Just the other day I was working on a project, and decided to fire up the old dremel. It turned out that my plans were about to change, as I accidentally broke it. Yes! I broke a tool. It turned on just fine but the switch got stuck in between the on and off setting.

It started revving up and down as I tried to get it all the way on or back off, but the button wouldn’t budge! Smoke started to pour out the ventilation grate, and I speedily unplugged it from the wall. So, what next, it’s broken right?

Well, after waiting couple hours for any potentially dangerous capacitors to discharge, I set out on a repair mission. When I opened it up, the culprit was immediately identifiable.

Here is the button that I removed from the dremel. Notice anything wrong? The bottom was all burnt, and it smelled horrible too. In case you’re wondering, yes, it’s still stuck.

Lucky for me, my dad has a stash of old electronics in the closet, and as it turned out there was a near identical button in there. Here is what it looks like after some de-soldering and cleaning.

Yes, I know it is a DPST (double pole) switch, but when I say identical, I really meant it has the same voltage, amperage ratings, and it fits. As you can see in the picture, I just covered up one sides terminals with heat shrink to ensure insulation.

Here is what the insides of the dremel looked like when disassembled.

The button is just connected with those two female electrical sleeves, and the wheel down there is the potentiometer for speed settings.

Nothing else looked burnt, so I wired it all up and gave it a go (ready to unplug it from the wall at any indication of smoke).

It worked just like before, and after a minute of running at full speed, there are no apparent problems. I’m sure glad to have this tool back working again!