New Bosch cordless drill

[Basecoat]

Hi All

Bought a brand new 18V bosch drill. Trying drill it flashes when depress trigger. Spoken to Bosch Service they say its normal and its happening because the motor goes into reverse polarity when stopping. Keep using the drill for a while let the brushes bed in the flashing will eventually cease. I think what has been suggested to me is utter nonsense.

I am not new to cordless drills and never have had this flashing with any of the drills (expensive and cheap) I have used both at work and at home.

I tried another machine same make and model it flashes but not half as much as mine. In buying bosch I believed I am buying a well trusted name in power tools. The drill is swiss made and not German made as I believed it to be.

To make matter worse a friend of mine told me he found out that most of key components within the drill are made in China. Positive feedback will be greatly appreciated.

 

[^neo^]

Bosch 18v professional drills is all we use at work (steel fixers) and yeah they do spark. Got 2 which are almost 2 years old now and the only problem we have with them is the batteries seem to knacker up after about 18 months. We do give them some abuse though.
Definately the best cordless drill i've ever used though

 

[R5GTT]

Hi All

Bought a brand new 18V bosch drill. Trying drill it flashes when depress trigger. Spoken to Bosch Service they say its normal and its happening because the motor goes into reverse polarity when stopping. Keep using the drill for a while let the brushes bed in the flashing will eventually cease. I think what has been suggested to me is utter nonsense.

To be fair I've repaired a most makes of tools, and they all spark - to varying degrees. They are correct in what they say about the motor - it's effectively an electronic brake. When you release the trigger the motor is reversed for a split second causing the sparking, it won't cause any damage to the tool.

The drill is swiss made and not German made as I believed it to be.

Many Bosch machines are made at one of their factories in Switzerland - including their jigsaws - I don't understand what you're getting at, all the main manufacturers make tools all over the world nowadays. If you bought it from a distributor and he specifically told you that model was made in Germany then you have every right to be unhappy. If you bought it over the internet, well you pays your money...

To make matter worse a friend of mine told me he found out that most of key components within the drill are made in China.

Your friend is wrong!

 

[Stivino]

I've just bought a 24V Bosch drill and it sparks too. It's this one but I only paid £90 because it's on offer in B&Q. It's also made in Switserland.
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/41479/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/Bosch-PSB24VE2-24V-Combi-Drill

 

[neds]

All my Makita ones spark, I've not used one that doesn't, thought its pretty common with cordless. Basically the nature of the brushes and the contact of the commutator will always cause a spark or so especially at slow revs.

 

[Basecoat]

Hi"R5GTT"

Thank you all for your kind response. The dealer has offered to take the drill back and get me a new one. He said he has ordered it from Bosch UK and I can pick it up on monday.

He did agree after seeing the drill to be flashing as he called it to be excessive. I will report back on monday how the new drill is.

Bytheway bits and pieces are made all over the world these days. Even the reputable UK and German companies are sourcing abroad. My friend for some reason is not happy with chinese made products. He had bad experiance with his sony laptop which was made in China.

 

[Basecoat]

Hi all

Picked up my new GSB 18VE-2 drill yesterday. It does "Flash" but not as much as my previous drill did. It is a much better machine than my makita which suffered with clutch slip. It did annoy me sometimes. As of lately it's drive has gone into permanent clutch slip. Time for it be binned.

I am about to embark on a job and my new bosch will be put to use. Thank you all for your feedback.

 

[Matgreen]

I recently salvaged a (mains) circular saw from a skip [obviously discarded as junk] took the handle to bits and discovered a screw in the switch had come adrift so replaced it & BINGO, it worked perfectly for quite some time.

However it eventually did give up the ghost so I checked the brushes and found they were worn well down so purchased some new ones from "Performance Power Tools" and fitted them.

Works OK but there seems to me to be too many sparks coming from the new brushes. Is this normal as the brushed bed in & how long should it normally take for them to bed in please?

[I know one might say; how long is a piece of string] as it depends on the frequency of use but some idea would put me at ease.

THANKS Mat G

 

[RF Lighting]

Sparks are normal, and they might never go away. Nothing to worry about though.

 

[Deluks]

Take it back to where you got it from, and complain.

 

[Monkeh]

Hi All

Bought a brand new 18V bosch drill. Trying drill it flashes when depress trigger. Spoken to Bosch Service they say its normal and its happening because the motor goes into reverse polarity when stopping. Keep using the drill for a while let the brushes bed in the flashing will eventually cease. I think what has been suggested to me is utter nonsense.

You think wrong. It's a pretty normal way of stopping a DC motor, and most modern drills do that. Sparks are pretty normal especially with new brushes.

You should see how they stop AC motors, it makes even less sense to the non-electrically minded. Thankfully, I'm not among them.

I am not new to cordless drills and never have had this flashing with any of the drills (expensive and cheap) I have used both at work and at home.

It's harder to see on some.

I tried another machine same make and model it flashes but not half as much as mine.

Good for it, the brushes aren't as glazed.

To make matter worse a friend of mine told me he found out that most of key components within the drill are made in China.

A lot of stuff is made in China. That doesn't in itself mean it's bad.

E: Wow, this was a hell of a bump apparently.