Diagnosing, and repairing 15 amp universal motor...

You might have bearing play end to end , but not sideways. If you do the bearing is bad. Check contunity of the motor leads to ground with a ohm meter. It should be at least 15 mega ohms. A high voltage ohm meter is best for this test, but it costs more than the motor is worth. You should have contunity through the leads. Universal motors are the cheapest motors possible to make. Generally not worth repairing. Take it to Grainger or some other industrial supply and get a new one that fits the mounting, shaft and voltage. .

-- Debt is nothing more than the 21st Century's form of slavery.

check the cord, switch and the brushes first. eliminate the cheap fixes first.

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Cord is definately good, not sure how to check the switch, brushes are reasonable… Some wear, not losing connection though.

-- Trying to follow the example of the master.

voltage meter? other than that you can bypass the switch. are you getting power to the switch? if so check to see if you get power on the backside of the switch with it turned on. If yes to both check to see if your getting power to the motor. If so you probably need a new motor. I also agree that the cost of a motor would be more than the saw is worth. Thats all I can offer. hope you get it going.

-- hey honey! watch this!

it’s not the same animal, but i recently had the motor on my coffee grinder konk out on me. i thought it was the switch at first, but after a brief inspection with a multimeter, found there was a break in the line somewhere between the winding and brush contact – under the insulation (!). i couldnt replace the wire without damaging the windings, but simply shunting it to the brush contact was a quick fix.

anyway, the lesson is: do please look at those sorts of easy fixes first.