I'm a fan of quality tools and this time I had to repair one the Bosch pws10-125 angle grinder!

I know I know its not the professional Bosch blue angle grinder but this time it's exactly the same model and from an older time when companies still made quality as a standard. If your on a budget then buy quality tools 2nd hand. Dirt cheap if they are broken!

Most electric hand tools are exactly the same but the quality tools are easier to repair and break on replaceable parts. Cheap tools very often break in a way that it's not profitable to repair like a burned rotor.

A couple of basic steps to repair most handtools:

• The first thing to check for is the electrical cable even in quality tools it's easy to damage it on a building site/garage.
• The second step is checking if all the wiring inside looks okay. Check for burned/lose and broken wires. Vibration is over time a real killer on those wires!
  
• The third step is to check for carbon brushes. They should have more than half a centimeter and should be of equal size. In my case, it were 2 different models and not the same length. They are very cheap, so replace if in doubt.
  
• Check the stator part that is visible under the carbon brushes. It should look like clean copper if not get a piece of sandpaper grit 1000 and slowly crank the axle by hand. This should clean the stator and improve the connection.
  
• Check the switch! they are most of the time not repairable. You can check the switch with connecting the plus and minus directly to the machine. If the motor runs again you got a broken switch or condensator. (they are often cheap if not make a foot switch in the power cord!)
  
• Check the condensator they are sometimes a little block and sometimes a cylindrical shape. Take the condensator out and connect the wires directly without a switch to the motor. If it runs, connect the switch back. You have a broken condensator if the machine runs with the switch and without condensator. You can even run most tools without condensator, but it's not healthy for the machine and you have less power. (they are cheap to repair!)
  

If this all is checked and it's still not working then you need a multimeter and you probably have a broken rotor. They are pricy and very often harder to find...

So buy quality!
Quality is a pleasure to work with, safer and it keeps its value. If you only need the tool onces than simply borrow or buy it 2nd hand and resell it!
Electric high quality tools are: Fein, Hilti, Bosch (blue), Milwaukee, Festool, Hitachi and Karcher.
Decent quality tools are: Makita, Dewalt, Elu, Black & Decker, Bosch(green), Porter Cable, Metabo and maybe the new Ryobi.

Enjoy your repairs!