So, I scored a Skil 100 that was languishing in a thrift shop in WA state. It just arrived with the front shoe broken off in shipping (Thanks, Fed Ex!).
Can anybody recommend a power tool repair person in Santa Cruz to make this planer right again? It wouldn't suck to replace the blades and maybe belt if necessary while getting the shoe repaired…
Thanks for any help. PM is great if you'd rather comment privately.
The only Google/engine search hit I find up to now is "Kevin's tool repair."
Did to my best to search archives for a rec, found nothing.
PM is welcome, too, in case feedback or rec/warning is best not posted publicly.
I would ship it to PeteC.
Plan to do that with mine hopefully in the near future.
Thanks chrisp. Will do that if an option and I can't get it done locally.
There must be someone here from SC or nearby that can rec a planer repairperson, even if (holding nose) in San Jose?
That's a tough part to come by. If it was damaged in shipping and insured by all means let FedX make it right.
I'm with Mako on that one…
Usually the SC guys send the Skil's down to me with somebody that's going to the Scared Craft show in Oct. They drop them off on Wed and I take them finished to the show Sun afternoon. A broken shoe is very difficult to weld due to the porosity of the aluminum alloy casting. I made a number of CNC replacements, but have been out for a couple of years. Get Fed-Ex to reimburse, get another and use that shoe. There's a lot of Skil's around with shorted motors that are being parted-out or just buy the whole thing for cheap.
Thanks very much, guys. I did already start a FedEx claim. Thanks especially for that info, petec. I was specifically wondering about how well or poorly the metal might solder/weld. I do plenty of brass soldering and was planning to give either a medium temp tin solder or silver soldering a try. I would guess trying to silversolder would probably melt the aluminum or otherwise be a bust.
If you're still doing work on these, you might be hearing from me for some of the other reconditioning issues if you're up to handling them, petec.
If anybody has tips on how to negotiate the FedEx claim, I'm all ears. I use FedEx to ship in my biz, but have never actually had to file a damage claim. I paid $225 for the Skil, after shipping, if that makes a difference in how I should go about handling the claim. I did already specify $220 or $225 as the value when filing the claim. Kind of wonder if with FedEx the UPS advice to file for $150 damage, or less, applies. With UPS, up to a few years ago, if you filed a damage value of $150 or less, they'd pretty much just pay it without any hassles. Over that, and there could be hassles.
seems like you could get a new, used shoe for less than $150???
Thanks for your help here, guys. I actually somewhat misstated the damage. The front shoe itself is fine. The damage is to the track on the main body of the planer onto which the front shoe mounts. The track on the main body of the tool broke off at the groove.
At this moment, I still don't have a rec for local repair, and am presuming sending it off is the best plan of action for repair.
If anybody can rec someone locally (around Santa Cruz or reasonably nearby), please let me know (either here or by PM).
FedEx claim is ongoing…
Too bad it wasn't the shoe. I have one. The main body/rear portion of the planer is going to be much harder to find. You'll have better luck finding a complete planer for parts. There was recently a main/rear on Ebay, but it is now gone. If Pete can help you send it to him. Best bet for all around repair and refurbish.