Hi all!

I have just acquired an ancient, Black & Decker "Heavy Duty 1/2" Electric Drill." Serial No. K41395.

I cannot find ANY info on this drill, and it does not work. If I had to guess it's vintage, I'd say 40's-'50's. It's enormous, round, and the case appears to be threaded for a 3/4" or 1/2" NPT pipe to be stuck into the side of it, for leverage.

It has a "D-handle" at the back, and is single speed, aluminum-case.

It won't run, and seems to have a trigger lock which intially wouldn't even allow the trigger to be pulled. Then, it seemed to "unlock" with a trigger pull, like a double-action revolver.

I get nothing when I plug it in, but it appears in good shape. I would like to find an owner's and SERVICE MANUAL, or parts Pdf, as I suspect it's something with the trigger.

Thanks,

Peter

Peter, August 2007

Hi Peter,
These drills were a great machine, and date from the early 50's, you cannot buy parts for these now, although many other old B&D machine use the same / similar parts.
To 'test' the switch, it is easy to bypass it, as it is just a standard switch, to do this, first put the drill into a vice (to stop it from moving around if / when running), then take the 2 wires out of the switch from the motor, join 1 of them to the live input, and the other to the neutral wire, remembering to attach the earth wire to the body, then switch on at the plug, if it works, then the switch is at fault, if not, it is most likely to be the brushes, these are a round brush, unique to the B&D range, these are long since obsolete, but I still have a few sets of old stock should you need any. It may be just a sticking brush, if this is the case, simply remove the brushes, clean them, making sure the brush holder is clean, and the brushes slide freely.
Hope this helps.

Dave the tool repairer, August 2007