fookgub Posted July 26, 2007 Report Share Posted July 26, 2007 So I just finished cleaning up the switch contacts on my drill press for the third or forth time. I've been doing this every two months for a while now, and it's getting very old. My theory is that the switch arcs when I turn the drill press off, which oxidizes some of the contact area. That, in turn, increases the contact resistance, causing the contacts to heat up and eventually fuse together. When this happens I disassemble the switch, clean the contacts up, drop a bead of solder on them, then reassemble. After that it will work a month or two, then fuse together again. I'm looking into one of these as a possible solution, but I'm wondering if there is a higher quality drop-in replacement for the switch in my drill press. If you have an import drill press, sander, or other benchtop tool of the Harbor Freight/Grizzly variety, then you know what this switch looks like. It's used on many of those tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jer7440 Posted July 27, 2007 Report Share Posted July 27, 2007 That unit from woodcraft looks like a pretty good solution. Buy that and you can bypass the stock switch all together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted July 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2007 That unit from woodcraft looks like a pretty good solution. Buy that and you can bypass the stock switch all together. I probably will do that next time the switch fails. I'm a little surprised that no one else seems to have had this problem. I wonder if I just got a defective switch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 So I just finished cleaning up the switch contacts on my drill press for the third or forth time. I've been doing this every two months for a while now, and it's getting very old. My theory is that the switch arcs when I turn the drill press off, which oxidizes some of the contact area. That, in turn, increases the contact resistance, causing the contacts to heat up and eventually fuse together. When this happens I disassemble the switch, clean the contacts up, drop a bead of solder on them, then reassemble. After that it will work a month or two, then fuse together again. I'm looking into one of these as a possible solution, but I'm wondering if there is a higher quality drop-in replacement for the switch in my drill press. If you have an import drill press, sander, or other benchtop tool of the Harbor Freight/Grizzly variety, then you know what this switch looks like. It's used on many of those tools. Just replace the switch look on ebay for rocker switch that will fit. EBay rocker switch for sale Not my auction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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