Wolf Drill Overhaul

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keithy1959

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I have an old Wolf NW5/D drill on an E93 stand which has a lot of play in the quill, and the gearbox seals are leaking. Does anybody know someone who can overhaul this , or where I can find more information on Wolf drills? I think they pre-date computer manuals !
Probably dates from the 70's - threads are imperial
Any help much appreciated.
Richard
 

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1970s? More like 1960s or earlier because Wolf replaced all the metal bodied heavy drills with the new Sapphire range in the very early 1970s at about the time they went to "plastic" bodies.

The WD5c/WD6c drills were certainly in the mid-1960s Parry's catalogue, though. The WD5c is listed as 5/8in chuck, 595 watts (input), 560 rpm free running speed,, 350 rpm full load speed.

Wolf were taken over by Kango's parent firm, Dobson Park Industries, in 1981 and the two were merged to form Kango-Wolf Power Tools in December of that year, at which point almost all new power tool development for the Wolf brand, other than an SDS drill, seems to have more or less stopped. Wolf had already been buying in planers and belt sanders from Makita from the late 1960s as well as having abandoned manufacture of the Sapphire jigsaw in the mid to late 1970s in favour of a bought in model from Perles. IN the 1980s a new small saw from Perles was added to the line up (as a Kango) with belt sanders, jigsaw and planers coming from Holz-Her from about the time Makita commenced manufacturing in the UK at Telford in 1988. It is notable that even in the 1970s Wolf had to buy in Makita mini grinders for a while to cover production delays getting their 4-1/2in Wolf Grinderette into production

The merged firm, based initially at two sites in London (Wolf at Hanger Lane, North London whilst Kangi were at Morden in Surrey) eventually moved to a new site in Peterborough in the late 1980s having been progressively rebranded (and reliveried) "Wolf Power", "Wolf from Kango" then just "Kango" (the firm was officially renamed just "Kango" in March 1988). But the lightweight stuff they were selling by 1992 was pretty much what they were selling in 1982, only Kango receiving any development effort, and there were big gaps in the line up, like planers, jig saws and belt sanders which were filled from 1988 onwards by buying in from Holz-Her in Germany.

The electric power tools division of Dobson Park was sold to Atlas-Copco in May 1993. Dobson Park, a deep mining equipment manufacturer, retained the Kango pneumatic drill and drill bit operation until their take-over in 2017, since which time some Kango products have been made in South Africa and SDS bits, etc made in Germany (name licensing?). After buying Kango A-C fairly soon merged it with the far larger AEG power tool division it had acquired, almost immediately replacing Wolf designed drills with rebranded AEG items, before moving all manufacturing to Winnenden in Germany, at which point all remaining ex-Wolf products disappeared, the last Wolf-designed saws and drills being made in 1984 as far as I can ascertain from serial numbers.

The Kango name was retained and these days is found on some Milwaukee breakers and heavy drills sold in Europe and former British colonies, etc. The Wolf name was sold off about 20 years ago to an outfit in Nottingham who sold a variety of knock off low quality Chinese tools under the Wolf brand and got a really bad reputation for low reliability

On a brighter note some Wolf products were manufactured in India by a one time part owned subsidiary (?) called Ralli Wolf who are still in existence and still make a few of the old Wolf designs
 
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My guess is that at least the bearings and seals on that beast would be standard off the shelf items, and not too difficult to replace. Better than things like disk drives and computers, which are obsolete and unrepairable almost before they are out of the box!
 
My guess is that at least the bearings and seals on that beast would be standard off the shelf items, and not too difficult to replace. Better than things like disk drives and computers, which are obsolete and unrepairable almost before they are out of the box!
Sigh.
If you don’t like modern technology… stop using it.
 
I have to agree! I spent part of yesterday stacking up a pile of old 3-1/2in "stiffies," to be thrown out. I haven't owned a computer than could use them for at least 15 years

Modern technology, pah!
 
As dickm says the bearings and seals will probably be off the shelf items. As to taking it apart, you will almost certainly have to work that out yourself. I would start by removing the brushes, then take out the screws on the extension piece at the bottom and see if it will pull off. There may well be a circlip or similar at the end of the shaft. Given the low running speed there is going to be some gearing in there. Should be pretty straightforward. If it does have a gearbox then it's likely all the parts you will need to replace will be in that extension piece. Personally given its age I would want to completely strip it. If you don't feel confident doing that then you might get away with an overhaul of just the gearbox section. If you could find an exploded drawing of it that would be a big help.
 
It really pre-dates the period when companies were obliged to sell spare parts (Wolf, like other firms in that era, ran a repair depot network), so an exploded diagram is possibly asking a lot
 
Looking at the catalogue pictures I have certainly worked on the smaller pistol style ones. From memory, and it was a long time ago, in those the whole front section behind the chuck was held in by four or so screws. Once they were removed the whole assembly came off, leaving a helical cut gear on the end of the motor shaft that drove the gearbox through a worm. I would imagine this will be substantially the same. And yes I agree finding an exploded drawing is probably wishful thinking. On the plus side at least these were designed to be taken apart and repaired, unlike so much stuff nowadays.
 
Sigh.
If you don’t like modern technology… stop using it.
Sigh to you too! You have to question, though, why it is necessary to have such short obsolescence periods when for most of us, our computers are only doing exactly what our desktops were doing in the 1990s, but possibly more slowly! My ire was really piqued looking at my older backup hard disk, which failed a year or so back, and apparently they have a design life of <4 years. For something that is supposed to be a permanent store, that is just silly. And taking us for mugs.
 
On the plus side at least these were designed to be taken apart and repaired, unlike so much stuff nowadays.
Yes indeed. Being able to repack a gearbox with grease was a necessary skill to acquire if you owned any of the drills from that era - better than losing your drill for a couple of weeks and paying for the job to be done. Once the gearbox has been separated and the rear cover removed the gearbox is washed out with petroleum then "repacked" with a good quality grease. Repacking doesn't mean filling it, it generally means a few gobs of grease, and plenty of space for the grease to expand into. Quite a few older drills I've dealt with also have brown seals made from what looks like waxed paper
 
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Sigh to you too! You have to question, though, why it is necessary to have such short obsolescence periods when for most of us, our computers are only doing exactly what our desktops were doing in the 1990s, but possibly more slowly! My ire was really piqued looking at my older backup hard disk, which failed a year or so back, and apparently they have a design life of <4 years. For something that is supposed to be a permanent store, that is just silly. And taking us for mugs.
Your desktop is not doing what it was in the 90’s, if you think it is, please try streaming video in 4K from the internet on it.
Computer technology doesn’t have the longevity of a power drill because the technology moves quickly and drilling technology doesn’t, so it’s not worth making things last beyond their useful life, except for backup mechanisms… and a HDD isn’t one.
A quick comparative calculation shows that if drilling speed had developed at the same rate as computer speed, the channel tunnel could now be excavated in under an hour, instead of 8 years.
 
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Just one word of warning to the OP (though you probably know this). Make sure you are standing firmly when using the drill with a large bit - if it jams, you'll be the one spinning round!
Its permanantly sited in a Wolf Drill Press but I know what you mean - it weighs so much I can't imagine using it hand held. The stand is like a morticer, one handle with about 6" of travel, so perfect for big holes in hard wood. If I can get it accurate, I'll be happier still !!
 
Sigh to you too! You have to question, though, why it is necessary to have such short obsolescence periods when for most of us, our computers are only doing exactly what our desktops were doing in the 1990s, but possibly more slowly! My ire was really piqued looking at my older backup hard disk, which failed a year or so back, and apparently they have a design life of <4 years. For something that is supposed to be a permanent store, that is just silly. And taking us for mugs.
I used to tell my team, "What Intel gives you, Microsoft takes away" I can't type a letter any quicker on my Win 10, Office 365 than I could with Window 2 ( Yes 2), on a 286 with Wordperfect V4 or 5
 
gobs of grease and plenty of too.
plenty of what ? I have now taken the gearbox off and it was almost solid with grease and sawdust, so thats all out, but I'm struggling with the final gear thats attached to the taper shaft - there is a spline pin flush with the gear, so I have no idea how to get it out. The other gears are just sitting in bronze bushings, I think
 
Looking at the catalogue pictures I have certainly worked on the smaller pistol style ones. From memory, and it was a long time ago, in those the whole front section behind the chuck was held in by four or so screws. Once they were removed the whole assembly came off, leaving a helical cut gear on the end of the motor shaft that drove the gearbox through a worm. I would imagine this will be substantially the same. And yes I agree finding an exploded drawing is probably wishful thinking. On the plus side at least these were designed to be taken apart and repaired, unlike so much stuff nowadays.
Yes, thats exactly so.
 
plenty of what ? I have now taken the gearbox off and it was almost solid with grease and sawdust, so thats all out, but I'm struggling with the final gear thats attached to the taper shaft - there is a spline pin flush with the gear, so I have no idea how to get it out. The other gears are just sitting in bronze bushings, I think
post some decent resolution pictures of the parts and we can probably help you. I would be very surprised if the shaft itself runs in bushes. I would expect to see ball races at either end. Have you managed to establish where your play is coming from?
 
OK, I've pulled it apart, and as suggested, its a fairly simple gearbox. I can't work out how to get the spline key out in the photo attached - any advice much appreciated. This spline is covered with a nut and is flush with the face of the gear, so nothing to grip to pull it out
IMG_20210614_210210.jpg
I'm assuming there must be a seal and bearing under the gear, and there is a second bearing on the end of the gearbox casing. I have no idea how to get these bearings off . There is a slot all the way through the case and the shaft (see below), so I'm guessing it's there to lock the drill , but there is oil leaking down this shaft, so I assume the seal is shot .
IMG_20210614_210407.jpg

The play up and down on this shaft is about .5mm
Realy appreciate any pointers on this.
Richard.
 
Yes indeed. Being able to repack a gearbox with grease was a necessary skill to acquire if you owned any of the drills from that era - better than losing your drill for a couple of weeks and paying for the job to be done. Oncevthe gearbox has been separated and the rear cover removed the gearbox is washed out with petroleum then "repacked" with a good quality grease. Repacking doesn't mean filling it, it generally means a few gobs of grease and plenty of too. For the grease to expand into. Quite a few older drills I've dealt with also have brown seals made from what looks like waxed paper
If it has ball races, as I would expect, then if the originals are open I would probably replace them with sealed ones. Take them to a decent bearing supplier and tell them what they are for so they can give you the right type. As for greasing the gears once everything is nice and clean then just rub grease into all the teeth, and any shafts/bushes, you don't need to go mad with it. I would probably use a moly grease, you can get that at any decent motor factor as it's widely used in cv joints. Jobandknock I know what you mean a sort of thin stiff card impregnated with grease or wax. I think I'm most cases it just serves to keep the grease where it's supposed to be. Appropriate thickness gasket paper will do in many cases. Where it spans quite an area without any support I have used thin plastic card on occasions.
 

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