Cordless drill and some smoke.

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NCGrimbo

NCGrimbo
Corporate Member
I was using my B&D 20V cordless drill this past weekend to remove some 2" screws from a bunch of 2x4's. One screw didn't come out and the drill let out some smoke from one of the vents. I immediately let go of the trigger and then pulled the battery out of the drill. The drill didn't feel extremely hot, but it wasn't it's normal cool either. I'm now concerned that the drill is toast. Once I put the battery back in it ran fine, but I haven't tried to use it to screw/unscrew or drill anything.

So my question is, is the drill OK or should I be concerned that it will continue to smoke if I try to use it?

-NCGrimbo
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
I was using my B&D 20V cordless drill this past weekend to remove some 2" screws from a bunch of 2x4's. One screw didn't come out and the drill let out some smoke from one of the vents. I immediately let go of the trigger and then pulled the battery out of the drill. The drill didn't feel extremely hot, but it wasn't it's normal cool either. I'm now concerned that the drill is toast. Once I put the battery back in it ran fine, but I haven't tried to use it to screw/unscrew or drill anything.

So my question is, is the drill OK or should I be concerned that it will continue to smoke if I try to use it?

-NCGrimbo

There is no point to avoiding using it or worrying as either the drill is at end of life and will shortly die or it will not, nothing you do will change that so just go ahead and use it and see what happens and do not feel guilty about such as they do not last forever -- I have smoked plenty of drills myself over the years. In fact, I have a recently deceased 18V Ryobi drill I can lend you that likely still has a few seconds of life left in it that spits out sparks, fire, and bits of melted copper along with smoke -- really quite festive and beautiful in an odd way.

There are several common failure modes for such drills -- 1) failure of the speed control module, usually overheating, if it was operated at less than full throttle, 2) excessive winding temperature leading to insulation failure of either the rotor or, if not permanent magnet type, the stator windings leading to a cascading failure where more and more windings short together and the motor fails catastrophically in relatively short order, or 3) burning up of the carbon brushes, the brush holder, or the commutator contacts. None of these are anything the average person can really do anything about. An electronics tech can often fix the speed controller issue, but the other two can only be fixed with a new motor and whatever related gearing is required, which often is not available (especially on cheaper drills) and would likely set one back the better part of the cost of a new drill if purchased from a typical parts supplier (though if one hunts high and low you may be able to find the original OEM source the manufacturer bought from, if you can find such in single quantity lots). Of course, just gaining entry to some of these cordless tools can be quite a challenge in its own right in some cases.
 

tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
I've got a drill that did that 2 or 3 years ago. Still use it to this day. Occasionally it lets more smoke out, but it still works. Figure it's got enough of the smoke monster still inside it to keep it spinning.
 
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