zimmerstutzen Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 (edited) Last year I purchased an older RBI Hawk 214. It is much easier to use than the Skil I already had, but recently, the RBI hawk was causing circuit breakers to flip when ever the cord was bumped. I inspected the cord and connections carefully and could find nothing wrong. Then with a continuity tester started checking things and found the cord was somehow shorting out. The exterior black coating was still soft and pliable. So I cut the cord length wise at one spot. The plastic coating on the interior wires was hard and brittle and was crumbling to pieces letting the hot, neutral and ground wires contact. Checked at two more spots, inside the outer black covering the plastic coating on the individual wires had disintegrated into a gritty powder. I already lost one house and shop to fire. Don't want another fire. I replaced the cord with a new shop cord this afternoon. Edited March 31, 2017 by zimmerstutzen SCROLLSAW703, Jim Finn and Scrolling Steve 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrappile Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 Holy cow, glad you caught it. That could have been a disaster. SCROLLSAW703 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl S Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 You brought up a good safety measure. Older cords CAN and DO become brittle over time and cause the problem you discovered. Glad you found it before something serious happened to your shop and family. SCROLLSAW703 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrolling Steve Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Nice save Perry !..Glad you caught that in time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Guy Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Just learned something - Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amazingkevin Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Last year I purchased an older RBI Hawk 214. It is much easier to use than the Skil I already had, but recently, the RBI hawk was causing circuit breakers to flip when ever the cord was bumped. I inspected the cord and connections carefully and could find nothing wrong. Then with a continuity tester started checking things and found the cord was somehow shorting out. The exterior black coating was still soft and pliable. So I cut the cord length wise at one spot. The plastic coating on the interior wires was hard and brittle and was crumbling to pieces letting the hot, neutral and ground wires contact. Checked at two more spots, inside the outer black covering the plastic coating on the individual wires had disintegrated into a gritty powder. I already lost one house and shop to fire. Don't want another fire. I replaced the cord with a new shop cord this afternoon. That was a blessing in disguise finding the problem ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Got me thinking also, just picked up and old saw never thought to check the wiring and plug, thanks for the post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meflick Posted April 1, 2017 Report Share Posted April 1, 2017 Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted April 2, 2017 Report Share Posted April 2, 2017 Yikes! glad you chose to investigate and not ignore the problem. I have never seen this happen, thanks for the heads up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blaughn Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 You brought up a good safety measure. Older cords CAN and DO become brittle over time and cause the problem you discovered. Glad you found it before something serious happened to your shop and family. Old Scrollers become brittle and cause problems as they get older too............ poupster2 and Karl S 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Blaughn, you are so right! Even though my skin is still thick, my innards are falling apart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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