Millers Falls Egg Beaters

[Ben Davis]

So I've been looking at getting myself a few egg beaters just to have. I don't have any great reason for them as I am perfectly happy with my 14.4V DeWalt. I just like old stuff better, it'll never need to be charged, and I can have easily 10 egg beaters for the price of a new cordless drill.

I have a couple of questions though. I am looking at the Millers Falls line as they seem to be more readily available and have some great documenting websites (http://oldtoolheaven.com/).

(1) What size / model is a good place to start? I'm thinking a #2 or #5.
(2) Some of these shipped new with sets of up to 8 bits. Can I use today's twist drill bits in these?
(3) Should I be looking for a different brand (North Bros, etc?)
(4) Anything scary I should look out for?

[Joel Goodman]

I have a few Stanley eggbeaters which are very useful. Fine Tool Journal has a Goodell Pratt and a Stanley with enclosed gears on their website for about $20 each and they are good folks to deal with -- in fact I just bought a Stanley 624 from them as I wanted a larger eggbeater than I had. They have standard 3 jaw chucks and take regular twist bits. I find that for a few holes they are handy -- no cord no charging no noise!

[Gary Herrmann]

#2 and #5 MF drills are a good choice. My personal fave is the North Bros 1530 - a 5 speed drill about the size of a MF #1. Any drill with a 3 jaw chuck can use modern bits. 2 jaw chucks may also work, but I don't have one - I believe they were for taper shank bits like those used with braces.

Goodell Pratt made good drills too.

If you decide you want to spin larger bits or be able to apply more pressure, look into breast drills.

[Ben Davis]

#2 and #5 MF drills are a good choice. My personal fave is the North Bros 1530 - a 5 speed drill about the size of a MF #1. Any drill with a 3 jaw chuck can use modern bits. 2 jaw chucks may also work, but I don't have one - I believe they were for taper shank bits like those used with braces.

Goodell Pratt made good drills too.

If you decide you want to spin larger bits or be able to apply more pressure, look into breast drills.
Thanks for the information guys. I'll take a look at the Goodell Pratts and the North Bros. A 5 speed drill eh? Pretty fancy. I'll have to good one and see what it encompasses.

For the larger bits, I'll probably go with a brace rather than a breast drill. I understand the merits of both though. I need to fill out my brace line before I start into the breast drills though. I have a 12" 2101 and love it, but find that the swing is a little on the large side, but great for making 3/4" holes... a 14" would be even nicer for that though. I'm looking for a couple of really nice 10" braces and an 8" brace. I suppose if I had a good assortment of egg beaters though, that an 8" brace might note be terrible useful.

[Johnny Kleso]

# 2s are nicer than #5s

Older Goodell and Patt models are also nice before MF bought out GP

[Jim Koepke]

I suppose if I had a good assortment of egg beaters though, that an 8" brace might note be terrible useful.

They are handy because they can be turned faster than the bigger sizes. Very useful for the smaller sizes up to about 5/8 inch.

jim

[Rob Luter]

I have a 2A and a 5A. Both are pretty handy. Truth be told I use my Bosch cordless more often.

[Ben Davis]

They are handy because they can be turned faster than the bigger sizes. Very useful for the smaller sizes up to about 5/8 inch.

jim
I suppose the braces can turn larger bits than the hand drills. I didn't consider that at first. It looks like most of these egg beaters can chuck up to about 3/8".