Stanley hand drill restoration and improvement

[bugbear]

Does anyone know what the side handle on a hand drill (AKA egg beater) is for?

Being equipped with the usual two hands, I've never found a use for it. :lol:

BugBear

Well, I'm sure I've used it, and maybe even missed having it on drills without one... it's just an alternative way of holding it, which sometimes makes sense. There could even be circumstances where you would remove the big handle and just use the side one - maybe drilling a hole for a handle, from the inside of a small drawer - you do always do that from the inside don't you? Or you might, if you wanted a larger hole on the back to hide a nut? I'm clutching at straws here, but they are really important!!

(Unless it's just a ruse to make another price point... :wink: )

Is the big (inline) handle removeable? I didn't think it was.

For close work I have a Leytool drill - doesn't everybody?

leytool-drill-t84644.html

BugBear (at work, can't check his #803)

 

[AndyT]

Well I'm not at work, so I popped down to the workshop to check properly. BB, you're right of course, the 803/5 main handles don't come off. (I did once have a cheap and very nasty Indian made drill where the handle could come off - it was so bad that I actually got rid of it once I had an alternative.)

The other use of the side handle, which comes naturally if you pick the thing up, is that you can use it like a miniature breast/belly drill - with the work vertical in the vice, hold the drill horizontal, using your left hand and the side handle, spin with the right and apply extra pressure with your body onto the nicely rounded top of the main handle.

PS - I must get one of those Leytool drills!

 

[ED65]

Can't thank you all enough for your contributions! This has turned out to be far more informative than I could have hoped for =D>

 

[ED65]

Is the big (inline) handle removeable? I didn't think it was.

Well I pulled as hard as I dared on mine and it wouldn't come off But apparently they can come off due to wear and tear or something, see this Instructable: Old school hand drill overhaul.

 

[bugbear]

PS - I must get one of those Leytool drills!

For once the advert doesn't lie - they're very nicely made.

Recommended.

BugBear

 

[Vann]

Is the big (inline) handle removeable? I didn't think it was.

Not on the Stanley No.803/805. But it is on the Record No.125 (N20127) and I think also on their No.124 (N20126) - see AndyT's illustration above.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[ED65]

As we seem to be collectively building up a minor type study for these drills

To add a little to that, here's the section on hand tools from the Stanley catalogue of 1926:

 

[Vann]

Unlike handplanes, there seems to be little in common between Stanley's USA and UK made hand drills (your page being from a Stanley USA catalogue).

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

As a slight aside, how effective do you chaps find the keyless chucks? I don't know whether I've been unlucky, but my Stanley 803 holds twist-drills securely up to about 1/8", but larger than that they do tend to slip in the chuck; the larger the drill, the more the tendency to slip.

In frustration, I bought a Footprint 160A drill off Ebay (cost about twice what I paid for the 803), which is very nicely made, double-pinioned, with a guard for the back of the pinions cast into the frame. It's got a keyed chuck, and holds everything I throw at it without slipping. The side handle unscrews as well. I think it's of about 1970s vintage.

 

[bugbear]

As a slight aside, how effective do you chaps find the keyless chucks? I don't know whether I've been unlucky, but my Stanley 803 holds twist-drills securely up to about 1/8", but larger than that they do tend to slip in the chuck; the larger the drill, the more the tendency to slip.

In frustration, I bought a Footprint 160A drill off Ebay (cost about twice what I paid for the 803), which is very nicely made, double-pinioned, with a guard for the back of the pinions cast into the frame. It's got a keyed chuck, and holds everything I throw at it without slipping. The side handle unscrews as well. I think it's of about 1970s vintage.

I've got one of those - nice tight chuck, but the keyless ones are faster load for small bits, which is my main use for an eggbeater.

For larger hole I use a Stanley Continental, or a brace.

BugBear

 

[Rhyolith]

All keyless chucks I have had (including modern cordless drill ones) require a very firm tighten to grip larger bits.

 

[Rhyolith]

I few people were talking about Leytools Earlier, solid things and very versatile for joinery. Has anyone else come across their huge 2-gear version? I did have one, but its currently located in the black hole formed by lost tools in my workshop :? It is meant to be a breast drill I think, but mine was missing the breast plate bit.

I found an even more compact hand drill last summer that can fit in truly tiny spaces, kind of like the Gymnast of the hand drill world :lol: Its not as well made as the Leytool, bit a pretty much unmatched design for getting its awkward places. I did look up the manufacture, but its left my head now... think it was American. The last picture shows it next to a small Leytool.
Untitled by Rhyolith, on Flickr
Untitled by Rhyolith, on Flickr
Untitled by Rhyolith, on Flickr
Untitled by Rhyolith, on Flickr

 

[Benchwayze]

(the most I've ever paid for one is £2 ).

The least I've heard asked for one over here is €10, and that's for ones in rag order!

I'm certain Stanley must have had an in house competition to find the worst possible finish for the handles.

It's hideous isn't it? I don't mind the heavy gloss so much, but that colour... I don't get where it even came from, it's like nothing else I've seen.

Agreed, but it just wouldn't look right in any other colour!
:lol:

 

[Cheshirechappie]

As a slight aside, how effective do you chaps find the keyless chucks? I don't know whether I've been unlucky, but my Stanley 803 holds twist-drills securely up to about 1/8", but larger than that they do tend to slip in the chuck; the larger the drill, the more the tendency to slip.

In frustration, I bought a Footprint 160A drill off Ebay (cost about twice what I paid for the 803), which is very nicely made, double-pinioned, with a guard for the back of the pinions cast into the frame. It's got a keyed chuck, and holds everything I throw at it without slipping. The side handle unscrews as well. I think it's of about 1970s vintage.

I've got one of those - nice tight chuck, but the keyless ones are faster load for small bits, which is my main use for an eggbeater.

For larger hole I use a Stanley Continental, or a brace.

BugBear

I too go for the brace for holes of 1/4" and up, either with a Jennings bit or an old-style centre bit. There's just that awkward 'in-between' range from about 1/8" - which the keyless-chucked hand-drill has no problem with - and 1/4". That range covers the clearance sizes for most woodscrews, so I now use the Footprint drill for those jobs. Handy, because I can set the 803 up for pilot drilling, and the Footprint for clearance. With a countersink bit in the Skinner 6" brace, it saves a lot of bit changing. The working area can get a bit cluttered with drilling equipment, though!

 

[bugbear]

I have a Footprint drill (double pinion, runs very sweetly) with a keyless chuck permanently fitted with a 3mm (AKA #8 pilot) bit.

I also have a small brace permanently fitted with a rose countersink.

It's good to have a wide range of drills available.

BugBear

 

[Vann]

I too go for the brace for holes of 1/4" and up, either with a Jennings bit or an old-style centre bit. There's just that awkward 'in-between' range from about 1/8" - which the keyless-chucked hand-drill has no problem with - and 1/4". That range covers the clearance sizes for most woodscrews, so I now use the Footprint drill for those jobs. Handy, because I can set the 803 up for pilot drilling, and the Footprint for clearance. With a countersink bit in the Skinner 6" brace, it saves a lot of bit changing.

I have a Footprint drill (double pinion, runs very sweetly) with a keyless chuck permanently fitted with a 3mm (AKA #8 pilot) bit.

I also have a small brace permanently fitted with a rose countersink.

It's good to have a wide range of drills available.

I keep a countersink bit permanently in a nice little no-name, double pinion, eggbeater, and a 1/8" (3mm) bit permanently chucked in another no-name (possibly Kean) double pinion eggbeater. This leaves me with the Chapman No.105 and a Record No.123 for other sizes I need on a job. I have a couple of breast drills for larger work, but hardly ever use them (too big and awkward for most jobs).

For intermediate size holes I bought a Yankee No.545 - which turned out to be seized, so I bought a second one (a broken No.1545) for parts - but still haven't got around to making one good one out of the two. What I probably should have is a small brace - but they're rare over here (the only ones I've seen were 6" Stanley's with ratchets - probably too heavy, and definately too expensive).

The working area can get a bit cluttered with drilling equipment, though!

Cheers, Vann.

 

[bugbear]

Posted to OLDTOOLS in 1999;

http://swingleydev.com/ot/get/63729/thread/#63729


I don't remember telling this tale...
I put a board floor in a section of my attic (=loft).
Needed 5 4x8 chipboard (=particle board) sheets, cut in all sorts
of interesting shapes.

Each and every one was fitted to the joists by:
Drilling a 3mm pilot hole through board and brace
Drilling a 4mm clearance hole though board (depth stop used)
Counter-sinking the board
Driving the screw.
The above got repeated A LOT.

I used a J*gs*w for the cutting. I didn't
have room up there to set up a board firm enough for good hand-sawing.
In any case I had no intention of using a nice saw on chipboard,
and no intention of hand-sawing with a saw that wasn't nice.

A 3/4" bit was used to facilitate internal corners with.

To achieve all this I used:
3 and 4 mm bits. Both held in egg-beaters drill (Stanley 801, and a MF)
Countersink - electricians brace - about 6" sweep.
Screwdriver - powertool bit held in 14" sweep brace
3/4 Holes. Brace + Bit.

Didn't have to change bits once. Sometime it's good to be a tool
hoarder! I have subsequently loaned (and got back)
the full set to someone else for the same job.

BugBear
(who would have been tempted by one of those 3-stage
drill-bits you can get... the electrons would have called...)

 

[AndyT]

That's a good reminder of their usefulness, BB.

I did a similar job a few years ago, putting down chipboard over solid foam insulation in our loft - lots of 4" screws to drive in. My aging cordless drill was not up to the job but an 8" brace grips a long 1/4" hex shank screwdriver bit perfectly.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A sharp snail countersink in a large Yankee screwdriver is an awesome tool for flooring and decking - one whack and done.

 

[AndyT]

Before we all wandered off into talking about actually using the things, I meant to say that your last-posted drill is a goodun Rhyolith - five stars on the gizmocity scale, and further proof of man's never ending ingenuity!