Bosch cordless - YEEHA, now fixed!

[Eric The Viking]

It's one of these:

I am very fond of it, and it's probably my most used power tool by a country mile. But... after lending it to a neighbour, it returned with the chuck jammed wide open (everything else is fine).

I can't free up the chuck (yet!), I think because the scroll is damaged - it was the least good part of what is otherwise a very nice tool. I can and have easily removed the LH-thread Torx machine screw down the middle, but am really stumped as to how to remove the chuck presently. Ordinarily, I'd grip a large Allen key and give it a sharp tap with a hammer, but because the chuck is broken I cannot see an easy way to do this.

Questions:

1. The obvious: I think it's a right hand thread chuck-to-gearbox, so the LH machine screw locks everything in use. Does anyone know for sure what they usually are? I don't want to get heavy with it before knowing for certain.

2. I am going to be patient, and have Plus Gas to drip down the central hole, but does anyone have a nice trick to undoing these things (when you can't grip anything in the chuck, it seems!)?

Miles Tools, as ever, come up trumps with the right chuck in stock and at a reasonably sensible price. But I also have a spare chuck that might well fit, salvaged from an older Bosch drill, which I will experiment with, as it's better made than the present one (and probably the replacement too).

Of course, none of this applies if I can't get the damaged chuck off... so feel free to wade in with ideas.

Thanks all,

E.

PS: Worst case, bare drills are still available, just about, and fairly inexpensively. I don't want a hammer gearbox on this tool: part of the value of it is the compact size (lightweight & short length), so the current models are unattractive.

 

[owen]

Have you tried a pair of pump pliers on the chuck to free it up? Use some thick cloth around it first if you don't want it getting scratched?

 

[Eric The Viking]

Good thought - not yet (guess - pump pliers out on loan too!), but I have some suitable Mole grips. Will probably use electrical tape round the chuck, in case it can be saved.

And I need to confirm it's a right-hand thread, too, before getting "Thor" out of the drawer!

 

[AndyT]

Which way is the thread on your other, spare chuck? The same logic would apply to both, wouldn't it?
And I have large and very large stillsons, slip joint pliers and large and small boa strap wrenches, if required.

 

[CHJ]

if it was a left hand locking screw it must be a right hand thread, any tendency to unwind would then attempt to tighten the locking screw.

 

[AES]

Can't really help Eric,'cos I don't know for certain (but I'm pretty sure it's a LH thread !!!).

But with all due respect this does highlight (to me anyway) that tools are NOT to be lent to others. In the past I have always refused, but to the right neighbour I have offered to do the job for them.

Sorry I can't help but I have myself accidentally jammed that chuck open (same drill as yours - good one isn't it?) and found that holding the chuck with slip joint pliers (rag around the plastic outer of course) and a freshly charged battery, it WILL un-jam (a few quick stabs on the trigger).

 

[Eric The Viking]

Normal, right-hand thread. I'm going to try with Thor and the Mole grips later this morning.

By the way, I was watching Dave Engels's You Tube videos this week (very therapeutic!), and realised where the terms "left-hand thread" and "right-hand thread" probably come from: the axle nuts for horse-drawn vehicle wheels are marked "L" and "R" , to indicate which side of the vehicle they fit. It has always struck me as strange English usage before (clockwise and anti-clockwise would be more sensible). I wonder if that's actually it...

E.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

But with all due respect this does highlight (to me anyway) that tools are NOT to be lent to others. In the past I have always refused, but to the right neighbour I have offered to do the job for them.

I have a friend with whom I have a good reciprocal arrangement, he is the only person I lend to.
He said one day - you know, I love lending kit to you , it always comes back in better condition than it went out.

 

[AndyT]

Phil, do you think you could borrow Eric's drill, please?

 

[Eric The Viking]

I didn't succeed in unscrewing the chuck, but I did free the chuck's scroll and the jaws now work!

Thanks everyone!

E.

PS: Chewed the plastic slightly but it doesn't matter. It's a reminder to me to do three things:

0. For this drill, try to get some grease where it will do some good in the chuck. I'm thinking dissolve some grease in, say, meths, and work it in past the jaws in the hope some gets to the scroll. I can probably unscrew the chuck now with an 8mm Allen key held in the jaws so might get grease in via the back also...

1. dismantle and _properly_ grease new tools whenever possible (greatly extends tool and battery life). Done this with the multi-tool, grinders and jigsaw so far - you can feel the difference when you press the trigger. In Bosch's case have had found solidified grease on pretty new tools.
2. Probably buy a replacement for this one anyway, before they genuinely become unavailable new and I'd be forced to Gumtree or eBay - too useful to lose.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

https://www.toolstation.com/action-can- ... dry%20ptfe

 

[AES]

Last time I was in UK for a visit (a few years back now) in Halfords I found an aerosol can called "Spray Grease". Never seen/heard of it before but bought a can on the off chance, and though I haven't used it a lot, I must say it seems pretty good for getting grease into "the places other greases can't easily reach" (it's got a long thin pipe/nozzle thingy on it). And so far it does seem to last OK (the greasing that is).

FWIW