A Nostalgic look down memory lane at Electric drills

[DanielW]

B&D hmmm!

Planer,the plastic body shattered in pieces when it hit a small knot.
Their first ever Router,well too bloody noisy and a lot of vibration,not good for the hands.
Green cordless driver/drill,lego land would have been proud.

The only good that came from B&D was their original workbench from the late 70's,now they're making em cheap and sh*te with a silly price to boot.

Funny you know but those challenge routers argos sell are far superior than B&D routers.

 

[DanielW]

The best drills you could get in me old fellas day,used to watch him heat it up and bore four holes in the wooden cars for the wheels.

https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/0/6533488/il_fullxfull.318983348.jpg

 

[graffian]

I still use a few drills on that list;-)

 

[pedrobedro]

There's a Wolf in a drill stand round at the shop and it's frightening. I had a green and silver B&D metal bodied drill for over 30 years before it finally conked, it used to go out on the aerials with us at weekends and really had some abuse drilling through walls for coax cable.

 

[mackie.m]

I still have my Millers Falls drill I got new in 1964, jigsaw and various other attachments, hav'nt used it for a few years but still works great. I still have the paperwork and Lifetime Guarantee. I wonder if they would still honour it if need be.

 

[brightspark]

i still have a little b and d grinder after 45 years .well i did have i gave it away and still going strong even after garrage got flooded and it was under water for 2 hours

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Here's my 110V drill, given to me by a retired electrician who worked for SWEB (South West Electricity Board), I guess he was issued with it.
It's 2 speed, changed by sliding the nut forward or backward and you can turn the impact from full to none in about 5 steps with the knurled ring on the front.
No makers mark or any labels but it does have "Made In Germany" embossed into the casing.
It has a half inch Jacobs chuck.
Still works really well and gets dragged out occasionally.
Old AEG perhaps?

 

[Paul99]

Old and new - Just a few of the old B&D power tools we have - think it's obvious to see which are the HD tools (bought by my grandfather in probably 60s / 70s?) and a few cheap nasty plastic rubbish tools which B&D moved onto making that have been handed on to us over the years.

On the left the 1/2" B&D wrist breaker (as shown in the leaflets in OP) in a Wolf stand complete with mortising hold down - the mortising attachment is still about somewhere but never did get it to work very well (partly due to it being a wolf fit rather than B&D). Still working 100% and gets occasional use out on site. Until I got the Meddings pillar drill it was my main drill press. On the right a 1/4" B&D cheapy - presumably among the first ones to feature plastic bits - works but not used it since being given it.

On the left very old B&D 'skilsaw' still works 100% and gets occasional use when cutting down hardwood planks that the one on the right wouldn't even look at. On the right the cheap nasty modern version - though TBF perfectly usable on ply sheets and softwood and gets regular use for just that.

The Routers:

On the left one of three cheap nasty B&D routers like this we have - One we used for a few years before base broke up was given another two a few weeks ago to do something with. On the right an old Stanley - I think B&D made one very similar this one is the router I grab for over all the others and gets used very regularly. It's a bit slow RPM wise and a bit heavy but has loads of grunt and once the cutting height is set it never moves - unlike cheaper routers.

The BIG 3/4" Wolf is stored away from home so no pictures of that for now but will pick it up next time I'm there and take a photo of that too.

 

[the artfull-codger]

I have a 240 volt wolf 2 speed heavy duty wolf drill probably about 25-30 yrs old,not a metal bodied one, double insulated & I was at a car boot sale a few years ago & a man had the exact same drill for sale for £3 it had a smallish transformer with it & the plate read 50volts, he said he was clearing his late father in laws garage out, I said I bet he worked at ICI & he said how do you know that, easy sez I 'cos ICI used to have 50 volt portable tools till they eventually went over to 110, it works a treat & it's as powerfull as my identical 240v drill.

 

[magnet]

There was a power tool factory in Cramlington? That must have been a few years ago. Where was it?

 

[Keith 66]

I still have a Wolf gut buster, it does 375 rpm & does not stop. I last used it to drill 7/8" holes 4" deep in cast iron for keel bolts on our boat. It must be well over 50 years old. Dont think many modern ones will do as well!

 

[brightspark]

a lot of the older drills ect had harder copper segments on the armatures and medium hardness carbon brushes so would last longer. nowdays the copper is soft as sh.it and they dont last as long

 

[Spark plug]

I still have a Wolf gut buster, it does 375 rpm & does not stop. I last used it to drill 7/8" holes 4" deep in cast iron for keel bolts on our boat. It must be well over 50 years old. Dont think many modern ones will do as well!

I also have one, lie get some pics tomorrow.

I'm am yet to stall mine either, it either brakes the bit or sends you for a spin.

I used it recently to open up the king pin hole in my tractor front axle to 45mm so I could re bush it. I would have been a nail biting experience but I was holding on too tight.

 

[Gritineye]

One of my modern drills packed up so I rummaged around under the bench and dragged out my old mans metal bodied bridges (the type with the too thick/short handle) plugged it into an over bench socket but it just jerked when I pulled the trigger with my left hand.

As per the idiots guide I gave the plug a whack with my right hand, after a while I became aware of a low growling sound, after a bit I realized was coming from me!

Faithful to the idiots guide I became strangely transfixed on counting the pulses across my chest just to check I was indeed getting 50 cycles per sec..

Slowly it dawned on me that I really should be trying to save myself so I made two or three attempts to throw the drill away and let go of the plug, but my fingers wouldn't obey, finally it fell to the floor with a lightning strike that left a burn across my palm that would be hard to beat by striking it with a stick welder.....I dragged myself indoors for a cuppa.

Being a stickler for the idiots guide I still have an ancient Wolf 5D4Sa in the original bronze bushed stand just waiting to finish me off..

 

[brightspark]

One of my modern drills packed up so I rummaged around under the bench and dragged out my old mans metal bodied bridges (the type with the too thick/short handle) plugged it into an over bench socket but it just jerked when I pulled the trigger with my left hand.

As per the idiots guide I gave the plug a whack with my right hand, after a while I became aware of a low growling sound, after a bit I realized was coming from me!

Faithful to the idiots guide I became strangely transfixed on counting the pulses across my chest just to check I was indeed getting 50 cycles per min..

Slowly it dawned on me that I really should be trying to save myself so I made two or three attempts to throw the drill away and let go of the plug, but my fingers wouldn't obey, finally it fell to the floor with a lightning strike that left a burn across my palm that would be hard to beat by striking it with a stick welder.....I dragged myself indoors for a cuppa.

Being a stickler for the idiots guide I still have an ancient Wolf 5D4Sa in the original bronze bushed stand just waiting to finish me off..

and for anyone still using one put it through an rcd i managed to get my aprentice ship because the gaffers 17 year old nephew got electrocuted with one and rcd wernt available then ands i got his job

 

[the snooper]

and for anyone still using one put it through an rcd i managed to get my aprentice ship because the gaffers 17 year old nephew got electrocuted with one and rcd wernt available then ands i got his job

as in dead ?

 

[brightspark]

as in dead ?

yea brown bread unlucky for him and lucky for me . not the best way to get a job i supose

 

[the snooper]

yea brown bread unlucky for him and lucky for me . not the best way to get a job i supose

ooohhh shocking but dead lucky for you

 

[brightspark]

ooohhh shocking but dead lucky for you

one mans poison

 

[Gritineye]

and for anyone still using one put it through an rcd i managed to get my aprentice ship because the gaffers 17 year old nephew got electrocuted with one and rcd wernt available then ands i got his job

Yep, too right, that could have been me it was a miracle I survived and my place has since been rewired...