Broken commutator on DHP482

[bsr]

Hi

I have a Makita DHP482 drill, not long out of warranty. I'm still on my first set of batteries if that shows how little use its had.

As you can see from the picture the commutator has shed a segment. Is this worth repairing or for £40 would you replace? Or is there another better model for a little more? Obviously the brushes would need doing too.

I'm disappointed tbh, I expected more from a "pro" grade tool. There's also a lot of play in the chuck which I think is a known issue on these. I haven't been impressed with the quality.

Cheers

 

[Deleted member 174758]

As you can see from the picture the commutator has shed a segment. Is this worth repairing or for £40 would you replace? Or is there another better model for a little more? Obviously the brushes would need doing too.

Personally, if I were keeping the drill, I'd have a new commutator rather than a repair, but TBH with a mid-range tool like a DHP482 you could be better off replacing with a higher end model ,(see comments below). However, a quick search for the DHP482 gave me a best price of just over £39 bare (N&B) with other vendors quoting £44 to £50, which would make outright replacement a better bet financially

Have you actually contacted Makita at Milton Keynes to see whether they would do anything for you? Failures like this aren't that common in my own experience, even in trade use (I have inspected an impact driver with this sort of damage once, a DTD170 which had been dropped about 20 feet off a scissor lift onto concrete - that one was a write-off)

If I were going for a heavier duty model again, I'd consider the DHP484. Best price from an initial search on that one (bare) was about £66 (Frank Howard). I do have a bias here though, as I bought one of these at the beginning of the year to supplement my heavy drill, a DHP481. It isn't quite as powerful as the '481, and the chuck is a plastic one, but it has enough power for most woodworking I do (site carpentry) plus it is quite a bit lighter than the '481.

In general over quite a few years I've had few issues with Makita stuff, but I do tend to buy at the top end of the range, as they help me earn my living. For example the '481 I referred to is actually my 2nd, having replaced my first '481, which did about 5-1/2 years, in 2021 (it needed a new chuck at £100+, a complete new drill was about £115 then, so it was a no brainer to buy new). The '481 is a nice bit of kit, with a high quality all metal chuck and which will drill steel all day long - but it weighs a ton and costs a bomb (as does it's replacement, the DHP486)

 

[bsr]

Update for you. I sent a pic to Makita to see what they thought. Their response was that it was out of warranty. Fair enough.

Replaced with another DHP482. The chuck on the new one seems to have had a redesign and doesn't have any slop. Seems better.

 

[bsr]

Brushes were a fiver and a replacement armature £20. Not worth repairing for £25 against a £40 replacement, all new with a 3-year warranty