Drill Press Switch Fix
A pictorial journey. Fly away with me?
I went to use my drill press recently, got everything setup, turned it on, drilled my hole, and when I went to turn it off the switch might as well have been operating solely on vibes. I had to unplug it at the wall to turn it off, which you know, may not ideal.
Lesson learned to check on and off function before drilling.
Fortunately switches are normally pretty easy to repair; the following process took me less than an hour, with about ten minutes of actual work involved.
The Repair
Unplug your equipment. You know this, I know you know this, I’m writing it anyway.
The switch was just a simple sealed rocker. I was pretty sure the contacts were just corroded, which isn’t typically a big deal to clean up. Just pop the two clips on the backside, and open it up with the switch front facing up in case any of the internal mechanism isn’t captured.
When I opened it up and removed the contact the issue was real obvious.
So that’s gross, and needs to be cleaned up. No wonder it’s not working reliably.
I started with a fine sanding stick, but wasn’t feeling it. Electronic cleaning spray is handy stuff to keep around. I like the CRC brand. I ended up just filling the body cavity up and letting the junk soak for 45 minutes or so.
The contact was equally gross. I just left it wrapped in a paper towel soaked with electronic cleaner to soften junk up.
Once the parts have soaked a bit, cleaning stuff up is just a manner of using a fine grit sandpaper, emory cloth, sanding stick, or whatever is handy, abrasive, and fits where you need it to.
Once everything is cleaned up, just put it back like you found it, but much moar pretty.
I considered swapping the switch to some fancy newness, but this was cheap and easy. If it causes issue again I may revisit that option, but for now, well, this is fine.
Hopefully someone finds this post helpful!