Cordless drill rebuild? How?

[Jack_Shaft]

Since many of you out there are tinkerers, I thought that I would try this here.

I have a DeWalt 18V cordless drill that began to smoke and is now toast. I'd like to try and make one or two good drills out of a pile of (same model) condemned DeWalts that I have here from my workplace.

I have found a schematic, but is this a really hard task, or are the internals pretty much plug-and-play? By that I mean, are any special tools required or no?

 

[habanero]

I've never had a Dewalt apart, but I've harvested the motors out of several dead cordless drills for various projects (mostly filling boxes that I had to move, but I digress). Most are pretty simple-basically a battery connected to a switch (trigger), which is then connected to some kind of double pole switch for reversing, and then connected to the motor. If you have all "good" parts, it should take just a little soldering and you'll be in business.

Some have "tamper-proof" screws and little plastic tabs that like to break when you pull them apart, so disassembly can often be a little dicey. Usually I'm just in it for the motor so I could care less what plastic I break getting into them.

 

[Fiore Indiana]

I believe Dewalt power drills have warranties for 3 years. They should repair/replace it for free. Good luck.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I have had several of the 18v dewalt tools apart. They are plug and play. Their wab site has all the parts numbers and prices.
What I have found is many of the parts wear out together, so once you start fixing them they break somewhere else in short order.
With drills, I struggle getting the chuck off. Is there a trick?
The most common problem is the triggers, then the motor brushes (which are not replaceable), and the chucks. The gears and bearings seem to hold up well.

 

[ScottWojo]

Since many of you out there are tinkerers, I thought that I would try this here.

I have a DeWalt 18V cordless drill that began to smoke and is now toast. I'd like to try and make one or two good drills out of a pile of (same model) condemned DeWalts that I have here from my workplace.

I have found a schematic, but is this a really hard task, or are the internals pretty much plug-and-play? By that I mean, are any special tools required or no?

Throw it away!! Buy a Bosch 10 volt Impactor. Or drill. It is the most awsome tool I own. It is compact and has every bit of power your 18v has and will probably out drive it. It will drive 200 3" screws on one charge into a 4x4 block of wood. And when the battery goes dead, it will charge back up in a half hour.

 

[AngelofDarkness]

Agreed.

I Know my big 18 volt Bosch will drill circles around any DeWalt 18v any day of the week. The ergonomics are great, the batteries charge fast and last forever and the cordless jigsaw I got with the kit is just plain awesome.

 

[bcorradi]

I've always been a fan of Milwauke cordless and corded tools, except for their miter boxes.

 

[ScottWojo]

I've always been a fan of Milwauke cordless and corded tools, except for their miter boxes.

Yes, I also am. But, Milwaukee will not put out a similar impactor untill Dec at the earliest. If I like that one better than Bosch, I will sell it and buy the Milwaukee.

The Impactor is unbelievably powerfull and very small. Perfect for rebuilding saws.

 

[Lakeside53]

I like the 12 volt makita impact driver for saws.. nice and small with led light on the front so you can see the torx heads inside the muffler! I Use them at home, at work and cheapstihlsawparts has taken a zillion saws apart with one so you know they can take abuse!

 

[shawn.m]

dewalt 18v impact driver here

dewalt 18v impact driver here-I use mine for my bike dismantling business. tough as beans with lots of torque. only need to pull out air impact wrench on big stuff. lasts a long time.
I also have a 9v makita impact driver which is perfect for small stuff. especially under dashs on cars.

 

[Al Smith]

With drills, I struggle getting the chuck off. Is there a trick?

Most drill chucks are held on the shaft using a Jacobs taper.To remove them you use two slotted wedges between the chuck and the shaft.

To put them back on,first make sure every bit of oil grease etc is removed,use acetone or laquer thiner.Run the jaws all the way in then smack it with a deadblow hammer.

Some Milwaukee drills,right angle for example , use a 1/2" by 20 thread shaft backed up internally by a 1/4" 20 or 28 thread left hand socket head screw that goes through the chuck from the inside .

 

[lazermule]

My experience with fixing electric tools (ie drills) is that there is a certain amount of "Magic Smoke" inside of them, and once you let that "Magic Smoke" out, they don't work anymore.


LAZER

 

[Ed*L]

Most drill chucks are held on the shaft using a Jacobs taper.To remove them you use two slotted wedges between the chuck and the shaft.

To put them back on,first make sure every bit of oil grease etc is removed,use acetone or laquer thiner.Run the jaws all the way in then smack it with a deadblow hammer.

Some Milwaukee drills,right angle for example , use a 1/2" by 20 thread shaft backed up internally by a 1/4" 20 or 28 thread left hand socket head screw that goes through the chuck from the inside .

Al is correct.

The chucks on the cordless tools are usually threaded on with a left hand thread, 3/8-24 on ones I have torn apart.

Ed

 

[blis]

I like the 12 volt makita impact driver for saws.. nice and small with led light on the front so you can see the torx heads inside the muffler! I Use them at home, at work and cheapstihlsawparts has taken a zillion saws apart with one so you know they can take abuse!

agreed, we use makita's at construction site and that impact driver is awesome for those long thick screws... They also seem to handle the abuse wery well..

 

[Al Smith]

On the subject,depending on the make of tool,it's often cheaper to buy a new one as to repair the old one.This may sound like rather odd advice coming from a notorious tight wad but I've been there.

A few years back I had a charger go bad on a Craftsman 9 .6 volt driver.The charger cost more than a new 12 volt kit complete.
with the drill,two batteries and the charger.

I have it now plus an 18 volt DeWalt that is a hammer drill.

 

[Jack_Shaft]

Okee... lot's of opinions here.

I Actually have an 18V Makita Li-Ion impact driver that I really like, but it does not have the ability to drill as it simply doesn't have a chuck, just a quick-release post for driver bits.

The DeWalts came from my workplace, basically rescued from the garbage bin and I grabbed them b/c I more or less LOVE building something out of nothing. I guess I consider it a challenge and an accomplishment when I can make a useful tool out of what somebody else would simply throw away.

After lots of research, it appears that the switch is the most failure prone part on the assembly. I hooked a B&D 18V battery (spare) up to the switch and motor of each drill and one was stone dead while the other started smoking. Once I took the switch out of the equation and directly connected the motors to the 18V battery, they both took right off. So, the problem appears to be in the switches.

I have since ordered a replacement switch on www.ereplacementparts.com and I should have it in a few days. WIth any luck, that will solve my problem and the drill will then work normally. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the drill goes together very easily and there are just a few basic components that you have to slide together.

Moral of the story? Free drill + learning experience = win for me.

 

[Jack_Shaft]

With a stroke of luck, I was able to find a working switch from a drill that had a cracked case.

Slapped the switch in there, put the motor in place (I have three good motors now), put the reduction gear head in front of the motor, put the forward spindle/chuck assembly in place and voila, perfect working drill.

I am very happy with myself, I thought that I'd never get that thing back together, but now I may even get 2 workinf drills out of the pile of scrap I have, I just need to find a way to remove the chucks that seized in place. Maybe I can just remove the entire spindle/ chuck as a unit and replace the whole works.

Either way, you can't beat a free drill.

 

[crashagn]

.
With drills, I struggle getting the chuck off. Is there a trick?

I have a dewalt 110v 3/8 drill the chuck went out on. I eneded up purchasing a new chuck from menards. Ended up splitting the drill in half just to get a vise grip onto the gear thingy that the chuck attaches to. Then i was able to get the original off.

 

[AngelofDarkness]

You can drill easily with an impact driver if you get a set of those drill bits with hex shanks that fit in the quick releaser chuck. My little B&D came with some. They work really well for pilot holes in metal because of the high speed of the driver. When I built my handrails on my deck I used the impact driver just to drill pilot holes and then ran the screws in with my Milwaukee cordless drill. 5/16 is about the biggest drill size they make with that shank, so you'll still need a regular drill for the big stuff.