Brief Description: O-ring replacement in Sioux drill - part 1
I have had a bit of an ongoing issue with my beloved Sioux drill. It works flawlessly for long periods of time (4-6 months) and then it doesn't work. It's like the air pressure doesn't get to where it needs to be to spin the drill...just nothing. Unless you unplug the air hose, pull the trigger, and then reinsert the air hose - then it would work - at full speed - until you released the trigger, then nothing again.
Bob fixed the inoperable drill one time when he was in town by flipping the o-ring over and reinstalling it. I tried that too but that little o-ring is really hard to get to at the bottom of the narrow handle shaft and I couldn't seem to get to it - luckily, when I put it back together - it magically started working again.
I also took it to Avery once to have him look at it when it stopped working and he was stumped too. After fiddling with the thing for a few minutes and switching out the spring, the impellor and some other parts from a working Sioux drill that he had - my drill still wouldn't work. Then all of the sudden, it was working...so I left it alone again until today it stopped working again.
There is an o-ring in the handle assembly that a valve sits on, this valve looks like a small impellor and it has a shaft that runs up the middle if the impellor and contacts the trigger. As you pull the trigger, the shaft causes the valve to lean slightly and open up the air flow which spins the drill. big pull = large opening, fast drill speed whereas a small/slight pull = small opening in the valve and the drill goes very slowly. (continued)
