circular saw brushes sparking

Nigh on certain there are 'shorts' in the armature windings. To test for that requires a 'growler' which you will find at any reputable repair shop.

Sounds like a stuffed armature. Being a skill, just throw it away and buy another one. Skill are the 'Bic' of power tools.

Unless you have an extreme build up of carbon dust etc in there (which is very unlikely to do this) then you most likely have shorts in the motor windings, which create these sparks from the large current being drawn when the brushes pass over those sections..

If this is a regular hand held circular saw, I would consider tossing it and buying a new one, as its unlikely to be viable to have it repaired, or motor re-wound. In my recent experience, DeWalt make excellent power tools (if you want to spend the $$)

If you was a handy man and wanted to try a fix you could remove the armature and use a hacksaw blade ground down on one end to a 'hook' and clean between the armature brass segments with this.

Not for the faint hearted, but could work.

JD

Very much depends how much use it gets , I might use my circular twine a year , so far the $38.00 on special GMC is going fine .

How many years for how many $$$$

They look to be a lot of money for something that turns up alongside all the cheap chinese brands in all the local tool shops. where are they made?

Cant say I've ever seen a brass commy :-) but that aside, most modern gear (last 15yrs at least) has "flush" insulation designed to be worn away by the brushes.

Only worthwhile for tradesmen who will use them often enough IMO. (I have one of their routers, but I doubt I'll ever get my moneys worth out of it unfortunately :-)

So the shops offer you the alternative. What's your point? Nobody who has ever used one, would really compare them to the Chinese brands. However cheap tools do have their place for weekend handymen.

MrT.

DeWalt is only a viable tool for tradesmen, or people who have too much money. If you want a good saw, I would suggest Makita, closely followed by Ryobi for the home handyman who does a fair amount of work. If it is required for the once or twicw a year job, then go for the BMG or Skill.

It is hard to see any difference to justify their high price when compared to the other brands (ignoring yum cha's). I vaguely remember someone explaining they were asian made now.

I've met a few tradesman who don't feel that way and just find it more economical to buy middle quality and use them up, then replace them. YMMV.

That is always an interesting exercise; looking at just how badly made they are.

My high torque (triple geared) wrist snapper is Makita and it was/is worth the money. AEG, Ryobi, ???, ??, ??.

The B&Ds were disasters.

The cheap Ryobi seems to be the same item as some of the Cheapy supermarket special, just a few cosmetic changes. The Ryobi drill press I have is Exactly the same as the Generic brand apart from 2 small bits of plastic.

I'll probhably just buy a cheapy replacement. It only gets used 3 or 4 times a year. The NZ Kmart advertising paower tools (incl saws) for NZ$25. Just how can they make them that cheap

True.

I bought a DEwalt cordless drill in 1995 for about $450. Its still running well now, in spite of 11 years of regular use, being dropped etc. The drill also has a much better feel, and better control than the cheap ones I had used before and since the time.

At the time they were advertised as being US made. I dont know about now. I would be very surprised if they (or anything else) werent made in china.

Most of the tradies I know use Makita tool. With the battery drills, they use them til the batteries are knackered and buy a new replacement. Then they keep the new batteries and give the drill away.

I think GMC were ownde by Ryobi at one stage to sell their lower end tools

AIUI, the Ryobi brand was bought by a German who moved manufacturing to China, and as such the modern Ryobi stuff has no relation to the older.