Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
A newbie here, hope you folks can help.
You know how at the end of the day, when you’ve already worked a hour beyond when you should have called it quits, but you think “well, let me just cut this one more board and then I’ll be done.” Well I didn’t pay attention to where the power cord was, and sawed right through the cord. Nice fireworks display aside, this is my husband’s brand spanking new circular saw and he’s going to be pissed. On Saturday we had planned a long day of work on this project, so I really want to get this blunder fixed by then, which precludes mail-ordering anything.
Replacing the cord looks pretty easy and within my skill set, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the right cord locally. Are the power supply cords fairly generic? Seems like they should be, but when I looked online for parts lists for skilsaw, each model seems to have a different part number. So, am I wasting my time if I just buy a generic replacement cord or even simpler, swap out the cord from my old 5″ saw)?
In other words, do I *really* need that exact official SKIL part? It’s a 7 1/4″ HD5687M, if you need to know the model # to answer.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
All you really need to make sure is you have the right gauge wire for the new cord that old saw might not draw as many amps as the new saw, but to the original point you don’t need the exact replacement part from Skil.
12 gauge wire would be ideal for a high amp draw tool like a circular saw. You could use an old extension cord.
Why not fix the cut cord? I’d get some straight crimp on connectors and tape it up good when I was done. I have a shop vac and a couple other items with cords I repaired myself and never had an issue.
With the extension cord you could make the cord much longer. It really depends on what you want to do as any will work fine.
OK thanks a lot for the input. I figured cords were generic, but helpful to get confirmation. Will give the repair a shot today!
Hey there, try Home Depot. I replaced my Dad’s 20+ year old Craftsman American made Circular saw with a general HOme Depot cord. Piece of cake, took ten minutes and the cord was something like $8, the cords generally fit most brands.
One more thing, the cord is SPECIFICALLY designed for that exact purpose, just ask the employee there (if you can find one)!