Craftsman Router Repair

[James Combs]

Wasn't sure which forum this fit in, could have gone in Metalworking forum I suppose but it is more about the tool then metal working. Anyway:

Back in November I was using my vintage(1970s) Craftsman router on a small project when it suddenly quite working.

I took the cover off the end of it...
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and one of the commutator contacts fell out of it. Look lying on the edge of the house in the second pic above. Further investigation showed that all though there was some minor damage from the flying commutator piece(a bent brush housing) everything else seem to be OK including the brushes.
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Initially I'm thinking, DANG:D "This means a new router" but after studying the situation for a while I got to wondering if I could fix it. The commutator piece was bent and twisted somewhat so I straightened it out and laid it back in its original location. It appeared that originally it was welded in place at its four corners to the under support material. I was thinking "How can I re-weld the copper?". After looking at it for a while it appeared that there was no need for actual electrical contact between the commutator and the under support so maybe I could just glue it back in place.
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So I grab my medium CA super glue and poured a generous amount into the cavity where the piece came from and replaced the piece back into the location squeezing out and spreading the CA. After the CA set I started pouring more of it everyplace that appeared to have anything loose. Note the white compound in the following photo, much of it(some kind of epoxy) had been broken loose and disappeared and other pieces appeared loose if touched them with your finger. Also not the read arrows on the pic with the commutator vertical. Arrow (1) shows the wire that was attached to the loose commutator piece, (2) shows the bent tab on the piece that crimped and secured the wire and (3) shows areas where I poured additional CA. The arrows on the horizontal view, top arrow shows the wire for the loose commutator piece, there are actually two loose wires but the second one is not visible. The bottom two arrows show how two wires "should" look going to an undamaged commutator piece, not that they form a loop that is looped over the tab of the undamaged commutator piece and the tab crimps the loop. I formed a new loop out of a short piece of copper wire and looped it through the damaged commutator piece then soldered it to the ends of the wire(s) shown by arrow no (1).
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When the CA was good and set, I made sure it was set by spraying everything good with CA accelerator, I put the entire armature on my metal lathe. I turned down all the CA buildup and went into the commutators enough to make sure I had nice shinny copper all the way around. The results are shown in the last pic.
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BUT... did it work, see next post.

[James Combs]

Did it work? Well so far so good.

The first trial was just a bench "smoke test";) I clamped it in my bench clamp and fired it up. It ran with no smoke and surprisingly very little vibration. One of my early thoughts was that even if it did run it had probably lost its balance with all of the loose epoxy I found missing and would probably vibrate like crazy but...:cool: As I mention earlier this took place in November and admittedly it not used for more then maybe 60-90 seconds at any one time, but so far after two months it still runs when I ask it to. How long it will last is any ones guess. I am sure the next time it fails I will be looking for a new one.:rolleyes:
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I didn't have room enough for this pic in the first post but it just shows some detail of the soldered wire connection. to the newly glued in commutator piece. It also shows that I made the electrical connection last though the post above may give a different impression. Sorry it's been a while since I did it.:)
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Thanks for looking and comments are welcomed.

[Bill Huber]

James that is a nice job, I have not seen that done in a long long time. Now days if it stops working it get put in the trash.

[James Combs]

James that is a nice job, I have not seen that done in a long long time. Now days if it stops working it get put in the trash.
Thanks Bill, yeah normally I would do the same thing but it struck me as a challenge, especially after looking at replacement costs.:eek: It also had some sentimental value, I had purchased it back around 1975 for a kitchen remodel so it was kind of an old friend.

[Jim Andrew]

James, any chance you could post some more pics of the teardown and reassembly. I have 2 of those old cman routers with the switch on the handle about the same age, and the bearings are dry in mine. If I could figure out how to take them apart and replace the bearings would do so. Thanks

[James Combs]

James, any chance you could post some more pics of the teardown and reassembly. I have 2 of those old cman routers with the switch on the handle about the same age, and the bearings are dry in mine. If I could figure out how to take them apart and replace the bearings would do so. Thanks
Hi Jim, I went back and looked at the photos I didn't use in the post but there isn't anything that really shows how to tear it down. It only takes a few minutes to tear it down and put it back together so I will take a few minutes to do that tomorrow and take some pics of the process. I wouldn't mind taking a look at the condition of the CA anyway since it has been a couple months since the repair. I do remember that access to the bearing you see in the photos is pretty simple and you can see where I added some lub to mine. The other end though has seals on both sides of the bearing so it may be better to replace, I will advise and show pics late tomorrow.

[Lee Schierer]

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Thanks for looking and comments are welcomed.

It looks like you need to crimp down the lug where the solder was replaced.

[James Combs]

It looks like you need to crimp down the lug where the solder was replaced.
Good catch on the photo Lee but the pic was taken before finale assembly to show the detail of the electrical connection. The lug was re-crimped into position and the excess wire and solder was clipped that you see above the lug before the armature was reinstalled.

[James Combs]

James, any chance you could post some more pics of the teardown and reassembly. I have 2 of those old cman routers with the switch on the handle about the same age, and the bearings are dry in mine. If I could figure out how to take them apart and replace the bearings would do so. Thanks
Jim see PM I just sent.

[James Combs]

Hi Jim, I went back and looked at the photos I didn't use in the post but there isn't anything that really shows how to tear it down. It only takes a few minutes to tear it down and put it back together so I will take a few minutes to do that tomorrow and take some pics of the process. I wouldn't mind taking a look at the condition of the CA anyway since it has been a couple months since the repair. I do remember that access to the bearing you see in the photos is pretty simple and you can see where I added some lub to mine. The other end though has seals on both sides of the bearing so it may be better to replace, I will advise and show pics late tomorrow.
Jim here are some collages of photos of the dis-assembly and reassembly process for the Craftsman router. I have a PDF to explain the pics but apparently it is two large for its file type and won't upload. PM me you email address and I will email it to you.

BTW inspection of the repair after tearing it down for this post revealed no visible deterioration of the repair. Keep your fingers crossed for me.