Ryobi Router Repair for no or intermittant power fail

I was using my router the other day and it died out during a project, I checked all connections and it would start but only for a moment and then die out.

I was able to repair the trouble, this is my story, I am not an expert on power tool repair, if you are unconfortable working with live power please don’t do this.

Please forgive the photos, I own a cheep camera.

Trouble shooting helped with the repair, please wear safety equipment, remove router bits and be careful when working with live power. You may want to clamp the unit down to your bench to be safe, I didn’t but that is me and not you, do what you think is right.

Tool used were, philips screw driver, small blade screw driver, Needle nose vice grips, voltage detector (you can use a wiggie or meeter rated for the tool) and compressed air. Make sure the router is NOT plugged in.

Remove the shaft lock safety switch cap by removing the sticker on the top of it to get at the screw.

Remove the top plastic cover of the router, you will see three wire nuts, remove them, make sure that the bare ends of the wire will not touch each other or any thing metal.

Take a pair of needle nose vice grips and use them to hold the shaft lock safety switch in the normal working order (so the shaft will spin).

Lock the trigger switch for power.

Plug in the router.

Now take your electrical tester and test for power on the white leads to the red leads, (red leads are the switch leg, black is hot and white newtral) is there power?

Yes OK
then your trigger switch is good, power is flowing from it, but why is there no power to the motor or the light.

It is the shaft lock switch.

Unplug the router. Put the wire nuts back on.

You must now remove the shaft lock pivot and paul, to do this remove the metal clip with the V notch in it (see photo) it will come out with little effort with a small blade screwdriver, carefully remove the switch slide (the plastic thing) and the metal slide piece, WATCH OUT there are springs under there!

Remove the shaft lock switch (see photo) and check contacts, mine fell out so I just put them back on.

Blow every thing out with air.

Put the router back together.

I hope this helped you out, please feel free to contact me with questions or to say hi.

Take care
Ron