[Shop-talk] Dead weed eater

[David C.]

I have an old green and yellow Weed Eater string trimmer my wife got 
from her late father.  It has a single line tap-to-feed head and until 
recently worked fine.  Recently the wife complained that it was starting 
and stopping and not running well.  Today it wouldn't run at all.  I 
took it all apart, switch seems good, nothing obviously wrong with the 
motor.  It's a typical wound rotor, permanent magnet brush type motor. I 
put the motor on the bench and tried it with test leads, nothing.  I 
took it apart and cleaned the commutator with a wire wheel and ran an 
awl down the commutator sections. Still nothing.  Brushes are good, 
plenty of length.  When I was looking at the cord a little later I 
discovered one leg had a resistor and .01 mf ceramic capacitor in 
parallel in the line.  The cap looks a little beat up.  Any idea what 
they are for?  Any ideas on the motor?

(I just bought her a new Stihl corded electric trimmer, so it's mostly 
academic at this point but I would still like to know.)