I love that all metal drill, looks really good doesn't it. My oldest drill is this one:
Which I must have bought back in the early '70s. In my ignorance I didn't realize how limited it's uses would be and almost right away went out and bought a Black and Decker electric drill - which accounts for the excellent condition of this wee hand drill, it's never been used in anger! The Black and Decker was the cheapest one they did at that time and, although good value for money, didn't last all that long before it burnt out - like your's, quite spectacularly, with sparks and smoke! I replaced it with this more powerful 350 Watt 2 speed Black and Decker:
Single speed motor and no impact action but, as you can see, came in a lovely box which has stood the test of time. This drill has done just so much work over the years and is still going strong although I've twice stripped it down, washed out the gearbox and regreased. The brushes are still, amazingly, the originals!
As I became more ambitious I bought a variable speed Black and Decker with impact function - I think it was around 600 Watts - but, after some heavy use and at about 2 years old, it started making a noise like it had chipped a tooth in it's gearbox. At that time Machine Mart started sending me invitations to their VAT free events and I just couldn't resist their 1200 watt 2 speed impact drill:
Not only does it have a 2 speed gearbox and impact action which can be turned on or off but also an infinitely - within limits - variable motor speed. Here it is alongside the "trusty" old Black and Decker so you can compare the two.
The Machine Mart drill is quite a bit bigger, a lot heavier and much more powerful. It pretty much does everything I could ask of a mains powered electric drill and I've bought a drill stand for it so I can accurately drill stuff on the bench. It's pretty weighty and, although manageable for intermittent normal use, I wouldn't like to be hefting it around for hours on end.
Shortly after I bought it a neighbour asked if I could lend him an electric drill. I normally wouldn't do this - I've lent tools before and, on occasion, regretted it so really just don't do it any more. However, on this occasion, there was the "sick" variable speed drill so I thought "why not", explained the problem to him and said if it broke not to worry as I knew there was something wrong with it. He had it for about a week and I heard a lot of drilling going on. When he gave it back to me it wasn't making the noise any more and has worked just fine ever since! One of these days I'll strip the gearbox and have a look see. My oldest boy has it just now.
I'm afraid the story doesn't stop here though. There had to be a "silly" end to this didn't there?
Either Aldi or Lidl, I don't now remember which one it was, had a batch of really heavy duty SDS impact drills. I'd looked at them a few times when we'd been in shopping - Power Craft branded, made in China, 1500 watts and noticed they weren't exactly flying off the shelf. I think there were probably about 10 originally which slowly dwindled over the weeks until there were just 3 left which just seemed to sit there week on week. Then, one day, there were only two with a heavily discounted "special" price and I just couldn't resist:
The thing's absolutely humonous, just look at it alongside the wee Black and Decker:
The set included drills, chisels, a 13mm chuck and other stuff but, of course, there was also a set of extra long drills in the next bin so I bought them too.
Good sales presentation Aldi/Lidl! You may also have noticed a really really long drill just in front of the case? I made that to drill through cavity walls when we were doing my boy's flat to facilitate installing electric wiring. Some of these were sandstone blocks as it was an old tenement building. This drill is just short of 3ft long (and I made it myself by brazing the drill bit into the end of a mild steel rod) and with the power of this big drill behind it the drill went through like I was drilling butter! It operates at relatively low RPM and the impact rate is much slower than your traditional impact drill but it's brutal, just goes through stuff like it isn't there! You do have to be a bit careful though because if the drill bit jams it'll break your wrist before you can get it stopped! The other problem with it is it's just so heavy. Probably a good thing I don't need to use it very often. Silly purchase but nice to have "just in case" and is just about justifiable at the price I paid.
