Celma PRCb - retro drill from electro-junk - simple repair and teardown - is it worth it?
.
Today we are going to look at a single-speed, no-impact drill from a bygone era. This is another old piece of equipment that I will try to run here. I have identified the model of the equipment as a Celma PRCb, although the nameplate is partially worn out:
.
The first thing I started with was checking the whole thing with a meter. I wanted to check if there was by any chance a short circuit or a puncture on the housing. It appears that everything is fine.
Next, I checked the gears. A socket spanner will come in handy:
.
I don't see the damage, the grease should be changed, but I need to buy or borrow any first:
.
Then it was time for the brushes. We unscrew them, carefully so that the spring doesn't pop out:
.
About her:
Here's the carbon brush. It's not that bad:
.
Then I decided to connect the whole thing to the power supply and.... works! But what do you mean, without a button?
The button must be faulty or someone has shorted it out. Let's check.
.
Indeed... someone has deliberately omitted the button, is it defective?
Unfortunately in the process of taking it apart the plastic broke:
.
However, this is a great opportunity to look inside:
.
With this amount of dirt, it is not surprising that this button did not short circuit. I checked with a multimeter. Indeed, there is no contact.
How dirty it all is.... I took a cloth, IPA, a sander and started to gently remove the dirt. By the way, this switch has two modes - either momentary, or you can also push in the pin and lock it temporarily in a shorted state.
.
Pictured in the process of fitting the switch back on:
Here a toothpick temporarily holds one of the elements for me:
.
Turning:
.
I shortened the screws, which were too long, and prevented them from dislodging with a drop of glue.
And all this fun was actually a bit of art for art's sake, as the switch can be bought new:
.
Nevertheless, I gave my "sculpture" a chance and success - it works ! Looks like my new old Celma is working.
By the way, I can see brushes to buy too, not bad.
Summary .
This gear is just having a blast. And you can feel that lack of control, because as you've all probably noticed, there's no adjustment here, it's a simple 'on-off' switch. So what if it works and will probably last longer than many Chinese products? And maybe I'm wrong, what are your experiences with the Celma? Is it worth investing in this find? For me personally, this is unfortunately too old a piece of equipment for me to have as I remember, so it's hard for me to determine and I just don't know enough.
Feel free to comment, any advice would certainly be appreciated.
p.kaczmarek2 wrote 11921 posts with
rating 9984 , helped 572 times.
Been with us since 2014 year.
Comments
In my opinion, it is ALWAYS WORTH saving an old appliance from disposal, even if it no longer has any use value but only sentimental value :) . [Read more]
I think so too, and in addition I always try to upload some photos to the forum in our "Appliance Interiors" section, to which all readers are warmly invited. [Read more]
The insulation will get punctures very quickly, it is the weakest point of the age-old equipment. [Read more]
Nothing prevents giving a triac adjustable switch from some newer drill :) [Read more]
Power 380 W, 580 rpm - very useful, whereas today you can find maximum rpm close to 4000 in drills. This type of drill construction is still popular today in Pakistani films of repairing various machines,... [Read more]
Hello Of course it is worth repairing such equipment and of course it is not museum equipment. A fortnight ago I repaired a colleague the same one, the colleague replaced the rotor because it was burnt... [Read more]
These drills were probably made under licence from Bosch, and there were several or maybe a dozen "modules" on this basis alone. There were two types of drills with different speed ranges, there were angle... [Read more]
. Elprom, on the other hand, is a licence probably from AEG. Elprom has 'rebranded' itself as Sparky. I wonder if this plethora of attachments for the Celma was also due to the licence or were they... [Read more]
. I have an old Russian drill (probably from the celma years) it has two handles on the sides but not on the top, the drill is turned with two frog keys or a hammer. It is not very powerful but its... [Read more]
My father had such a drill, I used it myself when I was young to make holes for cans in suporex ;) precisely because it was powerful and had a slow speed. [Read more]
The slow speed is advantageous when drilling in hard metals (steel, cast iron) and (if a percussion cap is fitted) - in concrete. The disadvantage of these drills was that they were about 2 times heavier... [Read more]
I observe that you upload a lot of cool descriptions with the demolition of old equipment. How do you manage to source them ? In my town you can't get anything from the electro rubbish collection point,... [Read more]
I don't know maybe I'm a hoarder but I have: one like this, a similar Soviet one, 2 green Celmis, 2 East German ones similar to the Celmis and one Soviet one on the top of the range i.e. with variable... [Read more]
Too bad it's far away (Legnica). I would gladly exchange my Bulgarian for one green Celma (my Bulgarian has 1 gear and the green Celma has 2 gears, I think). [Read more]
An old Celma is always worth saving, only that anti-interference capacitor I would replace, they tend to explode from old age. I have not found an adjustable switch that will fit without modifications.... [Read more]
Oj, the "old" Celma is a beautiful invention. It has a relatively low RPM compared to modern equipment, the power may not knock you out, but the torque and instantaneous overload capability makes it an... [Read more]
One thing's for sure - it's not a wrist-saving drill for working at height - dangerous. The modern ones have smaller rotors with much less inertia, not to mention wrist-saving protection (I have this on... [Read more]
My CELMA PRC-10 (green), is almost 40 years old. It has even undergone welding of the housing plastic (handle). Brushes fitted 3 times already. Bearing replacement. Replacement of cable. Replacement of... [Read more]
We still have one at my parents' house :D It actually "kicks" on take-off, I hadn't noticed it before :) [Read more]