Footprint Drills

[Rhyolith]

I have a couple of this footprint drills, there fairly good quality despite the outrageously blue colour scheme

Footprint Hand Drill by Rhyolith, on Flickr
Footprint Hand/Breast Drill by Rhyolith, on Flickr

First does anyone know when these were made? My guess is the 1960s.

Second the breast drill one. The back handle (not the plate one, the hand drill handle) won't come off ever with considerable force (it loosely rotates in the hole)... and yes I did remove the grub screw The breast plate handle came off easy enough. Any suggestions?

 

[AndyT]

Thinking about what might be inside the handle mounting... if there is a groove cut all round the spigot of the handle, so that the tip of the grub screw tightens into the groove, it's possible that the screw has been overtightened and has spread the metal out a bit, making it too tight a fit in the casting. I wonder if you could remove the screw and feel for what is inside and deduce what it looks like. Then maybe you could free it with the tip of a small file, or one of those little deburring tools plumbers use.

(All much easier if another owner can dismantle one and show you exactly what is inside. I don't have as many drills as you and can't help!)

Alternatively, as they are a UK company, you could try ringing them up for help - they don't list this drill on the website, though it was in their 1970 catalogue. They are on 0114 232 7080.

 

[AndyT]

This video shows one of these drills in detail. The big rest does have the sort of groove I was thinking of but the handle just has a flat.

https://youtu.be/z4jrdsxz4Jc

Doea your drill have a second grub screw at the back?

 

[Alvan]

I have three of these nice drills, and the one with the breastplate has two threaded screw holes, one each side.

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