If you bought a Harbor Freight Drill Master 18V cordless drill between May 2011 and September 2015, you might want to take a closer look at this recent recall notice. The two model numbers affected are 68239 and 68287.
The drill is being recalled due to an issue with the trigger switch that can cause it to overheat and burn your hand. There have been 25 reports of overheating, with 6 involving personal injuries and 5 involving minor property damage.
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The problem is that the trigger can get stuck in the on position and overheat.
If you own a Drill Master 18V cordless drill but don’t know the model number, you can find it located on the label on the right side of the drill.
This recall covers 1.7 million units.
You can contact Harbor Freight about a recalled product in one of the following ways:
- Bring the drill into your local Harbor Freight
- Call (800)444-3353 from 8am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday (PST)
- Send an email to [email protected]
This recall does not affect the flashlight included with the model 68287 kit. When returning the drill, you should hold onto the battery and charger, as they’re unaffected by the recall.
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More Info (Harbor Freight PDF link)
More Info (CSPC recall notice)
Dave L.
Be aware that cheapo battery packs usually don’t have thermal overload protection. I found this out working at a place that re-celled battery packs. Major brand packs DO have thermal cutouts. Caveat: Lithium ion packs probably have them because of the nature of the batteries but I never worked on those.
Jim Felt
Is the age old concept “you get what you pay for” at work here?
I won’t even buy their cheap ass non-USA made knockoff A clamps.
But that’s just one voice in the long dark night.
Panda
Do people honestly expect these cheap Harbor Freight drills to have any longevity? These are made out of the cheapest components in China and none of power tools will last 20-30 years from now.
When you buy cheap, expect cheap quality. We have no one to blame but ourselves for our own actions. Real shame that few want to listen to reason, facts or logic, the majority just wants to be told what they want to hear. What a damn shame.
Stuart
Safety should be independent of price, quality, and longevity.
There are plenty of much pricier tools that have been recalled for safety concerns.
Yes, you often get what you pay for, but that shouldn’t affect safety.
Tool User
???? “Yes, you often get what you pay for, but that shouldn’t affect safety.” ??????
Our family MB S-class is much safer than any similar sized Kia produced.
Sawstop has blade sending technologies that less table saws do not.
Professional power tools often have electric motor brakes that less priced models do not.
I can go on and on…..
Typically, common product safety features across a product line will be those mandated by regulation or perceived legal liability. And, often the implementation of those feature will be better on higher priced items. For example, table saw or router table guards. Often, the higher priced units have better designed and constructed guards. Thus, they are more often used and result in higher user safety.
Stuart
Yes, more premium goods often have added optional safety features.
But are you trying to say that “Panda” is correct in essentially saying that cheaper tools are unsafe?
Your MB S-class, which according to Google starts at nearly $100,000, was subjected to a safety recall this year. Apparently there were issues with seat belt mechanisms not locking as required, due to factory installation errors.
Allen
Since Stuart forgot his reply button, I’ll say it here:
Oh, snap.
I think I used it correctly.
Hang Fire
What Stuart said, plus this.
There is an acceptable minimum of safety, and this product does not provide that minimum. Yes, spending more can bring you above the minimum.
Not that I’m defending HF cordless tools, I own none.
Tyler
Quality isn’t contained entirely in the body of the product, but also in it’s tooling, manufacturing, marketing, quality control, and testing procedures. No Harbor Freight tool could be as cheap as it is without reducing or entirely eliminating some of the above. One can anticipate more problems in a tool from a company that sells products that break during unboxing, are notorious for being ineffective, or have half the holes drilled in the wrong place in the sheet metal.
Personally, most of the time, I’d rather pay twice HF prices for a better-known brand, for build quality and effectiveness, not safety. Recently, I’ve found that HF prices are not always better than inexpensive versions of other brands’ products. Shop around.
Dave
Society has fallen into accepting cheap stuff that’s easily and cheaply replaceable. Quality and longevity are no longer concerns for the masses, they simply throw it away and get another. Unfortunately, even the more expensive and supposed better quality items do not fare much better. Black & Decker and Porter Cable were premier tool brands at one time, and now they’ve been relegated to the bottom of the list. It’s not just cheap stuff from overseas either – the Ford Pinto, the Chevy Vega of the 70’s were 50,000 mile throw away cars, not designed to last 20 or more years like folks used to keep vehicles.
Sean
I don’t think the laws of torts (specifically, strict liability) should apply when purchasing a drill and battery for $18…
I’d half-expect fire to shoot out of the chuck.
Ian Random
I remember going there and there was a pallet of cheap drills and I swear another pallet to hold to returns of the drills.
miss franciene
I’ve had me harbor freight 18v drill for over five years and never a issue. yes cheap at 15 bucks, but sometimes at home I just don’t need a millwaukee or dewalt…. and I have both. Any diy or pro would know enough and have enough common sense to know hft s are not pro grade……….
Hugh
Did I read that right 18 dollars for a drill? That is a waste of good money. You could have purchased some accessories for that money for a real drill.
Pablo
The more important thing is 1.7 million drills?! I’m not too familiar w/ the drill market size, but that sounds like a ton.
Tyler
This is funny. I use mine as a back-up drill when I need to do a little more work before quitting, and my other system’s batteries are drained. (My main system is a seven or eight year old Skil kit, the drill of which has hit the floor so many times you’d think I was trying to dribble it. Still works, except for a cheapo attachment for drill bit storage that lasted longer than it should’ve.)
In one drop, the rear ventilation grates on the HF shattered. In another, the plastic where the battery meets the tool snapped off, which I repaired with epoxy. Another drop broke more plastic, but the epoxy held in the previous repair so the battery stays on, but wobbles, threatening to break.
To begin with, the drill is underpowered. I get a sense that the battery isn’t charging properly. It has gone downhill rapidly from new, and takes more than twice as long to charge as my others. The charger gives only a limited impression of battery charge state. I don’t want to knock it too hard, I knew what I was getting into, and a bad review might finish it off for good. It fills a small gap while I procrastinate on buying a drill-driver to replace the Skil. It makes a noise and spins. It will drill some holes, and drive a few screws. (The flashlight works up close in the dark, with those vision-distorting LEDs that are more blue than white.)
Maybe I’ll exchange it this week while I’m picking up some epoxy.
Rose
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TonyRockyTiger
I agree, you get what you pay for. The reason HF tools are so inexpensive is that they lack the QA and extra effort to make things like battery charging safe, along with perhaps lesser quality materials. This QA/extra effort is what goes into ‘hardening’ the device from things like 3 foot drops and exposure to excessive elements.
I believe it’s up to each buyer to understand that the cost is a reflection of overall quality, including safety. There’s no way that a $75 HF table saw is going to be as safe as a $500 Bosch. Bosch is able to put way more testing and R&D into making each individual part of the device robust _because_ they charge you that extra $425 over the HF.
Anyway, I’m not going to crap all over HF. I think for certain things their products are fine, but whoever buys an $18 drill and thinks it’s going to last as long as a nice DeWalt deserves what they get: a learning experience.
On a related note, I subscribed to a YouTube channel of a guy who does tear-downs of things like power drills and angle grinders from the top manufacturers along with cheaper alternatives like HF. He goes into detail about the components that are used and muses about design (or lack of) decisions. No manufacturer is perfect, and he’ll discuss some of the tradeoffs manufacturers make to be able to sell a tool at a certain price point.
Here’s his teardown of a Hilti SDS rotary hammer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joetVGrMfAY
… btw, he’s a Canuck with some salty (and sometimes indecipherable) language, so viewer beware.
Roger
Just letting you guys know that HF honors their recall. I was one of the people who had the melting trigger issue on model #68239. A relative of mine had the same model and we went down the HF store with just the drill bodies as prescribed. Talked to the manager, and got brand new replacements model #69651 (bare-tool only).
The replacement feels like it’s built much better than the recall. Bigger trigger, bigger side bumpers, rubber over mold grip, better clutch select design, very positive frw/lock/rev switch. Only downsides are that it has a two-hand chuck, and it seats a little wobbly on the battery. Minor issues really. Haven’t tested it fully, but I hope it’s not as power hungry as the recall was.
Only 0-900RPM, but good for this class of cordless drill. I mean it is a level up replacement for a lower-end model.
Robert W Elliott
problem is mine burst in flames and it was sitting on the bench in my garage. If I weren’t in there it would have burned down my entire place. At first I saw a little smoke and the next thing I see is flames. What if I’m not in there?
Alfonso Lujan
I have been looking for Drill Master 18v NiCd Battery Pack replacement and I have been unable to find one.
In my search for a Battery Pack, I stumbled upon this recall notice which I was unaware of Harbor Freights recall on the Drill Master Drill tool.
I believe my Drill Master is on the recall notice list.
My Drill Master model is # 68287.
What is my next procedure?
Can I have the portable drill replaced?
Stuart
You have 3 options:
Bring the drill into your local Harbor Freight
Call (800)444-3353 from 8am to 4:30 pm Monday through Friday (PST)
Send an email to [email protected]