C15 released the magic smoke repair or new?

[KGB pilot125]

Last night I was drilling a hole for the sump pump and radon pipe cover so it would fit flat against the wall again.  About 20 seconds in the drill beeped then started smoking.  Now it beeps tries to spin and thats it.

Little disappointing as this drill has hardly any use on it (maybe 5 hours) as its the "house" drill and my PDC and CXS and M12 stuff see the lions share of use in the shop.  Anyways I am trying to figure out if I should send it in for service?  Its out of warranty and according to the EKAT the motor is about 130 Euros or about 140 USD.  The new basic C18 is only $320 I dont need any of the chucks or batteries as I have other 18v festool stuff. 

question is if the motor is 140 and I would assume at least 2 hours labor at somewhere above 50 bucks an hour I am about 100 bucks away from the C18 basic.  I did call festool and ask for a super rough ballpark idea on if its worth sending in or buying another and as per status quo in the service industry there is no giving quotes over the phone because people have ruined that.

Any advice?

 

[RKA]

If it was me, I would open it up, sniff out the smoked part, order that from Festool, install myself and see what happens.  It's a gamble, but you're right, sending it to Festool could cost you more than a new drill (with a warranty).

 

[mrboult]

I agree with the above post, I've managed to fix two of my festools in such situations, despite having little/no knowledge in such areas.

In the uk broken festools still fetch actual money on ebay, I'd expect such a drill in good (looking) condition to go for £40-£60 so that might be a factor adding up the costs. And if you sold the new systainer you got from a new c15 basic, i imagine the new tool with warranty might end up costing the same as the repair?