Warren Weber wrote:
"Banister Stairwell" wrote in message
...

SNIPPED...

I worked for Westinghouse motor/transformer repair in the late 40's. All

motor armatures were soaked in a special varnish. Then baked. This anchored
the windings so vibration would not allow the windings to rub and then short
to another wire. The cheap junk made now are just wound no varnish. Some do
not even have the wires anchored well at the termination to bars (where
brushes ride) so a lot of failures are due to a broken connection to the
bar. This will cause heavy arcing on the brushes. Warren

Mike D suggested that I clean the armature. I'll give it a shot, thanks
Mike. But, I think Warren has got it right. There is one hell of a lot
of arcing at the brushes. Anyway, it was free so it can serve as an
education for me as I know so little about how electricity works.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

John