My DeWalt failed because the brushes wore out and I didn’t have a spare set on hand. If you’ve changed brushes, you know that they are held against the commutator by a spring. I suspect when the brushes wear too much there isn’t enough for the spring to push on. If I’m right, you could stick something between the spring and the brush to give it something to press against and get a little more life out of the brush. Has anyone tried this? Would it work? I might give it a try tonight after work and report back.
My concern is that there wouldn’t be enough brush left for the channel it is in to hold it perpendicular to the commutator. It would suck to have a brush “turn the corner.”
Not a good idea. Two problem are that you may damage the commutator when the brush gets short enough (depending on hte design, there may be spring or lead ends in the sintered brush) and the brush may cock over due to the necessary slop in the fit that lets the brush adjust during operation.
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