Black and Decker electric leaf/yard air blower stopped

[hrhofmann]

I have an approximately 10 year old hand-held electric leaf/yard blower tha t has seen a fair amount of use. Today as I was finishing up blowing the c rick-crack and twiglets off my driveway, the motor sputtered and stopped af ter about 5 seconds. I shook the machine and it started up again fitfully, never getting up to full speed. Depending upon the position I held it in, it would run fitfully or not at all. Banging on the case produced more fit ful operation.

I am suspecting the brushes on the motor are worn out, but haven't been abl e to get the unit opened yet. There are about 11 screws holding the two ha lves of the case together. About 8 of the screws are deeply set into the ca se, and of course they are filled with 10+ years of accumulated dirt and de bris. I have been using a giant needle to clean out the dirt and debris so I can use an allen wrench to remove the screws and see what gives. Hopefu lly just brush replacement will be needed.

My question here is: Has anyone else experienced a similar problem and wha t did they find and how did they fix their machine?

Polite responses appreciated.

[Stormin' Norman]

Because of the nature of the device (one that operates in a very dusty environment) over time, it could suck in enough very fine dust, debris and grit so as to bind up bushings, etc.

If you have an air compressor, try blowing out the motor, with high pressure air, and see what happens.

I once made a blower for diatomaceous earth out of an old shopvac, after a while the very fine grit destroyed the motor.

[hrhofmann]

I looked for a model number, but the only marking appears to be FT 1000.

[gfretwell]

If it is like mine there is a door on the bottom where you connect the vacuum chute. There is a switch on that door. Make sure it is closed.

[clare]

Being a black and decker, your guess is as good as mine. My hedge trimmer went flakey - ends up the switch is shot. Thankfully available from my local repair depot for about $9. Online it is from 7 to 17 with $11 to $21 shipping. Quite often B&D stuff isn't worth fixing.

[hrhofmann]

My model is blow only, so no switch except for the master of/on. I am pretty sure it is not the switch as nothing changed about the fitfull operation when I jiggled the switch.

[clare]

That is the model number -FT1000 140 MPH FlexTube Blower / Sweeper

I don't think motor parts are available, but the whole motor os %52 -- OEM Part - Manufacturer #243839-02

[Peter]

Lots of possible reasons for your problem. Easiest to diagnose requires no screw removal. Perhaps you've developed an intermittent open in one of the wires, inside the insulation where the power cord penetrates the case. Try connecting a reliable source of power, turning on the leaf blower's switch, and systematically pull the cord in each of the 12 directions as if the penetration into the case were the face of a clock. Each time, pull the cord until the outside of the cord touches the case, then while holding it in that location, try to push the cord as if you were trying to feed it into the penetration. If any of these maneuvers cause the blower motor to start, stop, or sputter, you've probably got an intermittent open wire within an inch or so of where the power cord penetrates the case. The solution is to get the case open and either shorten or entirely replace the power cord to remove the offending section of power cord. If the maneuvers don't affect the behavior of the blower motor, the problem is likely to be something else. Good luck!

[toddfboyle]

Dear friend, I'm a lifelong dumpster diver and have seen so many weed whack ers and blowers in the dumpsters. The ones I tried to fix, it happened, th ere was nothing wrong with the switches or wires. the motors were shot. I didn't get into trying to fix the motors or brushes.

[hrhofmann]

I got the blower housing apart. Then I removed the two screws that held th e ends on the actual motor. Took the armature out of the brush end plate a nd looked to see how the two brushes looked. Could only find one spring-lo aded brush, the other one was totally gone, just a little black-colored dus t in the brush holder.

Took off to ACE Hardware and found they had several boxes of assorted brush es, separate and with integral springs, all for $4.40 no matter what size, shape of spring, etc.

Found one brush that fit perfectly and brought it home. I had lots of othe r chores and fun things to do today, so first thing tomorrow I get to put t he brush in and hopefully before noon I will be blowing debris off my drive way and will post here what happens.