Ok I was dicking around today and using an older power drill and the damn thing just didn't sound right. It almost sounded like it had a bad bearing in it. Well being broke and unemployed I pull the thing apart. There was about 1/2cup of nasty grease lube in the gear case. I cleaned the old dead grease out, put some new grease in and cleaned the motor with electric glide and cleaned all the dust out of the cooling fins for the motor. The noisy bad bearing sound is gone and the thing sounds very good for probably a 30yr old drill. If I was to change the brushes It would probably run even better.
I did the same with my polisher but the polisher had to have the brushes fall out when I pulled the rotor out of the motor. I was able to grease it up and get it back together and it also sounds much better.
So if any of you folks have old power tools which are disappointing you and not performing or making bad noise pull the sucker apart, clean and lube, check the brushes, and you might be surprised by how much better the tool works.
All of my tools are used cast-offs so fixing them and maintaining them is basically the only option unless I buy new stuff. I haven't been very impressed with newer tools though. The old stuff was made much better and keeping an older machine up and running is both economical and I don't end up getting harbor freight junk.
