My DW680 portable planer is down and it can't get up..................

[Mark Rios]

I've got a Dewalt DW680 portable power planer. I've been using it to flatten out some root ball slabs. All of the sudden, it stated running at something like half-speed. When I squeeze the trigger, it still runs and it will still plane even but nowhere near the normal speed.

Can anyone tell me what happened?

Is it broke and I need a new one?

Or did it just get too hot and it will magically heal itself and all will be well in an hour or two? :D

I need to know what I need to do pretty quickly 'cause these slabs are starting to crack/split already and I need to get them flattened, coated and stickered. BTW, these are 24" to 28" wide so they won't quite fit in my DW735.:D

Thanks very much for any advice/info you can throw my way.

[Greg Sznajdruk]

You didn't tell us how old your planer is and how hard it has been used.

The switch is simply on off so if it runs then most likely the switch is ok.

Have you looked at the brushes? If this is the problem then its an easy fix.

The only other possibility is the motor, which could be costly and probably not something you may want to address yourself.

A quick trip to a service center may be in order.

Good luck.

Greg

[David Duke]

Mark, without seeing/hearing it run its hard to say but if I had to guess I would say it probably needs new brushes which shouldn't cost too much provided you haven't ran it too much in this condition which could damage the windings at which point the repair cost would cost more than a new tool. If it is the brushes, as you say the motor won't reach full RPM, it will have a competely sound than normal..........kinda a growling sound plus no where near the torque/power it should have.