It is a rotary-type switch, with rotating fingers that swipe
both sides of the fixed contact blades. *It would be fairly
hard to repair this type of switch.

It has about 6 poles in it, I can't figure out why they made
it so complicated, but it did the job until now.

I could replace with a heavy-duty toggle switch and a
separate reversing switch. It would just be easier to
replace with the exact unit. *(Then, of course, it would
burn out in 10 years, again.)

I suspect that the mail-order parts replacement from one of the
regular importers (HF, Grizzly, Jet) will be the only way to get an
exact replacement. As far as other solutions go, I think I'd look for
a "drum switch", maybe $100 or so new, but about $30 on ebay, and I've
found them cheap at flea markets and such. Reversing, lots of
contacts, rated to start and stop larger electric motors, used on
lathes and mills for decades. I suspect you'd have to bring the wires
out a hole in the casting and mount the switch on the outside, but
then it'd be much easier to replace or fix from then on.

Getting it hooked up could be a bear, it would require making a
circuit diagram of the existing unit and looking at the new switch
diagrams for how to get the same logical connections. Depending on
how much room you have inside the casting, you might be able to get
the body of the switch inside and just have the handle stick through
the existing hole, but I suspect that it will be too big for that.

As far as drilling extra holes goes, assuming there are some there
already for the exsisting switch and cover plate, it may be simply a
case of drilling the mounting plate of the replacement switch to align
with a couple of the exsisting holes, especially if that means you can
get a "knockout" over the existing handle hole to feed the wires
through.

Hope that gives you some food for thought,
--Glenn Lyford