It’s not about the brushes
Many electric tools continue to use a brushed motor system. The benefit being they are easier and cheaper to service as they wear with age compared to brushless tools (often cordless).
You may be wondering what the normal lifespan is for a set of brushes? This can vary, with many factors influencing the rate of wear, such as size of brushes, along with how the tool is used (heavy load can wear at a more rapid rate).
Depending on the tool, brushes can be replaced by the user if you have some experience. However, it should be noted that some tools can be a little more complex in terms of accessing the brushes and critically it isn’t always the brushes at fault.
Over time, additional elements wear such as the armature and field coil. Replacing the brushes won’t help. Some indicators of this can be excessive arcing (sparks) being emitted from the armature during operation as well as some wear indicators as below –
Brushes should have a smooth surface. If they are chipped or uneven, this may suggest the armature has worn and isn’t making contact correctly with the brushes.
The armature should have nice flat (clean) contact points. If you note a dip or burn mark, this may indicate the armature is approaching or requires replacing Field coils can burn out (mostly due to armature wear/failure), so should be inspected if signs of armature failure/wear.
Below are images to give examples of good vs bad. As you will imagine, replacing further elements such as armatures can present greater challenges, so we would recommend leaving to the experts.
At Power Tool Sales, we have a team of fully training technicians with experience across a broad range of brands that can offer a comprehensive repair service, whether it is replacing carbon brushes or more involved repairs such as armatures/field coils or more.
Please contact us via our tool repair page for further support