Occassionally there can be a piece of wood jammed into the saw. I've had this happen with my B&D, but not my Skil. Clear the path of the blade, or better yet, remove the blade completely. You should see wood drop out of the saw as soon as you loosen the blade. The switch can break, but these are good quality industrial switches. Assuming that the saw was stored in a dry area, I wouldn't expect that sort of failure, but if not the brushes could get laquered, or develope a film over them. You just need to scrape the shine off of them. Lastly, the cord could be at fault. It's easy to cut through these, but you'd notice that. I wouldn't expect anyone could damage the cord on these but if the saw was dropped and it landed on the strain relief (cord near the handle), it's possible, though still unlikely that the cord could suffer some damage without you noticing. Good Luck!
BMcNamara, September 2007
