[Al Skierkiewicz]

The new drill motors have a stall current of 129 Amps, and the breakers surely would have tripped at that point. To melt the solder at the terminals, that point in the motor had to reach more the 400 degrees. (the melting point of most solders) If that is really the case, (and not a short in the motor due to dropped shavings or other foreign objects) I would consider the motor is now dead. That high a temperature internal to the motor has probably caused the varnish insulation of the motor windings to either fail or be very close to failure. Take a good whiff of the motor near the brush assy. and if it smells burned replace the motor.
Some teams have reported that the brush assy is easily broken and FIRST is recommending that teams DO NOT solder new wires to the motors as the brush assy is plastic and easily melted. Is it possible that brush assy was damaged before this incident and the brushes were actually shorting? Please let us know what you found.