Repairing Philips Electric Shaver Model C644

 

24 January 2022

This Phillips Shaver was found not working.   The blade will move but if one starts to cut the hairs,  the cutting blade will stop moving.  One can still hear the motor spinning in the background.   If one removes the blade from the unit,  one can see that the blade rotator will spin but it will stop if one tries to use one's finger to stop the rotator from spinning.   

Why?

The blade rotator is slipping.    It is not "catching" firmly onto the rotor of the motor.   The rotor catch must be loose.   This article will recommend a fix.

Disassembling

1.  Removing the Blade holder

The blade holder which is in the form of metal clips must first be removed.  To remove the clips,  one must use a small screwdriver to free the top catch from the 2 catch holders as shown in the attached picture. 

2.  Remove Motor Chamber's Top Cover

Once the blade holder is removed,  one can easily remove the motor chamber's top cover by prying open its bottom using a small screwdriver.  The cover is shown in the following picture.    

3.  Remove the Sliding Adjuster Assembly

Next is to remove the sliding adjuster and the slider ring as shown.  

When removing the slider ring,  watch out for the spring-loaded plunger underneath the ring.  Make sure the plunger won't spring out.   If the plunger is lost and missing, the sliding adjuster will not work properly.

4.  Remove the Switch Cover

Once the slider ring is out of place,  one can start to remove the top cover or the switch cover from the shaver by using a small screwdriver to pry open the cover,  starting from the bottom and working the way to the top until the cover is completely removed.

The Parts

Why Blade Rotator is Loose?

There was no screw or other means to secure the rotator to the motor's rotor.  It is suspected that there is a "catch" built into the rotator because one can feel the "click" when one inserts the rotator back onto the rotor.   

The "catch" must have failed to catch firmly onto the rotor because the rotator was found to be quite oily.  In this case,  the owner must have overlubricated, sprayed too much WD40 or otherwise and accidentally allowed the lubricants to get into the rotator. This must have caused the rotator to fail to "catch" onto the rotor.   The slipping of the rotator will occur when the blade met some resistance.   

Knowing this to be the problem,  cleaning up and soaking the rotator in solvents such as thinner or acetone solved the problem.

What if the Rotator still Slips?

One will have to replace the blade rotator if one can find the spare part;  if not,  the only alternative is either to "stuff" in between the rotator and the rotor with a tiny strain of small electric wire.  The other way is to permanently fix the rotator to the rotor using superglue.  The use of superglue should be the last resort.

Reassembling

To reassemble back the shaver,  reverse the disassembling steps.