Fixing the Old Drill
Old Black & Decker 3/8" Drill
Today I tackled a project I’d been putting off for over a year: fixing my old drill. It’s not a terribly valuable drill; it’s old, probabaly of about 1974 vintage. It wasn’t very expensive to begin with. I saw one like it on e-Bay for $3. However, this drill has sentimental value, so I wasn’t about to just throw it away. Besides, it’s variable speed and reversible–kind of handy as a second drill when working on a project. I’d abused it pretty badly one day, trying to mix a batch of mortar with one of those big mixing paddles. It just didn’t have the power for the job and got really hot! Since then it would only run when held in certain positions, and sometimes I’d have to jiggle it to make it go. There are three screws on the back that allow the back cover to come off. This gives access to the brushes, the switch, and the wire connections. (I wish I’d remembered to take a picture of the disassembled drill. It would have been much more interesting, but I’m not taking it apart again for a picture.) Upon inspecting the brushes, I found that they weren’t making good contact with the armature. There was plenty of material left, but the brush springs had lost their tension and weren’t pushing the brushes firmly against the armature. Getting the drill too hot that day had ruined them. I replaced the springs with some old alternator brush springs I had lying around, and now the drill runs again, good as new!