Dewalt Drill sparks and smokes

[Kevand]

I have a Dewalt hammer drill which I purchased used a few years ago. It has just started sparking ALOT and smoking though otherwise runs fine. I hate to run it given the smoking though not sure why this would happen. The sparks are coming from the motor/brushes and yes there were small sparks previously though these are coming out of the shell now and it sparks the whole time its running. Any thoughts about how to remedy this?

[cmoorejack]

Hey Kevand,
You may have the brush's wearing down causing excessive sparking and they may just need to be replaced,however the smoking is not a good sign..ugh.. worst case is your armature is shorted and it may be time for a repair or a replace [when you check your brush's be sure and look at the commutator of the armature [where the brush's make contact] and look for any signs of damage..
hope this helps...
Craig