My 7 year old likes to work with Dad in the shop. I inherited several old egg beater drills. I let him use these as they are safer then the power drills.
I started using them lately to install brass and drill pilot holes in nearly finished pieces. They are quite nice really. There is alot of control possible compared to a power drill. Also they are blessedly quet compared to my old beat up Craftsman drill with the smoked bearings
Am I the last ludite with one of these in his box?
Frank
Replies
No your not. I do a lot of onsight repairs of furniture and I usually carry a hand drill. It's versatile, light (easy to transport), dosen"t blow dust around,I never need an outlet and the betteries never run down. Of couese there are many jobs where it won't be ideal but most drilling jobs up to 1/4 in. are no problem.
I also hang a lot of pictures and I'v found that drilling 3/16 to 1/4 in. holes in concrete etc.( for anchors ) is just about as fast as power drills. I wouldn't want to do 40 but one 3 or 4 are no big problem,and my carbide bits seem to last ####lot longer in the hand drill.
Gritty
I have a nice one - the tool of choice for just what you describe - - it has a hollow handle and came with several bits, twist types and also 'spoon' type - haven't figured out what the spoon types are good for yet...
David:
If they are true spoon bits, they look like a piece of pipe that's been sliced down the middle and have a rounded end as their point. They are a little more difficult to start drilling with but you can angle your hole and you can easily make adjustments if you are slightly off center.
Roger
here's a pict of the drill and another of the spoon bits, if that is indeed what they are
View Image
View Image
"there's enough for everyone"
"haven't figured out what the spoon types are good for yet..."
David,
Spoon bits are commonly used in chairmaking; their chief advantage is that they do not follow the grain the way spiral bits do, making it relatively simple to fine-tune the angle of the whole after you've started boring. If you're having trouble getting a hole started using a spoon bit, you can use a suitably sized gouge to create a starter hole.
Good luck,
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
yer hardly the last luddite....
But a lot of folks graduate from egg-beaters to yankee push drills, and then find some use for the yankee push screwdrivers which were defacto trade essentials not so many years ago. And if one starts to go down that slippery slope, you'll find folks chucking hex screwdriver bits in a good ol brace for the total "cordless" experience.
Eric
in Cowtown
old egg beater drills..
I use it ALWAYS for fine work.. Easier to control than a 2 HP Hammer drill!
Well, sort of joking but.. They do make life easier for fine work...
I use an old Stanley all the time for hardware installations in the shop. A combo of hand and power tools is the best way to do any job.
I have three Yankee/Goodell Pratt punch drills set up on a rack by the bench for predrilling #6, #8 and #10 screw holes that do not require countersinking. I have three MF or GP eggbeaters set up the same but with "snappy" drill bits with integral countersinks for finer work. I appreciate the control.... the ability to hold it plumb and most of all to stop on a dime....much greater control than even a very lightweight cordless drill can afford. What's more, I have a square drive bit always chucked in a 6" MF holdall brace for screw driving. Again, a great deal of control consistent with reasonable speed.
I save the cordless drills for carpentry or heavy, repetitive drilling and use the hand drills for WW, unless a drill press is required. When it is, I often use a hand crank Yankee drill press. Does that make me a Luddite?
Roger Bell
> I often use a hand crank Yankee drill press.
Do you have any pictures of it you could post?
-- J.S.
Sorry, I dont know how to post pix on this forum as of yet. However, I can email you a pix or two this weekend. I have a Model 1005 (the big one). Two speed, three jaw chuck. These things were designed to drill metal, but work fine for WW using smaller bits. Very nicely designed tool.
John...Here are a couple of pix...if everything come through ok....
Thanks, it's an interesting machine. How do you advance the bit into the workpiece? Is it that wheel on the bottom?
-- J.S.
John....mechanical engineering is not my strong suit.....so I will take a stab at answering your question based on what understanding of the mechanism I believe I have. The terminology I assign to some of the working parts is probably more literary than technically accurate.First, you can see how the gears work to turn the drill spindle. This is pretty much identical to those on an eggbeater. If you look at the top of the frame, you will see a threaded portion of the drill spindle (the part of the spindle closest to the top). Above that is a type of ratchet pawl (similar to the pawl on a hand winch) that engages a small gear in the spindle. This allows the entire spindle to travel up and down within the crankshaft and within the frame in a very controlled manner utilizing the threaded portion of the spindle to mechanically control the feed pressure. The feed is automatic (with the threads turning in their housing) and does not rely on muscle force (like an eggbeater) or on lever force (like on a modern drill press). These two factors are done by the machine and are out of the control of the operator. This is what makes it such a superior tool. Like I said, the feed is indexed (like screwing a nut onto a bolt or turning the threaded screw on a hand clamp or a fruit press)....it can go only one way with no play whatsoever and it is thereby controlled. The mechanism does not allow the operator to stress or to break small bits like you can so easily do with other systems....particularly when drilling metal. And the bits don't jamb up in the material as they are prone to do when the feed rate and feed pressure is not so well controlled. Like so many North Brother products, it is a masterpiece from the golden age of mechanical engineering. What's more, it is variable speed (two speeds). On the fast speed (geared 64 to 18) one rev of the crank gives 3 1/2 revs to the spindle. One the slow speed (geared 14:14) one rev gives 1 rev to the spindle. The speeds are adjusted the same way that North Bros. eggbeaters are. No belts to screw with, just a thumb switch.The chuck is "keyless" and is tightened up by and by locking the spindle so that only the chuck and its interior three jaws can move.The large handwheel on the bottom is attached to a threaded shaft that attaches to the table and allows for rapid but fine adjustment of the table. The table slides up and down on machines ways...like a jointer table. Very coarse table adjustments can be made with a wrench to the nut which holds the table assembly to the main frame. Much more advanced and classy than the average WW drill press. You can fit a small machinist vise to the table or and X-Y vise and do precision work.
Now THAT IS A COOL TOOL! I just love it!
Roger,
nice drill, but more interesting are all those hand planes in the background.
Don't think I have even seen so many toghether even in a store!
How many do you have and what do you do with all of them? Are they Stanley's or all sorts?
Planes? I just have what I need and generally resist the urge to accumulate. I prefer to do as much of my jointing, final joint fitting and fine surface preparation with planes rather than with power tools and with sandpaper. Most of the metallic bench planes are Stanley, but there are a few that are not. I have several working groups of common bench planes, with each group set up for specific cutting tasks and types and lengths of wood. I also have a number of specialty planes that are used less frequently and are designed for a more narrow range of tasks.
Think I counted around 30 hand planes in your collection, or is the picture misleading? I'm up to 9 and started feeling guilty for accumulating.
Looks like you are just counting the bench planes, if you count the block planes, the various wooden molding profiles and so on, there are probably about 100. No need to feel guilty about your nine planes as long as you plan to use and enjoy them.
I had a great old 'YANKEE' ?? drill.. I threw it out long ago.. I never should have.. They had some special bits I could not find.. I think it was a Sears Craftsman thing.. I liked it..
Sort of a half cut off top.. Round bits would not hold...
Grandad had a Yankee screwdriver. It always seemed to slip of the screwhead. I guess if you had a good pilot hole it would work.
I like these old hand tools. I am a hobbyist and never in much of a rush. Noise in the shop is a little jarring on my nerves as I get older.
Frank
It always seemed to slip of the screwhead..
Yep.. I don't remember a PHILLIPS in the set of bits!
Nope. I've got a Miller Falls No. 2 that I use frequently. I also keep a brace around, came in handy when SWMBO bought two half whisky barrels to plant stuff in. Drainage holes without extension cords on wet grass.
I forgot about mine until your post. I used it for years when installing locksets and strike plates. My grandson is 8 years old, he is coming over today for Easter supper and to see his new workbench. I was thinking what real tools I could set him up with, the egg beater would be terrific. For Christmas some one gave him a toolset, nice gesture but it was the typical junk that they sell for kids tools. He got frustrated trying to build his toolbox.Today he will see his bench for the first time. I'll post a picture when I completely finish it. I made so that when he is an old man he'll still be using it. 20" wide, 72' long, 26" high ( we'll change the leg height when he's 18 years old).The top is 3" thick with two rows of dog holes and a shop made wooden vice.
I made the top from fir, if I used maple or some other hardwood I would have to take out a loan for the cost of material. I have made softwood work benches in the past, they hold up much better than you would think.
mike
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