my bosch has packed up after 3 years of occasional use. superb drill but, not impressed with it packing up! the battery is fully charged and when you pull the trigger you can hear a quiet buzzing noise (as if the motor is trying to turn) but the motor will not rev. anyone got any ideas?

thanks

mike

Mikeb, September 2008

Thanks to Ian's description above, I have done the same repair. I used J-B weld (steel reinforced epoxy) to glue the magnets back into place, they were ok apart from some chipping along an outside edge. One point that caused me some thought was that I hadn't marked the orientation when I removed them. I am not sure how important this might be, I advise marking the front end of the magnets as you remove. I also made some spacers to help precisely positioning the magnets. As I used a clamp to squeeze the magnets in position, I had to add some more tape to them to just fit in the space between and maintain exact spacing.
To remove the end of the motor casing I don't have a specific drift: I just put a 30° edge on a spare flat head bit. Judicious tapping with a hammer and levering with a small screwdriver did the rest. Like Ian I had to trim the fan blades to reassemble, I don't see any way round this, not unless you have access to engineering tools to pull the drive cog off the shaft. No difficulty they're only plastic (on mine anyway).
One more point: the brushes are in a brass frame in a plastic frame. The whole brush + brass piece removes as one easily by gently pressing on a small catch on the plastic piece, no need to mess with the springs.
One last wee problem: one of those small catches broke, so I am making a backup catch with a small blob of J-B on the back of the brass piece.
Initial quick test - drill now works.

Marcus, June 2020

I have the same drill which came to stand still whilst using it. I've ruled out the battery so believe it to be the motor because the lights still come on when I press the trigger.

I'm a complete newbie at mending things and should have probably started with something easier. (I started on my tumble dryer but the drill broke down when unscrewing the back lol).

Anyway, I need some advice about how to open up the electric motor. Do I need a special tool?

Nick, February 2015

Mine stopped, the LED's on the handle glowed then extinguished but the ones on the body only flickered briefly. Thought it may be switch trouble. Read this forum and feared the worst. Split the body and after noting relative position of motor, gearbox and output, seperated the motor from the gearbox by extracting two 'saddle' clips near motor/gearbox interface. Re-attached the battery, operated the switch and it fired up a treat, maybe gears got a bit deranged. After a bit of jiggling got it back together and it seems OK, time will tell.
By the way keep the open end of the g/box upright or the planet gears fall out and if you seperate g/box from O/P stage, exercise extreme caution, it's all VERY complicated.

ChrisBov, April 2013

How do you strip down the motor - I have it out of the drill but cannot see how the brushes come out or how to get the top off, in order to clean and re-fix the magnets.

Yes, my motor has seized......

Bert, March 2013

I have had the same problem with my PSB 24. The motor has been stripped down and the magnets look good enough to re-use. Problem I have is that I forgot to mark the orientation of the magnets before I took them out. Does anyone know if the orientation/polarity etc are important and how to get it correct? I could do it by trial and error but don't want to rebuild the motor several times if I can possibly avoid it.

Phil, December 2012

My Bosch PSB 18 LI-2 hammer drill was out of warranty when it packed up. The battery was fully charged and the light was working, but the motor wouldn't operate.
I took it apart, and after carefully clamping the motor in a vice, I connected wires directly from the battery (clearly marked +/-) to the motor connections (red/black). It operated immediately, and when I reassembled the drill it worked perfectly.
It obviously just needed to clear some blockage, so it might be worth trying before replacing or buying expensive parts.

Brian MacC, October 2012

hi i have stuck a few field magnets to the bosch psb 24 ve2 drills the best glue is araldite [for metal] gray in colour from halfords at £5.59,you need to take the ends off the motor then re crimp on re assembley the fan pulls off bob

bob roberts, March 2012

I have the same fault, motor turning slowly, then siezed. Dismantling the drill is easy and I found the motor siezed. The cause was the magnets both loose in the motor casing but one magnet has shattered. Would be easy to repair if the magnets were intact but mine are too far gone.

Wuzil, December 2011

Just an addendum: Bosch may be happy to inspect a failed drill, but unless it is under warranty, they will not repair it for free. And they reserve the option to charge you to return it.

So if it is out of warranty, unless you want to pay them £50, the self-repair described above is the way forward.

I did a repair to a drill where the magnets were broken in to several smaller pieces by assembling them bit by bit, and it works. But the speed controller is sometimes also damaged when the motor 'shorts', and mine only gives two forward speeds (in each gear and direction). It is still useable though.

H. Stahl, December 2011

I am currently in the process of repairing my PSB with the old problem of the magnets coming loose in the motor.
Re-siliconed one slightly broken magnet in place this evening. I'm going to leave it until Thursday before re-assembling it and see if it works.

N Hopkins, July 2011

I have a psb 18 li-2 ,the battey is charged and ther lights light up when you press ther trigger but, the drill still doesn't work Mine is a little over a year old Paid a few pound for it and all!!!

Neil, March 2011

I too have had this failure of the magnet adhesive. Bosch wanted £60 for a new motor and offered only 3 months warranty; a very poor service.
I have drilled 9 holes only and extracted and driven a few small screws into wood; virtually no use for a tool of this reputed quality.
Tried a fix with epoxy adhesive; sad to say it failed.
I intend to take this further with Bosch and would urge others suffering this failure to do the same and to write reviews in order to make as much bad press as possible until such time as they acknowledge their failure to market an acceptable product.

shedex, November 2010

Yes this repair really works, I dont know how long it will last, as one magnet was cracked all the way through. Drill is about 4 years old.
Well worth trying.

NL, March 2010

I have also completed a repair as described above to this drill motor, I re-bonded the magnets with super glue, after giving the motor body a good clean. if both ends of the motor are removed, the cooling fan can also be removed by sliding upwards and this saves the need to grind it down. if you suffer this type of problem i would definately reccomend having a look at repairing it yourself as the repair is quite easy and saves you£ 60+

Gazlw, January 2010

I was asked by my brother in law to look at his 'seized' Bosch psb 24 ve-2 drill, many years old so presumed out of warranty. Guess what, the magnets had come un-bonded from the motor can.

However never being one to be defeated and with nowt to lose I decided to try a repair.
After separating the motor and switch assembly from the gearbox, I lifted the brushes out without losing the springs. Then I removed the motor end plate (pinion end) with a fine drift under the crimpings holding it to the can, and pulled out the armature complete with the magnets which used to be bonded to the inside of the can.
I noticed the cooling fan had a larger diameter than the armature, which meant re-assembly from the pinion end would be impossible once the magnets were fixed in place, so I ground them down to the same diameter. I couldn't see the cooling being affected that much if the repair succeeded.
The bond appeared to be a black rubbery type product that remained stuck to the magnets, and I could tell the position they WERE in by the marks from the can on the rubber.
I scraped off the old adhesive and cleaned the inside of the can.I stuck the magnets back on with a quality silicone sealant in the correct position, and re-assembled the motor with a piece of paper wrapped around the armature to ensure clearance, and pressed the end cap back into place, then allowed to cure, for a week!

The next weekend I prized the end cap off again and removed the spacing paper. Re-assembled, then peined over the tabs to secure the end cap again. The armature span freely. Put the brushes and their springs back in, and guess what, it WORKS LIKE A NEW ONE!

How long for remains to be seen, but I have given it some stick with no problems, and it cost nowt as the sealant was in the workshop.

Hope this was of interest.

Ian, December 2009

I have just read your comments as mine has failed also. (it has done a fair amount of work and lasted longer than any previous drills I've owned) I phoned Bosch (UK) and they were very helpful. They have offered to take it back and inspect it free of charge. If they find a manufacturing fault they said they would help with the cost of repairs. As my drill is 4-5 years old I think that is very good service. So thanks to Bosch, you should give them a call.

Steve S, August 2009

yes it sounds like the magnets have either broke or come loose in the motor. i've had both happen to me, you can get new motors for £60

mark, July 2009

I am just discovering that these drills appear to have a bad design fault. The magnets in the motor disintegrate/come loose from the inside of the motor casing. This should never happen as the magnets should literally last the life of the product. They should never wear out. I bet this is your fault.

Take the drill side covers apart (there is one extra screw hidden underneath the rubber hand grip which just pries off easilly. Pull the motor out of the gear box and inspect inside it with a good light, also check the shaft it should be free to rotate. I bet the magnets have come adrift and are jamming the armature rotor.

Only solution is a replacement motor. You can buy one for about £50-£60 on the web. You need to be able to solder the wires on the new motor. Google Bosch spare parts. Though frankly, as this is very clearly a stock fault due to bad design and this drill is their top of the DIY range flagship model, I do not see why anyone should have to pay for this particular fault repair as it should not have happened, no matter how much use the drill has had.

This is not a cheap quality/low price product and so should last for many years IMO. They typically seem to fail from 1 to 4 years of light usage. Bad show Bosch! See the user reviews on this Amazon page:

http://tinyurl.com/3ldfx5

That motor needs a complete redesign. I have no idea if they have improved it yet.

Good Luck

Drillman, October 2008