I was working on the metal case of a radio trying to remove rust with a wire brush attachment on my Black and Decker RT650KA hobby drill when suddenly there were sparks and the magic smoke was let loose. I disconnected it from the mains immediately and let the smoke continue to escape for a while. Later I opened it up to inspect the damage expecting a charred interior, but the the interior was absolutely clean and no sign of damage at all on the small circuit board. I discovered that the rectifier had failed short, but it had no exterior signs of damage. I removed the two X2 caps and checked them. Also no damage and nothing on the PCB.
I then checked the resistance of the motor coil and this varied from a handful of ohms to kilo-ohms depending on the position of the armature. If the smoke hadn't been let loose from the PCB, it must have escaped from the motor wingdings.
I have had the drill for a number of years years now, but it was infrequently used and has not previously shown any signs of trouble. It did get quite warm and I had been using it for quite a while before this catastrophic failure and I guess driving the wire brush would put it under some stress, but I don't think it was performing a particularly heavy duty at the time.
Anyone else have a drill motor catastrophically fail and let loose the magic smoke while working?
Can anyone recommend a replacement mini drill please?
Not had a good couple of days recently. My dash-cam failed yesterday as well.... It had a habit of corrupting SD cards periodically to the point where they can't be re-formatted anymore anyway. I got a new card but it would not recognise it anymore. It is yet to be inspected, but probably time for a new one as well.
Not quite the same thing, but I have had good service from "Workzone" tools from Aldi. The tools and the battery system appear to be well engineered.
My brother-in-law has a furniture factory, Some years back he started to use Aldi tools in place of various other brands ("sick of wasting money on power tools") and says they last much longer than anything else these days.
I am in Australia. Not sure if Aldi in Europe have the same tool range.
Over here in the UK Midlands, Lidl seem to have a wider range of hardware than Aldi and I have seen Workzone battery powered tools in the Middle of Lidl”. I am not sure whether its the same in Aldi, but they sell the tool, charger and battery all separate. The disadvantage is the combined cost, but the advantage is one can easily get spare/replacement rechargeable batteries and the same batteries fit multiple tools. I have never tried any of their cordless power tools but will keep an eye out. The B&D that failed is powered using an AC adapter so the drill is lighter, but these days cordless seems to be the trend.
Its not the first branded item that has disappointed. I have a Bosh cordless drill with keyless chuck that was not cheap and although it has been working reliably until now, from purchase the bits keep coming loose in the chuck while it is spinning. Its usable but you have to keep stopping to tighten it up. The manufacturer did not want to know. The store wouln’t take it back as it had been opened and used and this was not considered a fault. My old Black and Decker mains operated one with keyed chuck is still going strong after some 30 years.
Anyone know whether the Dremmel products are worth the extra premium or whether its much the same as the rest?
Was in Lidl yesterday and realised their tool brand is Parkside and not Workzone so my apologies. Perhaps they are not the same? Anyone know whether the quality of Parkside stuff on par with Workzone?
I have a lot of Parkside and it has been fine. Workzone is Aldi I think.
I had a Workzone screwdriver that needed a new wall wart because the concentric plug was broken. I emailed the makers in Germany and they sent me one FOC, very good service.
Boater Sam
I went to Lidl today to get some treats from the bakery.... I came away with an impact driver gun for removing wheel nuts, A label printer, a cone drill, a new battery charger with a fused UK plug, (The amazon one I mentioned in the other thread has been chopped and disposed of), A fridge tidy, a window squeegee, oh, and some croissants.... Luckily I had just sold some junk, sorry, quality collectables so I had some cash in my pocket! It all looks good quality, we will soon see!
A plasma cutter, an air compressor, a roll-up solar panel and an air bed for the campsite (school holidays are with us) .......
And a bandsaw, a drill press and a digital slide scanner
Oh, the joys of the centre aisle!
