[Mark Manning]

So a friend of mine just retired and sold his house, and got rid of a craftsman router, 315.175040, 110-120 Volt, 60hz,8.0amp. It worked great when i grabbed it from him yesterday, but today i decided to run a test piece through it and it shut off on its own. After trying to adjust it to see what would make it run again, i found that it will only run if the shaft locking mechanism, (in the unlock position) was pressed down a bit, (im assuming so it will make electrical contact some how) Any suggestions on a fix? Ive already tried clamping it in position once already and that didnt work.

-Mark:surprise:

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Hi Mark and welcome. You might try blowing some compressed air into the switch and see if that helps. If not you'll probably need to take the top off and as I recall it's a little tricky. I think you have to reach in with a Phillips screwdriver and undo the shaft lock switch handle to get the top off but it's been a while since I took one apart. Hopefully it's something visibly wrong when you get in there. I don't know if it's a good idea to bypass that switch if you can't figure it out. When the switch is in the locked position it cuts power to the router so that you can't start it up with the lock engaged if I remember right. If you bypassed it you would have to be fastidious in unlocking right away when the bit is changed and never walking away from it in the locked position. I forgot once and was lucky it had that feature.

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum Mark.

 

[gmercer_48083]

Here's the owners manual.

 

[sreilly]

Welcome Mark.

 

[Mark Manning]

Just took off the cap on top and blew some comressed air into it and it started working without having to hold the spindle lock in position, but once i brought it home and tried it out again, it stopped working without assistance. Might have to replace something, there is no defacing of this product and i found no damage inside that i could see.

 

[Mark Manning]

Thank you!

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

If there is a spring that is supposed to hold it in position it may be weak. Getting parts for old Sears routers isn't easy. Ereplacement parts is the best possible source but most parts are listed as N/A, obsolete, or not available.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Just took off the cap on top and blew some comressed air into it and it started working without having to hold the spindle lock in position, but once i brought it home and tried it out again, it stopped working without assistance. Might have to replace something, there is no defacing of this product and i found no damage inside that i could see.

It wouldn't hurt to try some contact cleaner:

https://www.wd40specialist.com/products/contact-cleaner

Please note this is nothing like regular WD40 which should never be used as a contact cleaner or on most things.