Ok well tonight I went to use my router and suddenly..... no power. the switch stopped working. No amount of shaking or blowing out would get it going again. So I took it apart.
MAKE SURE IT's UPLUGGED AND YOU CAN SEE THE PLUG. I always do this. Not only unplugged but confirm that I know where teh plug IS before doing this stuff.
2 screws removed to take the top cover off. Torx. I shoulda wrote down the size.
Remove top cover.
Now you can see the speed control. In order to remove the switch you'll want to take out the 2 screws that hold the power cord in place. Torx again. Same size as the ones holding teh sub-base on. Loosen the power cord.
Look at the switch. It has 2 wires coming out of it. One is soldered to the switch and the other is on a spade terminal. The one that's soldered to the switch is connected to the router using a spade terminal at the other end. Trace that wire (easy) and pull that connection (spade terminal). Now lift the power cord out of it's spot and kinda flip it over the top of the router. The whole speed control unit lifts right out of the way as well. You need to do this to get slack in the wires going to the switch. Now you can just pry the switch out gently. First one end, then the other. When it's out away from the router housing a little bit you can disconnect the one wire that's on a spade terminal at the switch. The other one will snake out as you pull the switch away from the housing.
Now you have a switch in your hand.
I put a multimeter on it and it wasn't passing power through (just using resistance testing). The rocker portion of the switch is just popped into the plastic switch housing and held in there by 2 little protruding "buttons" on either side. You can see them from the outside of the switch. Use a small, thin bladed screwdriver to gently slip between the rocker and the switch housing NOT IN THE MIDDLE... you don't want to damage those little buttons that hold it in. The rocker pops out and has a little post sticking straight down (into the switch).
My switch was full of sawdust. This switch isn't very well designed considering the environment it has to work in. I think Bosch has a newer model switch. I may call and see if I can get them to send me one. Anyways..... be careful because there's a little piece of metal inside the switch and it's not really held in there in any way. It just fits in there in a tab-and-slot arrangement. This is what "makes and breaks" to provide power. If it falls out.... (I blew mine out when I was getting the sawdust out)... it goes in just one way. There's a raised contact on one end that has to sit on a contact below it. This little metal piece is curved! If you're looking down into the switch, the curve goes AWAY from you. The post that comes down out of the rocker piece rides on the curve. It'll make sense when you see it. I had to get a tweezers to put it back in. Cleaned out the switch, popped in the rocker, tested with multimeter. Passed. Reassembly was reverse of disassembly. Router working again nicely.
I can see where this is going to happen again. Sawdust gets into the switch by slipping past the rocker. Only takes a few minutes to clean it, but it there's a new SEALED switch available, it'd only take a few minutes to CHANGE it and then I won't have to do this again
MAKE SURE IT's UPLUGGED AND YOU CAN SEE THE PLUG. I always do this. Not only unplugged but confirm that I know where teh plug IS before doing this stuff.
2 screws removed to take the top cover off. Torx. I shoulda wrote down the size.
Remove top cover.
Now you can see the speed control. In order to remove the switch you'll want to take out the 2 screws that hold the power cord in place. Torx again. Same size as the ones holding teh sub-base on. Loosen the power cord.
Look at the switch. It has 2 wires coming out of it. One is soldered to the switch and the other is on a spade terminal. The one that's soldered to the switch is connected to the router using a spade terminal at the other end. Trace that wire (easy) and pull that connection (spade terminal). Now lift the power cord out of it's spot and kinda flip it over the top of the router. The whole speed control unit lifts right out of the way as well. You need to do this to get slack in the wires going to the switch. Now you can just pry the switch out gently. First one end, then the other. When it's out away from the router housing a little bit you can disconnect the one wire that's on a spade terminal at the switch. The other one will snake out as you pull the switch away from the housing.
Now you have a switch in your hand.
I put a multimeter on it and it wasn't passing power through (just using resistance testing). The rocker portion of the switch is just popped into the plastic switch housing and held in there by 2 little protruding "buttons" on either side. You can see them from the outside of the switch. Use a small, thin bladed screwdriver to gently slip between the rocker and the switch housing NOT IN THE MIDDLE... you don't want to damage those little buttons that hold it in. The rocker pops out and has a little post sticking straight down (into the switch). My switch was full of sawdust. This switch isn't very well designed considering the environment it has to work in. I think Bosch has a newer model switch. I may call and see if I can get them to send me one. Anyways..... be careful because there's a little piece of metal inside the switch and it's not really held in there in any way. It just fits in there in a tab-and-slot arrangement. This is what "makes and breaks" to provide power. If it falls out.... (I blew mine out when I was getting the sawdust out)... it goes in just one way. There's a raised contact on one end that has to sit on a contact below it. This little metal piece is curved! If you're looking down into the switch, the curve goes AWAY from you. The post that comes down out of the rocker piece rides on the curve. It'll make sense when you see it. I had to get a tweezers to put it back in. Cleaned out the switch, popped in the rocker, tested with multimeter. Passed. Reassembly was reverse of disassembly. Router working again nicely.
I can see where this is going to happen again. Sawdust gets into the switch by slipping past the rocker. Only takes a few minutes to clean it, but it there's a new SEALED switch available, it'd only take a few minutes to CHANGE it and then I won't have to do this again
