Miller's Falls breast drill - missing side handle

[matt_southward]

Hello chaps,

I haven't really dipped my toes in these waters for a year or so and imagine my surprise to find no multi page sharpening thread on the go :wink:

Anyway, I've come into possession of a decent condition Miller's Falls breast drill - one of those with the built in level, but there's no side handle (crank is there). Everything else looks good and I'd love to put this thing to use and wondered if your learned selves could advise me on where I might find a handle, or the thread diameter/pitch etc for making one up. Hopefully it's not a case of 'special' Stanley threads.

 

[Rhyolith]

Hi,

Unfortunatly it is one of those weird old threads, I am yet to find a standard one that fits.

I have a lot of miller falls drills, could probably do some measurments for you once I am back in my workshop... but that won't be for a few weeks. They seem to have used at least 2 different threads for side handles to make it more annoying

Which model is it? No.12? Maybe some pictures?

 

[matt_southward]

Ah, shame! I'll have a look later and find out the exact type and take a pic.

 

[rxh]

Yes, Millers Falls seem to have used US thread sizes that are now obsolete. I made a side handle for this Millers Falls No. 2100 and the thread is 3/8" OD x 20 TPI. I cut a suitable thread on the end of a steel rod then epoxy glued the rod into a wooden handle.

If you can find out the thread size of yours I can probably make you a suitably threaded rod for you to fit into a wooden handle (which will be easy to make if you have a wood turning lathe). A thread gauge would be the best way of finding the thread size but if you don't have one you could take a suitably sized dowel, screw it into the hole in the drill, remove it and count the "threads" that have been cut against a ruler.

 

[matt_southward]

That would be very kind of you Richard - my #6 still benefits from the rod you made for it a while back if you recall. I didn't get out into the garage yesterday, but I'll do it later and see what I can work out. I will also check the type. It seems such a shame not to put the thing too work, the built in level would make it ideal for square drilling.

 

[matt_southward]

So as it happens I didn't get out into the garage much this week, with one thing and another - and as it was a bit parky out there (unheated). However, I did eventually manage to find out that it's a No12 and the size appears to be the same as yours Richard: 3/8" at 20tpi - I only had a metric thread gauge which gave me a thread pitch of 1.25 (I'm not sure how relevant that is as I'm rubbish with thread sizes!) - so had to use dowel to count the threads.

 

[rxh]

One threaded rod for you, Matt. I tried it for fit in my drill. I'll put the rod in the post if you send a PM with your current address

 

[matt_southward]

Blimey! That was fast - thanks Richard - much appreciated!

 

[Bm101]

Fair play rxh. Good luck to you. =D>

 

[matt_southward]

So, after what seems like an eon I finally got around to making a handle with the rod that Richard kindly made for me. I don't even want to look at the time that's past since :shock: but I did have a few issues with a lathe, a cracked rib, christmas...and the list goes on. That's my excuse anyhow!

I promised Richard that I'd post a pic of my handle when I got around to it, and though it's definitely in the 'mk1' category - it does mean that the drill is finally functional again (which is a nice feeling). I'll get around to a better size when I've tried it for a bit, and when I have a better timber match.

Anyway, a belated thanks to Richard (RXH) - what a gent!