I was milling some strips today and my already loud router made a metal grinding sound of something breaking. When I examined it there was a strange click (twice per revolution). Taking off the cover revealed the problem. I’m not sure of the terminology for these motor parts, but there is a 14 sided bearing with two contacts/brushes making contact on them. One of the 14 pieces has broken off (accounting for nasty medal flying around in the motor noise).

It is a 10 year old Black and Decker router that I had hoped to upgrade with a better model (Dewalt, Porter Cable) at some point but not right now. Is this B&D at all worth fixing? It was a $60 gift 10 years ago. I assume cheap routers are like VCRs, once they break, the labor and parts to fix them exceeds the cost of buying a new one.

I had hoped to have one good router for my table and the cheap B&D for the occasional freehand operation. Is it worth fixing this or should I just bite the bullet and get the router that I wanted anyway.

Any favorites for use in a router table?

Jack