Chosen Solution
I don’t know if this a proper use of this forum. If not please forgive me. My B&D DR500 1/2" reversible drill recently started having intermittent power outages and eventually would not power on at all. I found that one of the two motor brushes was worn down to nearly nothing and made poor contact. The other brush was only a bit longer. I found that replacement brushes were B&D part number 385733-01; lots of places had that part listed, all as “no longer available.” I measured the residual brushes as 15/64" square and about 7/16" long. I found a host of online sellers (Ebay) selling 15/64" square brushes that were 1/2" to 3/4" long with attached leads, so I ordered some. My drill uses only the graphite blocks with no leads, so I (gently) sawed off the leads to get the proper length and put them in the drill motor. The drill now works fine. This was a much better solution than throwing out a perfectly good drill due to lack of a couple of tiny pieces of graphite. The brushes online are so cheap (~75 cents a pair) that you can buy several in case you mess up the saw cut. I am posting this in the hope that anyone else needing these does not have to waste as much time as I did looking for new brushes and does not have to discard an otherwise fine drill. This probably works for many more Black & Decker drills, etc that use this part number.
Go here to create a guide: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/new It will walk you through the steps.
I made a guide a while back.
Black n Decker DR500 Drill Motor Brushes Replacement
