Makita 8414DW -- excess chuck play?

[Misha Dorman]

Just bought a Mak 8414DW (cordless 12V combi drill/driver) from Lawson (best price & range I could find). I have only used it for an hour or so (putting some stud partitioning up -- drilling pilot and countersink and then driving 3" and 4" #10s) and am generally very happy with it (not _too_ heavy, and plenty of power and control esp. in low gear)

BUT:

There seems to be rather a lot of play in the chuck (not the keyless chuck tightener, the drive part of the chuck) -- around 15 degrees. This noticeably more than my 2 year old Bosch (Green) PSR144 or a (7 yr old?) B&D 9.6v drill/driver, both of which have ~5 degrees of play.

The play seems to be the same whether in gear 1/2/3 and whether in hammer/drill/driver mode.

Should it have this much slack? Is it a problem?

Misha

[Andy Hall]

No it shouldn't be like this. Send it back to them and ask for a replacement.

[John Rumm]

I just checked on my 8443 - and the rotational play is small -certainly less than 5 deg. Having said that the new 3 speed gearbox ones are different, and perhaps naturally have more. It may be it is intentional to prevent large items in the chuck (big hole saws, mixing padles etc) from overruning and snagging the auto brake.

I would be inclinded to ask Lawson and see what they say.

As long as the play is only rotational then it seems less important - but there should be none from side to side.