Arm Breaker Drills

[Walkers]

This old Stanley gear reduction drill was in my dad's shop when I was growing up, just sitting there almost never used. Then one day I was up at my grandfather's shop and found the press, and he said that it went with the drill in dads shop, so take it. Years later I needed it for a very big hole, and now here it sits in my shop.

I have much better tools for big holes now. I am not a sentimental guy by any standard, but I have chucked this drill in 20 years. I am cleaning shop at the moment. Should I scrap it, or let it sit there for another decade?

 

[neophyte]

I would say keep it, or find dome way to pass it on to someone else.
The drill press adapters aren’t common nowadays, but are sometimes necessary.
It’s easier to move one of those around ghsn it is to move a drill press.
Those adapters are usually looked at as being for people who couldn’t afford a drill press, but in reality, they were actually used in production by major manufacturers in some cases.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I have a circa 1980s Craftsman Industrial triple gear reduction 1/2" drill. More than once I swear I broke my wrist when it got stuck and I was not using the optional side handle.

IIRC, the model number decodes as made by Skil but it looks identical to a DeWalt DW245 except for color. 600 RPM max, so skip any small bits !

 

[theoldwizard1]

I have a circa 1980s Craftsman Industrial triple gear reduction 1/2" drill. More than once I swear I broke my wrist when it got stuck and I was not using the optional side handle. I bent a 1/2" bit when it got stuck.

IIRC, the model number decodes as made by Skil but it looks identical to a DeWalt DW245 except for color. 600 RPM max, so skip any small bits !

 

[rustyjames]

I have an old B&D triple reduction with all aluminum housing that I put away a long time ago because every time it was used was an anxiety creating experience.

 

[Speed-Racer]

Funny the way life works. If you get rid of it, you will soon have an urgent use for it.

 

[tarbellb]

Probably mixes mud like a champ, thats what I use my big corded drills for these days

 

[homebuilt burner]

My father has a 1” drill. We used it to pull the silo unloader up twice every year. It is a big hog. The switch quit one time then we started running it through a foot switch which was safer anyway.

 

[Rinspeed]

I have a Milwaukee 1/2" right angle from the late 70's that will rip your arm off if you're not careful.

 

[Jason280]

I'd guarantee that an old Milwaukee Hole Hawg has sent more than a few people to the ER with arm/hand/wrist fractures. Those things would flat throw you off the top of a ladder even if you were expecting it, especially running 2.5-3" wood bits...I learned quickly to respect one of those drills, even with smaller bits, and we always ran it with the extra handle/brace.

 

[PoorUB]

Those Milwaukee right angle drills were something else! We were installing a furnace in a home. We had to run the 3" PVC venting up through the house. We had to bore 3-1/2" holes through 100 year old maple flooring. We used a self feeding bit that would not self feed so my work partner ran that drill and i stood on the gear box. We had it blocked up against a new pine 2x4 stud and the drill jammed and broke the 2x4.

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Yeah, my older 1990ish Milwaukee will leave you hurting if you're not careful but at least it's variable speed. My dad had a polished steel case half inch drill that must've been at least double reduction and the only speed it had was annihilate... It took 4 or 5 seconds to spin down. Don't think I ever saw the brand but it dimmed the lights a little when you hit the trigger.

 

[Dumber than lumber]

I was already inclined to say that the OP’s question is a tough one. As i read the subsequent posts i got to feeling queasy. Broken arms! Thrown off a ladder! Emergency room!!
Who knew drilling a few holes could be so dangerous?

 

[RivennHewn]

I was already inclined to say that the OP’s question is a tough one. As i read the subsequent posts i got to feeling queasy. Broken arms! Thrown off a ladder! Emergency room!!
Who knew drilling a few holes could be so dangerous?

Everybody who has ever used one

 

[RTM]

Back in the 80s, a buddy saw an electrician apprentice get lifted off the ground, and ribs broken, by a Hole Hawg, when a bit hit a knot. Those older ones are even more terrifying.

 

[Jason280]

...especially when switched to "low" speed.

 

[jmarkwolf]

I have a drill like that. 1980's vintage Porter Cable IIRC. I won't use without the side handle.

 

[iagsxr]

Wish I had a picture of the one my old man rigged with a toggle switch after it got away from him and broke the handle off. Yeah, we used it for years that way.

 

[Ton ton]

They must have made them drills heavy duty back in the day. The motors seem to burn up on the Milwaukee corded drills that I run.

 

[pcmeiners]

Had a Milwaukee 1/2" drill from the 50s, extremely powerful, was happy when someone stole it as it nearly broke my wrist a few times, one of the most dangerous tools I had.

 

[homebuilt burner]

Cement core drills deserve a fair amount of caution as well. I have gotten tangled up once or twice by those.

 

[carmantl]

Hole hawgs have broken my hand or fingers several times, and I like to think that I know what I'm doing. I've been a pro carpenter/ironworker for going on 30 years. Homebuilt is correct; get a core off center and it can jump out of its base. Sometimes the results are catastrophic/

 

[Sportsman762]

I have had to stop projects before due to the Milwaukee Magnum twisting my wrist up. My fathers apprentice was off for some time due to breaking his wrist from a drill. They are dangerous, but is the drill I always reach for when drilling in metal.

 

[toolmiser]

Some of those "old drill stands" could be reversed if you needed to drill overhead-such as a beam-you would have to rig up the support. I worked at a place where we had a "pool of tools". A guy needed to drill a hole with a hole saw, nothing available except a "d" handle. It caught and luckily broke the housing instead of his arm. Supervisor got upset with him breaking it until he pointed out that the supervisor had taken other drill home to use.

 

[Jason280]

Hole hawgs have broken my hand or fingers several times, and I like to think that I know what I'm doing.

Not to point out the obvious, but if you've injured yourself multiple times with the same tool you may not know what you are doing.

 

[neophyte]

Meanwhile in Germany.

 

[tarbellb]

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

My dad had an old stanley and i lent it out and it never returned. I ended up finding another old drill similar to it. I wouldn’t sell it because I paid $10 for it and i think i only used it on 1 project and if I need it again I can’t replace it for $10 and if I could it would probably take months to find one

 

[larry_g]

I have one of those on a stand and have used it a few times as a 'mag base drill'. Clamp or screw it to a beam or timber and drill away.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[mv213]

In my young days I was drilling a series of 2” holes in the side of a building for insulation retrofit. Using an old Dayton drill with a huge motor. It knocked me on my *** many times when the bit jammed. No matter how I held it I wasn’t big/strong enough to hold it when it jammed. I expected to end up something broken but somehow never did.

 

[Mark in Indiana]

I had a coworker who injured his wrist while using a concrete hammer drill. The drill bit caught a piece of rebar and spun the drill around. I've always been wary of that.

 

[Packard V8]

In the summer of 1965, a job as a helper at Nashville Bridge convinced me to stay in school. It was often more than 100-degrees in the shop, wrestling steel bridge components; It paid minimum wage, $1.65 an hour and every shift was hard, dirty and dangerous.

One of the less-stressful, less dangerous operations was manning a two-person reamer used to finish-align the bolt holes in the flanges which joined bridge sections. The guy holding the handle with the trigger had to get eye contact and a nod from the one holding the handle on the other side before switching on. If either let go, the partner would be flung off the girder onto the pile of steel below.

jack vines

 

[Milton Shaw]

I have one of the Sears triple reduction 7/8 horsepower drill. Boy is it strong. Don't ever use any bits that have flats on their shanks as it will hang up and break something on you. I have a bit extension that I cut the flats off the drill end so it has a round shank to slip when it finally hangs up. I don't use hole saws in it unless i use that extension with no flats. The little side handle broke the first time it hung up thirty years ago.

 

[torqueman2002]

My brother lost a front tooth and got several stitches in his lip, thanks to a Hole hawg with a piece of pipe for a side handle.

 

[American Locomotive]

I'd pass it on before scrapping it. It's probably a better drill press than a lot of the junk you can buy now.

 

[dutchgray]

On the stand they are useful if you are doing traditional timber frame construction and need to drill holes that square and true.
Swing the drill so its not over the base, clamp the base on the beam and drill away.