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Thread: Using brushless drill motors

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  1. #1

  2. #2
    I've never seen a brushless drill personally, and I'd think they'd be fairly rare given the motors usually have low startup torque, which is not what you need when drilling. I mean I suppose if you can take the motor out of the drill, pretty much all brushless work on the same principle, just connect three leads to your speed controller. But I have no idea how good they'd be. It's only the brushed ones that have been proven for use in Featherweights. Was there any specific problem you were having, and could we get a picture of the drill's insides to get a better idea?

  3. #3
    Brushless motors are more common in high-end drills - most brands have one or two models in their range. The motors have WAY more torque than their equivalent brushed versions; both of mine will shear off screw heads and damage your wrist before they stall. I had a look at replacement motors on a spare parts site and the main issue was that the motors had casings that integrated with the drill body and gearbox, so using it outside of the drill would be complicated. Other brands might be different, but the ones I saw are nothing like a convenient 550 or DeWalt brushed motor. If you can get the motors for free its worth experimenting, but work on a plan B as well.

  4. #4

  5. #5
    Passing on what I have heard - Most brushless drills are built in such a way that all the parts are integrated the housing of the drill, rather than being a drop in unit like the brushed ones. End result is, you take it out and it won't work unless you make a custom housing to hold everything in exactly the right place.

    If you can find one that isn't like that then I'd reckon a hacked TZ85A with SimonK firmware would handily control one of the 22.2V Brushless drills.

  6. #6
    That is what I have seen too, Alex. The motors have odd mounting tabs that fit into the drill body and some have separate bearings that are housed in the drill case - when the motors are taken out, they hardly look like anything we would recognize. Its starting to sound more & more like a false economy to use brushless drills.

  7. #7
    The gearboxes will be funky but probably very nice, and worth harvesting/investigating in case you can mount a more traditional motor.

  8. #8

  9. #9
    The problem with that is the brushless tools will have what is essentially an ESC inside the handle.

  10. #10

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