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Spent $150 on a vintage clipper restoration kit and it was a total bust
I found this old Oster 76 from the 90s at a flea market for $10 and thought I'd bring it back to life. Bought a restoration kit online with new blades, springs, and a carbon brush set for about $150. Spent a whole Sunday taking it apart, cleaning everything, and putting it back together. When I fired it up, it sounded worse than before and started smoking after 10 seconds. Turns out the motor was shot and no kit was gonna fix that thing. Should've tested it before buying or just thrown it away. Anybody else get burned on a 'bargain' old tool?
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hall.nora1mo ago
Got the exact same thing happen to me with an old Sunbeam model last year... paid $80 for the clipper at a garage sale, then dropped $120 on a rebuild kit because the guy swore it "just needed new blades." Spent three hours on it, fired it up and it just groaned and died... smelled like burning toast and melted plastic. Found out later those old motors have a known issue where the windings just give up after 30 years, no amount of new parts will help. Still sitting on my bench as a paperweight, lesson learned the hard way.
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