PDC DRC - Forward/Reverse Switch

[ifit]

Any pdc / drc owners have a problem with the reverse button ?

If i move mine the tiniest bit to the right it goes into reverse, It shouldnt be a problem but i am left handed and the button is positioned right where my finger is - if you have got one try drilling left handed

I accidently put it in reverse all the time, I will be winding a screw in and it will suddenly shoot out, I have burned the ends of 2 of my centrotec drill bits when drilling steel and its gone in reverse without me noticing.

Are they all like this or have I got a faulty switch?

 

[jonny round boy]

Mine's the same - you only need to move the switch half a millimetre and it's in reverse. Caught me out a couple of times at first, but now I'm aware of it it's not too big a deal.

The only time it's ever a real problem is when you're working in very small spaces and you have to be creative in how you hold the drill. It leads to a lot of cursing...

 

[ifit]

Mine's the same - you only need to move the switch half a millimetre and it's in reverse. Caught me out a couple of times at first, but now I'm aware of it it's not too big a deal.

The only time it's ever a real problem is when you're working in very small spaces and you have to be creative in how you hold the drill. It leads to a lot of cursing...

are you left handed? if not try it in your left hand, you cant help but move it

 

[jonny round boy]

I'm not left-handed, but do use it in my left hand sometimes. I have posted previously about it.

 

[ifit]

Not just me then [tongue]

Did you look into the advise you got in the other thread?

I do quite a bit of metal drilling and tek screws so that could be my problem

 

[jonny round boy]

Did you look into the advise you got in the other thread?

I must admit I completely missed that last reply, and have only just seen it!

Don't think I've drilled any metal with it though, and it's in warranty so I don't want to go opening it up. I've kind of learned to live with it as it is, but I'm going to W14 in a couple of months so I might take it along and compare it to the demo models.

 

[AlexThePalex]

When I just got my T15, switching over from a DeWalt, it happened to me all the time too. Was quite annoying. The switch is simply a bit to closely located to the trigger, and the switch runs very lightly. It's probably Festool's design philosophy to make them like this. After a while I got used to it and the problem doesn't really happen anymore now.   

 

[mrboult]

Had the same issues here.  Like others said, I just got used to it and now it's not such any issue. 

Another thing I was surprised about is that there is no central position on the selector switch. Every other drill I have owned (including CXS) has a central position that stopped the drill working at all when the trigger was pressed.  This is quite a useful feature when throwing the drill in a bag or tool box. It prevents the drill from running by accident inside your bag when the trigger pushes into something else.

 

[RC]

That's odd, just tried on my PDC 18-4 (mfg 2014) and the direction switch has two distinct positions and moves with an audible click from one to the other. Couldn't get it to move just a little bit and switch direction even when I tried to - it will just switch all the way from one position to the other with no in between totally off position.

 

[ifit]

I got a blood blister in the end of my thumb from it today

winding in a 125mm x 6mm screw and it suddenly went into reverse jumped out of the screw head and straight into the end of my thumb

Unfortunately it is not something you can get used to when your left handed and is getting to be a problem causing damage and now injury