, and want to keep the set working as long as possible, there are several options:

* Special order the replacement parts, and pay more than what the tool is worth.
* Find a working tool on EBay, and use it as long as you can.
* Do a search online for the replacement part number, and see how many tools use this same part.

The third option is a little more work, but if you need to have your tool working as soon as possible, and can't find an exact match as mentioned in the second choice, then this is the way to go. You'll be surprised how many tools use the same electric motor even though the voltage range varies between 14.4 volts & 18 volts. Other parts are interchangeable as well. This is a little known fact that is not mentioned anywhere else other than here.

Here is an example of an electric motor that is used in several Craftsman cordless trim saws:

Part # 975660-000 motor $52.28.

Model number interchange chart:

14.4 volt 5 1/2" trim saw:

973.113080
973.113081

18 volt 5 1/2" trim saw:

315.271810
315.271020
973.113120
973.113121

This concludes the first part of this thread. The second part is about showing comparisons of similar parts from various Craftsman trim saws. Some are similar, and fit perfectly while their appearance might look a little different as far as shape, color, or the writing on them.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The saw on the left is a 14.4 volt model, and the one on the right is an 18 volt model:

They appear to be similar, but you can't interchange the battery from one to the other. Other than the exterior plastic case, the mechanical parts are the same as well as the blade guard, and the bottom plate. The part that comes into contact with the battery, and the switch are similar, but not exact. They do swap from one to another even though they are different just as long as you swap them as an assembly with the wiring, and the battery connector. Here is a comparison of the inside of both trim saws:

The one on the right is the 14.4 volt saw that is being stripped for parts to fix the saw on the left which already has the motor removed. The base plate on the right is from the 14.4 volt, and the one on the left is from the 18 volt:

The only difference with these two parts is what is written on them:

The red switch on the right is from the 14.4 volt, and the other switches are from the 18 volt:

You could see that the black wires on both battery connectors on the 18 volt switches are melted. This is a common problem on this saw. The number of wires coming out of the switch, color of the buttons, and spadeless design are different on the 14.4 volt switch. It still fits perfectly into the 18 volt saw as you could see in this picture:

The blade guards are the same:

The one on the right is damaged, and the one on the left is what it should look like. Here is the motor:

This concludes the second part of this thread. The next part deals with making the actual repairs by swapping parts from one saw to another.

 

[BrooklynBay]

These 2 saws are going to be used for spare parts:

The rear cover is removed on the broken 18 volt saw:

This saw was my original that came in a kit. As you could see, there isn't too much to salvage from it:

This saw was purchased at a later date:

This plate holds the blade guard in place:

This is the blade guard removed:

This is how the spring is wound over the blade guard when it's reinstalled:

The motor is simple to replace. It only has 4 screws holding it down:

The motor is installed, and is ready to be closed up:

This is an outline of what was accomplished:
* A motor was swapped from a 14.4 volt saw into an 18 volt saw.
* A spring loaded blade guard was swapped from one 18 volt saw to another.
* A switch from the 14.4 volt saw was swapped into a second 18 volt saw.

 

[BrooklynBay]

The battery packs on my cordless tools see a lot of use. I had an idea on how to convert one dead battery into an adapter for my cordless tools. This will eliminate down time while another battery is on the charger. Here's a picture of the inside of the modified battery pack:

I removed the small batteries, and replaced them with a 25 amp bridge rectifier from Radio Shack. It is permanently connected to an external AC power supply. This is what it looks like:

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

 

[Rick]

Very cool... I like the AC adapter. I could have used that about a zillion times...

 

[Joe Dirt]

No doubt- that AC adapter is a stellar idea...!

 

[BrooklynBay]

The transformer that was used doesn't supply as much current as the cordless batteries. It feels a little on the under powered side, but it gets the job done until the battery recharges. The goal was to eliminate down time to be more productive, and not use as a permanent substitute for batteries. On a side note, the tool is much lighter without that bulky battery.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Mechanical charging base modification.

Automatic chargers don't last forever. The internal circuitry eventually burns out. The Craftsman charger that I have was discontinued many years ago. Sometimes they appear on EBay, but you have to get lucky to find a good one. Two of them were defective, but are useful for spare parts. This thread shows a modification on how to convert an automatic charger into a mechanical charger. It has one advantage over the automatic charger. The automatic charger requires that the battery still has a partial charge in order to recharge it. There is nothing electronic in the mechanical charger, so it's capable of taking a battery in any condition.

Note: I don't take any responsibility for battery or property damage. Do this mod at your own risk, and never supply more current than the battery is capable of accepting.

Here is the original charger:

The charger will require a mechanical timer:

This timer has a maximum setting of 60 minutes which is similar to the original automatic charger. The two metal mounting tabs are easy to remove since they are connected with two screws. This is a bottom view of the modified circuit board:

This photo shows how the timer connects to the case:

The case is lower in the front which makes a perfect fit for the shape of the timer. The charger originally had three indicator LEDs in the front which were removed along with the other electronic components. The spacing on the case was the exact size for the spacing of the wires coming out of the timer. Here's a banana plug kit for the charger:

The banana plugs are unscrewed from the plastic insulator:

Here's a close up view of the banana plug:

The original plug was cut off, and the banana plugs were soldered on:

I have an old bench top power supply with banana jacks. A customer of mine had it sitting in his basement for many years, and thought that it was garbage. The switch was broken, but was easy to replace with a spare that I had on hand.

Here's the whole thing with a battery charging:

 

[BrooklynBay]

Cigarette lighter adapter plug for a cordless drill.

Most cordless tools have spade connectors which come into contact with the battery pack such as this one:

Sometimes the batteries go bad, and are not worth the cost of replacement. The tool is still good. It would be a waste to throw it out. There is another option. A cigarette lighter provides enough power to run the tool. A booster pack is portable, and would provide sufficient current. Here's a modified wiring harness with female spade connectors to connect to the tool:

Important note: Always make sure that the polarity is correct before you connect this modified wiring harness to the cordless tool.
Here's a photo of the wiring harness connected to the spade connectors:

Insulated connectors were chosen for safety in the event that if one of them should accidentally disconnect, it won't come into contact with the opposite connector, and create a short ciircuit. Always use the proper gauge wire & fuse.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Jobmax motor swap.

My Ridgid Jobmax tool gets a lot of use several times a week. It's very handy since it has multiple heads. The down side is that the motor has to be used more than a regular tool since it's being used as much as several tools combined. The model that I have is the 12 volt version. They make an 18 volt version as well. Ryobi also has an 18 volt version.

My 12 volt model's motor burned out after 2 1/2 years of weekly use. I swapped the motor from an 18 volt tool into it, and now it's back in business once again. The 12 volt model didn't have any writing on the motor, but the 18 volt model said 18 volts on the motor. I don't know if there is any difference between both motors as far as the gauge of the internal windings. It's possible that all of these models use the same motor. All of them look & fit the same way.

While doing a search on EBay for something else I found the part number for the 12 volt motor: 230317001

 

[BrooklynBay]

Quick repair of a damaged air foot pedal.

Drain cleaning equipment which is in direct contact with water requires an air filled pedal instead of a standard switch to activate the machine. These rubber pedals eventually rip, and are $20 to $40 to replace. Here's a quick repair to get you going if you want to finish the drain cleaning job without a lot of down time. A squeeze bottle from machine oil was used as a direct replacement since it was readily available, free, and fit like a glove.