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How can I unlock my Reciprocating saw it was working and locked up now it won't unlock

Carol
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    What is the name of the manufacturer of the saw? What is the saw's model number? What was the saw doing when it "locked up?" What have you tried to get the saw to work again? – DavidRecallsMonica Mar 20 '23 at 19:38
  • The hard way is to take it apart see what is jammed or broken and try to repair it. You then have to put it back together right. Unless it is/was quite expensive, the easy way is to get a new one. – crip659 Mar 20 '23 at 19:38
  • Bad news, something is broken in the gear box – Traveler Mar 20 '23 at 19:39
  • Try moving the saw blade with a pair of pliers. – SteveSh Mar 20 '23 at 20:25

2 Answers2

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Well you will have to open it to see what is going on.

Recommended method would be to take pictures for each step so you know how to put it back together.

After you open it, you can see if it is was your fault of not maintaining it (grease).

There are quite few parts in the gear box, for converting the rotary motion into linear motion, so first to find out is if there is a rotary motion or is the motor simply burned up.

Traveler
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    I've never greased a reciprocating saw. I've used them on jobsites for many hundreds of hours. I'd be surprised if the manufacturer even calls for that. – isherwood Mar 20 '23 at 20:24
  • @isherwood just years of experience. Every gear box has moving parts in it, and it is happy if lubricated once in a while. – Traveler Mar 20 '23 at 20:44
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    Sure, but who does that? It's a bit of a stretch to assign "fault" here. – isherwood Mar 20 '23 at 20:53
  • @isherwood HOW TO GREASE THE GEAR ASSEMBLY ON THE DEWALT DC385K RECIPROCATING SAW – Traveler Mar 20 '23 at 21:25
  • https://duckduckgo.com/?q=greese+reciprocating+saw+gear&t=osx&ia=web – Traveler Mar 20 '23 at 21:26
  • Agree that nobody I know considers greasing a reciprocating saw to be regular maintenance. But to the OP: tell us the brand and model and we’ll tell you if it’s worth saving. – Aloysius Defenestrate Mar 20 '23 at 21:41
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First, it it's still under warranty, call the manufacturer.

If it's out of warranty, you may still want to call the manufacturer and ask if they have a repair center anywhere near you.

Check the manufacturer's website, and search the web generally, to see if anyone else has had this problem with this specific make and model and how they resolved it if they did.

If none of that helps, you're down to trying to carefully repair it yourself -- the manufacturer may have exploded parts diagrams that could help -- or hit it with a hammer and see if you can knock free whatever seized up. Either may destroy it beyond repair.

Or you can skip to considering it beyond repair, and shop for a replacement. Then maybe try to repair it just for fun.

keshlam
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