My weekend project was to repair the deck stairs (16 steps, ~70
balusters) and my father-in-law gave me (for keeps : ) his (rarely used)Craftsman table saw when I asked to borrow it for the weekend.

It never gets up to speed, has no torque (I can stop the motor by hand(no blade attached)), and will trip the circuit breaker after a minute of operation (not cutting anything). I opened up the switch cover and found loads of sawdust; cleaned it out; still no good. Bypassed the switch, then the (internal) circuit breaker, finally wired the motor directly to the plug - still NG!

The windings in the motor have a good coat of fine saw dust, and I'm wondering if I can clean this out somehow.

I also thought about dismantling the motor case to get at the brushes, but don't know the consequences of breaking the epoxy (?) seals.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Needless to say, my weekend project is going slowly without the saw.

Thanks!

Ron