Hi everyone, hope you are all well. The bearings on my old Dremel 395 have become very noisy lately so I have resolved to change them. The 626Z bearings were easy to find and they’re on the way to me. Removing the bearing at commutator end is a doddle but the other is a bit more difficult. I can get the thing to move and close the gap to the head sleeve but I was wrong when I thought it would ‘gather’ the sleeve on its way off the shaft. Does anyone know how to remove the sleeve, is it press fit, interference fit or even threaded? Any help will be gratefully received. Aye, Peter.

Nicholas and Michael, thanks – I’ve solved the problem. I read elsewhere that the sleeve is actually pressed on, so with a bit of jiggery-pokery I managed to pull it off with a 4mm SS rod inserted into the tool holder and a little three-legged puller. For such a small part it was on really tight. Problem now is, during the struggle I’ve managed to break most of the tiny wires between the commutator and the split ring so the whole effin thing is now scrap! We live and learn.