I will add pictures on Friday/Saturday
http://www.lowes.com/pd_232165-4712...drill&pl=1¤tURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=air+drill
I bought a Kobalt 3/8" air drill months ago. It sounded like a cross between a 1/2" impact, and a cheap 1/4" die grinder. WAAAAAYYYY to loud. It sat unused for a while, then I decided to try and make it quieter because I was bored and decided I might as well use it. I took it all apart and cleaned out as much of the anti-seize looking oil as I could. Then I drilled out all the holes I could to a few thousandths bigger using a drill index. I also stuffed a piece of shop rag, and some pieces of a gray scotch bright pad I cut up in the exhaust. This really quieted it down, almost quieter than a similar looking Matco 3/8" drill someone else in the shop has. I also polished the inside of the turbine thing a little with some of the gray scotch pad.
There is a pin in there that holds the turbine assembly thing in place, but its way too small and allows for a lot of movement, so I replaced it with a broken #40 (.098) drill bit. This fit much better.
After putting it all back together, I had a left over bearing that I couldn't get to fit right, so I left it out. It still runs fine, but might not last long....
After using it for a while, I found out the ergonomics of the handle sucked, and hurt my hand, so I ground off a lot on a belt sander, filed some more, then ground even more off with a 1/4" die grinder. There is a lot of wasted aluminum on these things (but I'm afraid to drop it now cause I might dent it...) I also added some grease to the turbine fins (they still chatter though), and the planetary gears inside it. All that I did to it also slowed the speed down a bit ( and might have reduced the cfm), but thats fine with me since I work with aluminum. Now it is pretty nice to use.
This could probably be done to other cheap air drills if you get bored or care to and don't want to spend $150+ for a really good one....
http://www.lowes.com/pd_232165-4712...drill&pl=1¤tURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=air+drill
I bought a Kobalt 3/8" air drill months ago. It sounded like a cross between a 1/2" impact, and a cheap 1/4" die grinder. WAAAAAYYYY to loud. It sat unused for a while, then I decided to try and make it quieter because I was bored and decided I might as well use it. I took it all apart and cleaned out as much of the anti-seize looking oil as I could. Then I drilled out all the holes I could to a few thousandths bigger using a drill index. I also stuffed a piece of shop rag, and some pieces of a gray scotch bright pad I cut up in the exhaust. This really quieted it down, almost quieter than a similar looking Matco 3/8" drill someone else in the shop has. I also polished the inside of the turbine thing a little with some of the gray scotch pad.
There is a pin in there that holds the turbine assembly thing in place, but its way too small and allows for a lot of movement, so I replaced it with a broken #40 (.098) drill bit. This fit much better.
After putting it all back together, I had a left over bearing that I couldn't get to fit right, so I left it out. It still runs fine, but might not last long....
After using it for a while, I found out the ergonomics of the handle sucked, and hurt my hand, so I ground off a lot on a belt sander, filed some more, then ground even more off with a 1/4" die grinder. There is a lot of wasted aluminum on these things (but I'm afraid to drop it now cause I might dent it...) I also added some grease to the turbine fins (they still chatter though), and the planetary gears inside it. All that I did to it also slowed the speed down a bit ( and might have reduced the cfm), but thats fine with me since I work with aluminum. Now it is pretty nice to use.
This could probably be done to other cheap air drills if you get bored or care to and don't want to spend $150+ for a really good one....
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