Today the snow fell again as winter refused to leave. The slushy snow was mixed with rain, so it would be another day indoors. A year ago, Ryan gave me a dead power tool, thinking it might make for a good repair project. Given the icy weather, I fetched the dead tool from the garage and began the autopsy.
The tool is a German-made Hilti DEG 500-D Angle Grinder. This tool retails for $200 on Home Depot’s web page, so it’s a better quality tool than I’d normally buy for myself. I plugged it in, pulled the trigger – and nothing happened. The grinder came apart quickly, held together with those 6-point Torx-head screws. My small wrenches were at the other house, so I had to defer the removal of the roller bearings for another week.
I found a parts manual on-line for the tool, which is helpful. The tool’s trigger switch tests ok, and the motor’s armature tests good too. The motor has a pair of brushes, one of which is highly worn. Brushes are cheap, so I can replace those. I haven’t inspected bearings yet, but those tend to be inexpensive, too. The bevel gears are in good condition and should only require cleaning and lubrication.
I won’t spend a lot of money fixing this old tool, so I challenged myself to diagnose the problem and fix the tool for less than $40 in parts. It’ll be a fun little indoor project in case winter decides to stay a while longer.
LOL Looks like your getting a little hard up to find projects. Maybe you need to get another bike to start refurbishing. Yeah this winter weather sure does not want to let go. Were probably a month behind so far this year with having decent weather. Lot’s of work outside is getting behind. I would of had alot done already so I could ride more. Guess we’ll just have to wait.