Repairing a Makita 6010D Cordless Drill

DIY

The Makita 6010D was first released in 1978 or so, and it was a game changer. At one time I owned two, but I can't recall what happened to the second one 😒

I still own one, which I must have bought close to forty (!) years ago. Unfortunately, the power switch was starting to misbehave (pieces of the plastic broke off) and the unit became unusable. But... throwing away good tools is against my nature. Time to repair...

Parts

Amazingly, it's still possible to obtain some spare parts!

First, the broken switch...

As you can see, part is missing (simply broken off after many years of use).

I found a new part on https://www.kruis.nl/onderdelen/makita/6010d. The drawing suggests it is component 009, but the parts list lists it as 011. Oh well...

(Click to enlarge.)

I took my drill apart, verified the component, and ordered it... one week and 15 bucks later (and a lot of cursing at the horrid soldering material they used) my drill is working again! 😁

Wire vs. copper strips

I've seen in some (dis)assembly videos that this drill exists both with wiring and copper strips inside. If you have the copper strip version (I did) you may have to 'dremel' out the solder... I'm not sure what they used, but I don't have a soldering iron that was able to fully melt the stuff.

You can also simply decide to replace the copper strip with wires, which is what the replacement switch comes with, and what most videos online show.

Batteries

Those batteries last a long time, but they do not last forever. I bought two replacement batteries over time, an original Makita 7000, and a Makta 7050.

Makta is an alternative name, that Makita uses to sell cheaper versions with less features... Does that mean those are a budget line, or professional versions? Who knows. Typically, these are red instead of the Makita blue/green.

Before 123inkt.nl and 123accu.nl existed I found a battery online that seemed to be identical to the original Makita 7000 7.2V 1.3A. Upon arrival it turned out it had an additional ridge and a contact less, making it impossible to use it with the 6010D.

I took a 7000 and a 7050 battery apart, and found out the internal components were identical (even the cells were the same). Further study of the drill and the charger showed the additional contact did not serve a purpose, so taking a Dremel to the 7050 battery made it fit and work...

The image above shows where the original superfluous ridge was, as well as the additional contact that isn't used in my charger, nor my drill.

You can also buy new batteries here: https://www.123accu.nl/search/?search=6010d. I'm a little surprised there are now also 2 Ah and 3 Ah versions available. So far, my experience with 123inkt.nl has been very good, and I have little doubt their batteries will be great replacements as well.

Now, excuse me, I have to drill some holes 😎

Makta / Makita Colors

As a sidenote: the coloring is all a bit weird.

I've seen the identical drill sold as:

- Makita 6010D - green/blue

- Makita 6010D - orange

- Makita M002 - red

 

There's probably a Makta version as well, but I've never seen it.

Makita sells other models in black, though I've never seen this one in that color.

Update. I now remember what happened to the other one. I burned out the electromotor, and at the time never considered repairing it. Stupid me.

Dapper / TellTales! #116