Sears Craftsman 3” Dual Motion Sander doesn’t power on

[fishwatcher]

My uncle gave me this old Craftsman sander and it doesn’t work. I plug it in, have my finger and thumb engaging the trigger and safety and it won’t start. No noise at all either. I’ve taken it apart (top side as well, just no picture) and there are no obvious (to me) parts that are loose or out of place.

What can I do to fix this?

Thanks for looking and any tips.

 

[RTM]

If it was mine, I’d start at the top, At the electric coming in. Assuming your wall socket is good, I’d check for voltage at both sides of the switch, work my way down towards the motor. Once I know I have juice to the motor, I’d look at the commutator, brushes etc to look for worn out brushes, or however the electrical gets to the spinny bits. Make sure the segmented bits of the commutator are not bridged over.

If I got that far and everything looks good, I’d unplug it and try to spin the motor by hand. If that failed I would look for internal to the motor binding, or the bottom half of the sander. If all that fails, I’d punt.

 

[fishwatcher]

If it was mine, I’d start at the top, At the electric coming in. Assuming your wall socket is good, I’d check for voltage at both sides of the switch, work my way down towards the motor. Once I know I have juice to the motor, I’d look at the commutator, brushes etc to look for worn out brushes, or however the electrical gets to the spinny bits. Make sure the segmented bits of the commutator are not bridged over.

If I got that far and everything looks good, I’d unplug it and try to spin the motor by hand. If that failed I would look for internal to the motor binding, or the bottom half of the sander. If all that fails, I’d punt.

Thanks RTM!

 

[vwpieces]

Rather than playing with live voltage with it plugged in, start with a continuity tester, clip one of the spades on the plug end and figure out which wire it beeps at inside in the cord. Keep moving along, following that wire. Turn on SW and make sure beeps still are following... all the way to the brush. Rough example but better than playing with live wires.

Brushes should also float in the holders. I have seen many times a brush gets lodged in the holder from hardened grease/oil, corrosion or old caked up saw dust.

 

[david3921]

I'd start with a thorough cleaning with some air. Blow it into all of the vents and the switch as best as you can. Like vwpieces mentioned, crud can keep things from working.

 

[RTM]

Rather than playing with live voltage with it plugged in, start with a continuity tester, clip one of the spades on the plug end and figure out which wire it beeps at inside in the cord.

yes, his way is definitely safer, and how I would start on an unknown piece of equipment. Something known I am a little more cavalier, which is not a good thing to recommend on a public forum

 

[fishwatcher]

Electronics are totally foreign to me. This does give me hope though.. that friends of mine who know about electronics and have testing equipment could easily do a quick troubleshooting. Thanks for everybody's answers!