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I have a corded Bosch powerdrill and the switch won't move back into the normal drill setting so it's stuck on hammer mode.
Being used for general DIY tasks in reality it's hardly used, although I now realise it's 10+ years old. Does anyone have an indicative cost of what a repair might be or shall I pack it off to the recycling centre?
Drills of a similar spec also seem to have doubled in price since I purchased this one!
and last question...do I go with another corded drill or cordless, and any brands to avoid?
Thanks.
Can't you open it up and take a look yourself? Search online, you might find an exploded drawing for it.
it'll just be gummed up.
Like my trigger that jammed on full today while mixing plaster...
Crack it open and clean it.
I tried to fix a few power tools. Sometimes it is just a clean that is needed and as long as you are careful they aren’t too hard to disassemble and put back together.
Anything which creates a lot of sawdust tends to suffer more eg sanders/routers but a drill could potentially do this too
On the other hand if it needs a new part then it’s probably not worth it. The switch on my nice Bosch cordless went and the only place I could find a spare was in Europe and it was £45 plus carriage. As I wasn’t mega sure whether that was the problem (it might have been the electronics the switch was attached to but until I had a working switch I didn’t know if it was or not) I just decided to buy a new drill in the end.
If you need a new drill you’re better off with a corded one for heavy drilling and a cordless for light drilling and screwdriving. I’ve had decent DIY standard cordless drills and they’ve never touched the ability of even a cheap cordless to get through tough materials.
Using quality drill bits helps a LOT. A £50 corded drill with £40 worth of decent masonry bits will work better than a £90 drill with the free bits that come in the case.
I renovated a whole house and decided to spend £400 on a pro standard Dewalt drill and impact driver set (brushless ones) and they have been amazing - the drill can get through a lot more than I ever expected a cordless to be able to manage but even then sometimes it’s just easier to break out the corded SDS drill.
I picked up a basic sander at a car boot sale for £1. I took the view that it was no great loss if it was ****ed.
Powered it up, just hummed and little else. Popped open the case. One of the bushings bone dry and clogged with dust. A couple of squirts of GT85 and a bit of a clean up and it works perfectly. Spend most of Saturday afternoon sanding some woodwork and it didn't miss a beat. Sounds like an old micra with the throttle jammed open though!
Most power tools are electromincally pretty basic and you can't really do too much damage to it trying to sort yourself.
As usual my trying to fix one problem created another....I opened up the drill and there was nothing obvious blocking the lever to stop it having the full range of motion as it was pretty clean inside. I got the keyless chuck button and spring out to get better access now can't get them back in.
I will give it another go when I am not meant to be 'working from home'.
If you need spare parts, Miles Tools and Machinery Mart are generally pretty good. They also have exploded part diagrams for pretty much everything out there.