You Can Repair A Palm Sander - GardenFork 

so cool and so empowering

After I saw that you have two sander I decided to buy two sander. One is harbor freight and the other is porter cable. I tried both of your method of what you demonstrated on this video on my harbor freight sander and it works excellent thank you.

Learned to fix my dryer and several computer because of the "if it's already broken..." mantra. Got them up and working just fine. Sometimes, it takes a bit of thinking things through to find a solution, but if you'll hang in there and you'll usually figure it out.

Dude!! My mom and dad had all types of old phones and other electronics. I would take them apart as a kid and try to put them back together. I'm so glad you said that it's a good activity for kids. It comes in handy in the future.

Worked for my Skill Palmer Sander! Thanks.

Boss instruction vid! The dust removal inside the tool was neat. The final switch-spray reminded me of what all I had to do to fix a big wet-dry canister vacuum was to clean the contacts on the freaking switch..... AFTER I had disassembled and cleaned it out and put it back together....1 1/2 hours later.

That was some real live unedited repair nice abit surprise it was connected on the spark moment 😊 thanks it helped me

I took out 2 of the same sander in the same way. They're good as new now. Also clogged up an obital sander, oscillating tool, and a shop vac. Took everything apart and cleaned all the drywall dust out

Thanks dude! I just took my apart (exact same model as yours) and blew it out with air and sprayed it down with cleaner. I plugged it back in and it didn’t come on until about 10 seconds later. But hey, it’s working. I like my little sander and glad it’s fixed thanks to you.

That's how I learn to fix things when I was a kid! I would take apart things my dad had that were broken and I would figure out how to fix them! I was able to fix a weed whacker that someone threw away in the dumpster...oh, and also and oscillating fan! Great video, Eric!

I decided to try to fix my old mouse sander that stopped working after I used it pretty hard. I took it apart a blew it out real good with an air compressor plugged it in an still no power so, I get on RU-vid to find a solution and your video was the right one I took it apart and sprayed inside the armature and sprayed the bearing with some WD -40 even though it was in good shape and put back together but nothing so, I took your advice on the switch and sprayed it with the electrical cleaner and tried to get the spray in their real good and plugged it back up and it started working so, I'm guessing it was just dirty inside the switch. Thanks for the help!

Awesome job, Eric!

Your video helped and I fixed my palm sander

I needed this video last month so bad.

Nice work.

nice video dude, this is good quality information

Great idea....I've had a Palm sanded for over 20 years and the switch finally went out,soo I bought a new one with the bag,but I will fix the switch with the inline switch...never even thought of it.....thx Eric.

Great Video, I fixed mine too. It was the switch.

Good stuff man! Another tool saved, 2 actually.

once again I salute you for your most useful, practical and methodical presentations to help us have a richer, more sustainable life that works better and better with each of your videos. Great camera work too. Delightful!

First video of yours I saw. +1 subscriber. Thanks

Very nice!

Thanks for showing how

You slay me, Eric. The dogs, and I, are still laughing! Good video, as usual. Keep 'em coming.

Inspirational - thanks. I already replaced my sander, but now I'll try resurrecting my old one. My only criticism is that it would have been worth the effort to track down a replacement switch instead of using an in-line switch because the sander is far more usable if you can turn it on or off with the hand that's holding it, without having to put it down or use your other hand, which may not be free.

Luckily i had some of that cleaner. My milwaukee sander was 4 hours old and the switch stopped working! Works great now

Good job! I'll be adding electronic cleaner to my fixing attempts.

I bet alot of good tools get thrown away just because of a bad switch. Great video!

Awesome! :D

I salute you! gotta admit that I laugh when you're shorting the switch :lol nice video, man... I enjoyed it :thup

What do you think of harbor freight tools?

Very helpful, but if you see some sparking in the sander but it hasn't completely failed yet would this fix that situation as well?

Hi what settings did you use on the multimeter?

Good job, Eric. I used to fix power tools for a living and the parts are cheap, so there's no reason not to. Of course you end up with old tools instead of shiny new toys.

Great video. You cold easily have edited that switch error out, but didn't, which is a good lesson as it's so easy to forget once you start doing repeated electrical tests. Some nice tips in there too.

even if it can't be fixed it's worth going in to have a look -so worth the try. For "see if it starts" try loose assemble first. Switch could have been replaced cheap from ebay. Sounds very good after clean up.

Way to go!

I'm sanding some soft wood and my sander started to slow down suddenly. Later it completely stopped moving, I mean the oscillation stopped, but the electric motor was still running. I don't want to buy a new one, and I'm sure it isn't the switch that causes the problem... I like your video, I'm a repairman-type, too. :-) But I haven't taken a sander apart before, but if you can do it, so can I ;-)

you can get a replacement switch for these things, you could also wrap a bare wire around the base of switch where the push ons are then tape it, this will keep the connectors there for when you get the switch in. nice vid

Cheers for this! Did not know the switch could be an issue on powered sanders (motor spun freely; no fuse blown, usual suspects) Guess thats my job tonight! ;)

You really should disconnect the switch when testing it with the multi-meter. My switch was faulty but i was getting readings from the 2 wires that are connected to the switch once you take off the switch from the circuit board you can test it properly. Enjoyed the video

Can i make you a question, i have the same palm sander, and the problem i deal is huge vibrations. the bearings are ok, the carbons replaced, so is there a chance that the rotor/stator makes noise and vibrates?

What's the motor inside the palm sander? I'm looking to make my own for fun

Eric, Are those new pine doors or are you refinishing old ones? Those blotches look like areas where something like fungal action has altered the cell structure of the wood, making affected and unaffected areas take the stain differently.

after spraying the second switch did you rethink your decision to cut off the switch from the first one without spraying it first?

easy to fix those switches if you know remedies you can open up that switch and clean the inner parts. cause by dirty contact but be careful of the tiny parts that will pop up but better replace it with a new one

GF WHAT SIZE BRUSHES WERE IN THE SANDERS??? THANKS, JOE

You're missing the point, Eric. A broken tool is the perfect excuse to buy the newest version! :-) That said, when I'd bring my garbage to the town transfer station I'd usually find kid's bikes set next to the hopper. I'd bring them home and fix them up for donation. I can't tell you how many times I brought bikes home only to find the only thing wrong with them was a flat tire! Dad was either too lazy, or just had no clue, and it was easier to flash a credit card than get their hands dirty.

I find it amazing that nice and expensive tools use such cheap switches. When you took the old switch off couldn't you have just bought a new switch and plugged it into the wire ends instead of an in line switch?

Found a palm sander in dumpster when took trash out(dumpsterdiving😂). It’s running a diffrent speeds and just trying learn something maybe to try.

Dear GardenFork, I have a skil 7366 and have problems whith de sensor, is always red, how I can repair?, I tried but it does not work. Thank you for your time. Regards,

Can you post a video on circular saw repair?

Stereo palm sanders - I like it.

I'm trying to fix my sander but one of the brushes came off the and I can't seem to know how to put it back☹️

I was thinking the other day while i was fixing a soda streamer. How much things we - (humans) throw away, which sometimes is actually not too hard to fix. I also like to fix things. Not always working ofc. But I like the whole challange. btw The sodastreamer is now working ;) Good job with your repair :)

like you said, if it's already broke, you can't break it more! often people don,t even take a shot at it, a huge part of the time a cleaning do the tricks, with electric stuff, it,s usually the extension cord broken at either end, the plug or the switch, and what i learned recently, if it's electronics, often it's a capacitor gone bad

the original switch can be Picked uP at an Ace Hardware

Be safe, security first

Thx Eric...I will dry that first....

Or you could take the in-line switch and see if it is the same switch to replace it.

i think i'll keep all my power tools plugged in while i am cleaning or repairing them just as a challenge. :P

If you want, I can send photos by email.

Im buying a new one :)

U see, we(I mean we) fixed broken power hand tool by accident sometimes, lesson: don't hesitate to try. Just in time, my b&d palm sander vibrate unusual.

The problem on the second door was caused by water. At one point the door was splashed with water, and every spot where there was water caused the grain to be raised, and to absorb more stain (dark spots). I've seen this happen several times, and it's always very annoying. One solution (too late now) would have been to sand the spots (by hand) with lots of stain and sandpaper (wet the sandpaper with the stain) and just slightly wet-sand the spots until everything blends in. Sometimes this works really great (especially if the wood was already sanded with the same grit sandpaper) but sometimes it doesn't work well and you just see all the sanded areas as sort of cloudy patchy spots. Normally the whole surface needs a light scuffing (including unaffected areas) for the stain to absorb evenly. These kind of prefabricated doors tend to be either NOT sanded, or machine sanded (rough) on only half the surfaces (like the stiles and rails of the doors but not the panels, which have a fresh cut/planed and polished sort of surface). I would suggest NOT using a palm sander here. You are likely to get tons of swirl marks (like a Spirograph). Just hand sand the areas with a sponge pad using 150 grit paper until everything looks nice and even (light brown), and try re-staining it. If most of that side of the door is all like that, I'd suggest a random orbital sander, but never a square palm sander. Another thing to keep in mind is that if this one door is sanded (let's say really nicely with 150 over that whole side), it may turn out a lot darker than the factory finished door that wasn't sanded. My advice is based on experience as a professional cabinetmaker for over 15 years. Good job on the sanders. If you were pickier, there's a chance the same replacement switches could be ordered online. I had to do this for my shop vac, and I wanted the same exact one. I think it cost me 4$ with shipping, and it worked out great!

You can replace the same switch with a switch of the same size

If you are lucky your ohmeter still works.

why not desolder the new switch and put it in the device its the same switch

Jesus Christ, we almost watched you electrocute yourself at 5:35. I find all this fascinating to watch, but I'll be honest with you, I really have no interest or tools to fix this type of thing and no tools to fix. I'm the guy perfectly comfortable hiring a handy man and watching videos of do-it-yourself guys doing it themselves. My wife gives me sh!t, but I'm okay with that.