I have a 1953 Black & Decker orbital sander in need of a set of brushes.

Dimensions: .243 x .182 x .6 spring

Narrow by today's standards so I'm having trouble locating some. B&D says they do not support any longer. It's only been 61 years. What the heck is the matter with them

If anyone has a source I'd appreciate in knowing.

Thanks!

 

Several places come to mind. One is Graingers. They have many brushes listed but may not have all the dimensions posted for each brush.

Try local hardware stores. The old mom and pop places. My hardware store in town has pullout drawers with brushes in them and a pretty good supply of different sizes.

 

I found Graingers but, as you suggest, they lack any dimensions. None appear to be correct in the picture. That .182 thin side is the tricky part. Most .25's are wider on the other side.

Mom and Pop's... tried several of the remaining ones and no luck. Also tried Ebay but again the size looks wrong.

Hope I do not have to retire this beast. The best sander out there for fine work.

Hope some others have a source.

 

Buy an oversize set and file them to fit. The carbon is really soft and files quickly. Have salvaged older machines with this method.

RR

 

A friend suggested an old time hardware store he knew of several towns away. Called them and they "have some brushes" in a yellow box.

Will make a trip to them in a day or so.

 

There ya' go...... just sitting there waiting for you.

 

I once had an alternator on my car that stopped charging the battery. I took it apart and found the brushes were worn to a nub. Thinking that simply replacing the brushes would fix it I attempted to buy a set of brushes. HAH! I actually found a shop that would rebuilt my alternator, for about $100 as I recall, but they didn't have any replacement brushes. I should have asked them how they were going to "rebuild" my unit if they didn't have the necessary parts but I didn't

So what I did was make my own brushes. At this late date (this happened about forty years ago) I don't remember if I used arc lamp carbons (I think) or the center electrode in a D-cell flashlight battery but in a couple of hours I had shaped the new brush and installed it in the alternator and had it back in the car. I guess I did an okay job because it was still going strong four years later when I sold that car.