Bosch jigsaw stopped working

DamoKen

Hi guys, wondering if anyone can shed any light on possible reasons for this. Have a Bosch GST140BCE I bought back in August 2013 that has not seen more then 10 hours use max since I bought it. Did one job I bought it for back then and since then it's sat in its manufacturers case. Took it out for the first time since at the weekend to cut some 12mm plywood. Started no problem but around 100mm into the cut power died abruptly. Checked sockets and all good so checked the integrated light on the front of it which worked fine so power is still getting to it. Depress the trigger though and nothing, might as well be unplugged.

Only previous usage was to cut curves and slots into 12mm plywood to build integrated shelving for a home office in a small bedroom back when I bought it so no heavy use. Between then and now due to an injury couldn't stand for any length of time hence it was sitting in its box. Note was not left exposed or anything silly, well protected all the time it was stored.

Been onto Axminster who I bought it through looking for advice, basic checks even. Not interested at all, was given Boschs number in the UK which was very helpful considering I'm in Ireland, hint would be on my well used account with them. Bit surprised by that as normally customer service is really good there.

Any ideas really appreciated, couldn't find anything online that sounded similar.

jack of all

That's disappointing service from Axminster; you're well out of manufactuer's warranty now but why not send them an email and see what they say? If no joy from them directly I'd be inclined to open it up and see what's going on. It could be something very simple like a an internal (thermal) fuse gone, loose connection, pinched cable, capacitor gone or a mechanical fault with the switch. Have you checked the power lead for continuity with a multimeter, is there a break somewhere along it's length?

Cerco

Since you have power on the tool I would check the trigger switch and then the motor brushes. The latter may not be siting correctly in the slots..
I assume you have not detected any smell from the motor.

gutteruu

Buy another from Axminster then send old one back in the package the new one arrived in for full refund.

DamoKen

jack of all wrote: »

That's disappointing service from Axminster; you're well out of manufactuer's warranty now but why not send them an email and see what they say? If no joy from them directly I'd be inclined to open it up and see what's going on. It could be something very simple like a an internal (thermal) fuse gone, loose connection, pinched cable, capacitor gone or a mechanical fault with the switch. Have you checked the power lead for continuity with a multimeter, is there a break somewhere along it's length?

Hi Jack, yeah very disappointed considering how often I order from them, very surprised as well. Sending a mail to that effect to see what they have to say. To be honest number one reason I order off them is customer service, if that's gone I'll think twice about using them again.

Mailed Bosch, haven't heard anything back so might have to open it up and take a look. Power seems fine, light is working so hopefully just something simple not that I'll know what I'm looking for necessarily. Time to start googling jigsaw maintenance

DamoKen

Cerco wrote: »

Since you have power on the tool I would check the trigger switch and then the motor brushes. The latter may not be siting correctly in the slots..
I assume you have not detected any smell from the motor.

Thanks Cerco, away for the weekend but will check it out once back. You're correct on the smell, power just went dead, no smell, no warning sound, nothing. It was like the plug was just pulled but as the light still works rules out a faulty plug.

DamoKen

gutteruu wrote: »

Buy another from Axminster then send old one back in the package the new one arrived in for full refund.

Not a bad idea, unfortunately for some reason they don't stock this model anymore.

Cheers

sky6

Cerco wrote: »

Since you have power on the tool I would check the trigger switch and then the motor brushes. The latter may not be siting correctly in the slots..
I assume you have not detected any smell from the motor.

+1

I've seen this many times where Brushes are just not seated properly on assembly. Use a Multimeter and check faulty cabling etc.

DamoKen

sky6 wrote: »

+1

I've seen this many times where Brushes are just not seated properly on assembly. Use a Multimeter and check faulty cabling etc.

Hi Sky, don't have a multimeter although to be honest wouldn't be quite sure what I was looking for

I did open it up to see if there was anything obvious showing, very little dust, not surprising considering how much I've used it but gave it a blow out with compressed air all the same in case something had wedged somewhere. Brushes seem fine, that is contact seemed good and they seemed to be rotating without any sticking when I moved by hand.

Called a Bosch repair centre yesterday, only other likely culprit from talking to them is a problem with the circuit board so might bring it into them over the weekend to check out.

Still nothing back from Bosch Ireland so looks like the only option at this stage.

Cheers