From post #13...
Anvilring, the pictures you posted of the motor brushes don't show what's important...the faces that wear against the armature.
I have the same machine you have there and while mine never slowed down like yours occasionally the motor would want to jog rather than keep a steady speed.
the faces of your brushes could very well be wearing or collecting junk on them affecting the way it runs.
what I do is pull the brushes, put it on a disc grinder, and while holding back the spring from the brush
to keep it flat, just touch it lightly to the grinder to flatten the faces. it's important to just go VERY lightly and keep it square.
doing this occasionally to my motor keeps it running like brand new.