Another Tool for the Trash Can

[mcp6453]

As I have mentioned here before, my father passed away in 1998. When we sorted his things, I got a lot of tools and parts of various sorts. He was somewhat of a hoarder although in his later years he had a regrettable tendency to purchase Taiwanese bargain bin tools instead of the good stuff.

Last night when I was going through some boxes, I found a Craftsman 572.610010 rotary tool. It looks like new. He probably never used it. When I turned it on, it ran for a few seconds, and then the chuck stopped turning. The motor continues to run just fine. The chuck is free-wheeling.

When I opened it, I found that there is a plastic or nylon sleeve that couples the motor shaft to the chuck. It was completely disintegrated from age. The problem now is that I cannot find a parts list or even a comparable parts lists that shows the part. If I can't find the part number, there is no chance of finding the part. It's probably not available anyway, but it's worth looking.

It looks like the trash can for this one.

I know that tools don't last forever, and I know that manufacturers cannot be expected to supply parts forever, but what aggravates me is that the Sears parts site does not even list the model.

[Lee]

[mcp6453]

No, but I will. It appears that the unit was made by Dremel and private labeled for Sears. Maybe I can get the part from Dremel.

[willshak]

mcp6453 wrote the following:

The first 3 numbers (572.) of the model number for all Sears Craftsman tools and appliances indicate the real manufacturer of the item. Have you confirmed that 572 is for Dremel?

[mcp6453]

No, I didn't know that. How can I confirm?

[Van Chocstraw]

Throw it away and buy a Dremel if you really need it. They don't cost that much.

[Stormin Mormon]

Have some fun. Take it back to Sears, and watch their guys do blank looks. Tell em, Dad might have bought it as recently as last year.

[willshak]

It is a Dremel.

[gfretwell]

Sounds like he needs a Dremel P/N 2612594309 Get a few, they do go bad.

[mcp6453]

On a lark, I went into chat at SearPartsDirect. The guy on the other end found the part rather quickly. The part is exactly the one that gfretwell suggested. It's a $2 part, but with tax and shipping, it's $10.30. However, he did give me a $10 coupon for signing up for the spam list, for which I have a special email account anyway. So, for 30¢, I have a good Dremel tool. (The one I have is actually a Dremel 275-3, as it turns out.)

It has been surprisingly difficult to locate parts and diagrams on the Dremel site. They have the operations manual for the 275-3, but I could not find an exploded diagram or a parts list. I'm still looking.

As of the last year, I have made it a firm policy to download a copy of all of the online documents that are available for a tool or a piece of electronics equipment. The documents for the tools I received for Christmas were downloaded within a couple of days. Sometimes these documents disappear. If no PDF version of the manual is available for download, before I lose it, I scan my manual and post it to a public site.

In summary, the tool probably does not have to go to the trash can. Giving credit where credit it due, I was able to obtain the necessary information and part from Sears. Now I have to figure out how the brush caps attach. They don't have screw caps like the regular Dremels do.

[Tony]

Can you get a nylon spacer (decent selection at lowes) and force it on each end? Or if you need more flex, a heavy duty rubber gasoline or transmission line with a small interior diameter may work. Or look at Graingers, I'm sure they have lot's of motor couplers and one may work better than the original. They normally are metal on each end and rubber in the middle, with set screws on each metal end.

[gfretwell]

I got mine in a pawn shop for a buck after I showed him it was "broken" (bad coupler). I knew about the parts. You can replace just about everything on these old Dremels and they will last forever.

BTW if you have a chain saw, get the right Dremel bit for your chain. It is the only way to sharpen one. In about 5 minutes you will have it chopping out big chips, just like a new one.

[mcp6453]

I actually now have 3 Dremels: 2 old ones and one new battery one. They're neat tools.

While I have a chain saw, it has not been used enough to dull the blade. It's a cheap, electric one. How hard is it to get the angle correct on the tooth?

[aemeijers]

Back in the stone age, I briefly had a small gas saw, till garage got robbed. When I bought it, I also picked up a file and one of those little jig things that sits over the bar, and provides a groove at the right angle to pull the file across. Made doing touch-ups almost painless. Didn't have the saw long enough to wear out the chain. Now I have one of those toy electrics, that I picked up for 15 bucks at a garage sale, from a guy that just moved into a condo. Too wimpy to do any production cutting, but works fine for the 3-4 fallen limbs a year I need to chop up. So far, it has stayed sharp, and I anticipate getting many years out of it. If it ever gets too dull, I'll probably just buy a new chain, or another garage sale saw.

-- aem sends...

[gfretwell]

It is not really hard to get close and I have not really noticed that a little variance hurts much as long as you match what it was when you start. The link does seem to self correct to some extent anyway if you nest the grinder in there until it feels good before you hit the button.

[gfretwell]

The problem we have here is palm trees. They tend to pull some fine sand up with the water in the fibers and they will knock the edge off a chain pretty fast.

[Coolerman]

Simple fix! Just take the tool apart and take the piece with the chuck to any auto parts store. Find the section where they sell clear plastic tubing and find a tubing size that will fit snugly over the end if that piece where the old sleeve fit. Buy a foot of that and when you get home cut a piece to length and put it back together. Works like a charm! Though these are single speed tools I have used this one a lot. It is actually well made.

[Ashton Crusher]

This was originally posted in 2010....

[dan]

replying to Ashton Crusher , dan wrote: Ain't the interwebs great!! I was trying to fix my old backpack stove and couldn't find a replacement fuel line. But I did find a discussion board with other people who had the same problem. Turns out you can fix it with a piece of

3/16 ID fuel tubing from AutoZone. but first you have to cut off the crimped ends of the old hose with a cutoff wheel. So I got out my old Sears rotary tool and halfway through the job it broke. Took it apart and found the problem and started looking for the part, but found this thread instead. An inch of the same fuel tubing I bought to fix the stove worked for the rotary tool as well. Now I'll try to fire up the stove without setting myself on fire. Wish me luck.

[willshak]

What broke? The rotary tool or what you were cutting?

Took it apart