Does the Boston pencil sharpener Model 18 have a thermal shutdown?

Answer 1

My (Model 18) is thermal shutdown too.

Yes,to your question. It is a safety measure to protect the motor,it stops the motor when the thermal temp. reaches a certain number of degrees. This could be caused by sharpening too many pencils at one time.You must remember this motor only supposed to run in short bursts,allow it too cool back down to the operating temp. limits. You also might have a problem with the gearing inside the unit,causing unusal drag on the motor. These gears are made of plastic,too hard and brittle to last very long. What i do is take the unit apart (Only three screws ) and lube the gears with 3 in one oil,this is a very good oil for this purpose. You can find this oil at Wal-Mart near the bolts of cloth,buttons and etc.. I hope this helps. I have a problem with my Boston pencil sharpener too,the large plastic gear cogs broke and now i'am having a difficult time locating this gear. Boston and their manufactures won't make them or sell them,they informed me that the pencil sharpener is a throw away item,to cheap to carry parts for,it would cost more for the parts than the whole unit.