Help troubleshooting PC 7518 problem???

[Jon Bonham]

I was cutting some rails and stiles last night when my 7518 kind of ground to a halt. Before stopping it tripped a breaker. It was working fine, I had just made a couple quick cuts with it and then suddenly it sounded like somebody dumped a bag of marbles into it. Right before it shut down, I could literally count the revolutions it was making.

Right now, I have it completely stripped down but I'm not sure what it should look like when it's not broken. Both brushes are about an inch long and both have a pretty good thickness missing off the edge, like 1/4 of the total width of the brush. I haven't separated the armature from the main bearing or the bearing from the housing (it's the only portion I haven't been able to break down, it appears it's all pressed together), but there's definitely some play in the armature/bearing. I can hold the housing tightly and moving the armature side to side about 1/8" maybe more, but in that general area of movement.

Any ideas before I just run this thing down to my nearest PC service center?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Jon

[pat warner]

A wonderful tool but a woeful microprocessor and speed control.
Yours is not unusual. People say they recover control x blowing out the dust & stuff.
In my view, PC blew it alright, but you need a new speed control.
Not only to get you running again but a screwed up speed control is safety hazard.
(A user should not have to clean squat to keep a router running.) A shame!

[Jon Bonham]

Maybe. The PC service center seems to think it's brushes.