Help with an old GFE3 Gemmasta

[Shifter55]

It seems that the worn-old GFE3 that I bought a year ago has finally given up the ghost.
After starting it in reverse at 7 speed it failed to run and tripped my house's powerbox, the machine was dry and was left overnight at this setting after yesterday's faceting session.
Can anyone provide some troubleshooting tips for me? I'ld rather spend a little money on repairs than have to purchase another machine so soon after this one.

[MALACHI]

Hi Shifter 55, sorry to read about your woes with GFE3. Obviously there is a short somewhere. Could be something simple like damaged wiring in the plug, damaged wiring to the switch or speed control.  The switch or speed control is worn and internally damaged. The motor's wiring is grounding and would need replacement or rewinding. Shifter 55 you could do some trouble shooting yourself with a multimeter to check for the shorts in the circuitry. But with anything electrical with any risk of electrocution, best find a sparkly to do it for you. Best be safe than sorry or worse dead!  These repairs should easy and strait forward for an electrician and you wouldn't need to replace the machine. Oh and another late thought, plug it into another power socket just in case its a faulty power point?

Good luck and keep safe!
Malachi 

[Rusted]

The GF3 has a brush motor, check the brushes haven't worn down that much that they have popped out of the little slot and are shorting to the frame.
Is the fwd rev switch clicking properly, if its stiff or really loose it could point to it being broken, $2 or so at Jaycar to replace if it is.
About the only other thing is the speed controller which I have seen replaced with an ordinary light dimmer.
There's not too much in there that can go wrong, and its pretty simple, it should be an easy job for a sparky if its beyond you.

[Shifter55]

Thanks Rusty, I'll check the brushes next time I have a free day as all the switches seem to be in order.

I'll also pick up a multimeter if physical inspection fails to find anything dodgy, I know the cord is a bit loose so there could be a break there too. Hopefully it isn't the controller board or those chunky red and blue cells...
Electrocution probably isn't as much of a worry with this disconnected, but I'll earth it for sure, it's easier (and safer) to do than it looks.

Thanks for the responses!