Restoring Yankee 1555,1545, 1530 or Millers Falls 97, 87 drills

[Mike Holbrook]

I have recently become a fan of the Yankee 1530 and 1545 hand drills. I know the 1530, 1545, the 1555 and the Millers Falls #97 and #87 have fans here on SMC. These drills have unique enclosed ratcheting systems. I am making this post to solicit input on restoring these drills.

I recently acquired a 1530AX, 1545 and Millers Falls Buck Rodgers in a single auction on eBay, they all appeared to be in good condition. My original 1530AX proved to have some issues when I started working with it. I low bid on a 1530 and another 1530AX with issues in other auctions, winning both of them to my surprise. I hope the original drill and two "scrappers" ought to produce at least one functional drill.

The 1545 turns out to be in very good working order with no functional issues and very good teeth. It has cleaned up very well with soaking and hand brushing. For some reason the paint was almost all gone on the 1545's main gear though. I have brushed the rest of the paint off the main gear and I am thinking about painting the entire drill. My 1545 is in better shape now than a lone 1545 I lost an auction on earlier.

The original 1530AX, which appeared to be in the best shape in pictures, has several functional issues I am still working patiently on, mostly soaking it in WD40. The ratcheting slider was stuck as was the chuck. It is strange that a drill which appears to be in this good a shape has these issues. The slide is starting to free up but is much rougher than on the 1545 or the old rusted 1530 I have. The chuck so far refuses to budge. The 1530 is in surprisingly good working order considering the fact that it has some major rust issues. The second 1530AX has not arrived yet. I know the second 1530AX has a cracked and repaired handle but for $7 I don't think I can loose.

My largest issue at the moment is dealing with the enclosed ratcheting systems in 1530 and 1545 type Yankee/Stanley/North Bros. hand drills. There appears to be a thin sheet of metal just inside the mechanism, around the small nub used to change settings. I am afraid that tolerances within that enclosed ratcheting system are tight. I am trying not to use any chemicals or substances that might foul anything contained in these areas. I am a little torn as to how to remove paint and rust from surrounding areas. I was hoping to get some input from those who have restored drills with this ratcheting system.

Another issue I am wondering about with these drills is the handles. These drills have handles that were painted with a plum colored paint that tends to chip and peel off. The wood under the paint on the handles appears softer and lighter in color than the wood on other drills I have. I would like to remove the paint and finish the wood in a more natural looking fashion. I am hoping someone out there has experience with the wood on these handles and can provide some input.

Thanks for your interest,

Mick

[Joe Rogers]

I am not familiar with the Yankee mechanism so I can't offer specific help there. I would however upgrade your penetrating oil. There are much better penetrating oils on the market than WD40. If you can locate some Kroil or PB Blaster use that. WD40 is a good moisture displacer but a so so rust buster.
JR

[Mike Holbrook]

Hi Joe,

I have been experimenting with different solutions for soaking the tools I am restoring in. I started out using K-1 Kerosene, which actually seemed to work fairly well even if it was not real quick. I have another thread running on favorite restoration methods and chemicals but I do not think the two items you mention have shown up there yet. I will see if I can find them in or around north metro Atlanta.

My main cleaner so far has been Krud Kutter which does remove a bunch of greasy junk but I would not soak items in it. I also plan to try Evapo Rust which seems to be the favorite of the restoration crowd on these pages. I am just reluctant to put the drills I mention in this post in Evapo Rust due to what I suspect is some relatively precise partially enclosed parts.

I have been trying to be patient and "first do no harm'.

[Richard Darjes]

Evaporust does not even damage paint (as long as there is no rust under the paint). It will not hurt metal parts. If you go to their web page (www.evaporust.com (http://www.evaporust.com)) you will see that some of the biggest users are race car teams and auto restorers (in 45 gallon drum quantities). Your drill parts will be very safe - the biggest problem you may have is that the evaporust may not be able to get to the rust if the tools are coated with grease.

It is expensive but it works. It does turn steel dark after a soak for a day or so. Try to check on things every hour or so and scrub off any loose crud each time you check (not back into the solution). It is a chemical action (selective chelation) and loose rust added to the solution triggers the chemical reaction and uses up some of the evaporust.

However, it is often not rust that gums up things like the selectors in drills and braces but things like dried grease or dirt embedded in the lubricating grease. Make sure you soak it in a penetrating degreaser for a while to free up the mechanism. Once it is cleaned of grease then try the evaporust.

[Dan Andrews]

I have a Yankee 1550 breast drill that I bought at a rummage sale in terrrible condition. The ratchet mechanism was binding badly. I took the whole drill appart, starting with the chuck, then spindle (when you take the spindle nut off, be careful not to loose your balls! bearings that is). Slide the spindle out of the bottom pinion gear, remove the gear, and you can slide the rachet mech. out of the drill. This will leave the ends open. Now you can soak in kerosene overnite. flush the dickens out of the rachet with fresh kerosene, working the slider back and forth as you go. That procedure fixed mine.

Those rachets are made predominantly of brass. I didn't see anything rusty in mine, just lots of crud. For what I would have thought to be a delicate mechanism, it must be realy tough. Someone had hammered on the crank arm so hard and so often that the edge of the arm had mushroomed over. One tooth is broken off the top pinion (idler pinion), no doubt from the hammering, but all 5 functions of the ratchet (I call it a transmission) work just fine.

A caution on Millers falls side handles-- Mine takes a 3/8" bolt, BUT it is not the standard 24tpi fine or 16tpi course. It is 20tpi. You can start a 16tpi bolt just far enough to be encouraging and then strip the threads when you have to force it to go in further. If you or anyone knows of a source for 3/8"X 20tpi bolts please let me know. I used a 1/4"X 20tpi bolt and wood shims to put a side handle (I had made on the lathe) just for display purposes.

Have fun with the drills. I do.

[Mike Holbrook]

Thanks for the info, Dan, Richard,

I am afraid to let Evapo Rust get into the mechanism of my 1530AX or 1545, especially since Dan thinks it is brass. I would think that any change in the texture of the metal surface might be bad. On the other hand if brass does not rust...

I think first I am going to try a K1 soak since it worked for Dan. The 1545 has no rust and the best 1530AX just seems to have a couple spots that have a little rust or some sort of hard substance stuck to it. The 1545 ratchet selector is working well. The 1530AX has gotten better in the WD40, it just continues to stick at times. I can see some dark film in the mechanism for the 1530AX it just does not seem to want to come off. I tried a little Goof Off, 3 in 1 oil, Krud Kutter but so far it is still there. I think it may be a hardened patina not rust.

I have been working on a MF980 that was in similar shape to Dan's drill. The knurled ring speed shifter on the 980 was frozen solid with crud, worse than the 1530AX. After a week of KI soaking and playing with it, it eventually became loose and very easy to use with a nice solid sounding little click. My 980 has a couple bad teeth on the low gear too. Apparently someone horsed it too much.

It is kinda scary to see all the crud that settles to the bottom in my soaking containers. I threw out the nasty stuff I had been using early today so I will start with a fresh K1 soak tomorrow. I will probably try Krud Kutter again as it has proven to be the best at dissolving those greasy patinas. If that does not get the job done I may try taking the drill apart like Dan did, although I am afraid of loosing my drills balls.

The other plain 1530 I have is badly rusted so I may give the Evapo Rust a shot at it, trying to avoid the ratchet mechanism. For some reason the ratchet on the older model drill seems to work fine. I also have a Millers Falls brace with Lion Chuck that has rusty arms I would like to use Evapo Rust on. Soaking just the arms may be a problem though.

The 1545 is starting to look very good. I have seen a drill or two like this on eBay where all the paint was off both the drill and the handles. Mine still has original paint on the handles and a little black paint remains on the frame. The main gear looks sort of like an iron skillet right after baking a little vegetable oil into the surface in the oven. The metal is clearly visible but it has a grayish brown tint to it with no remaining paint. Now I have to figure out whether or not to paint it. I may try just waxing the bare metal with Renaissance Wax and see what kind of protection that provides. The wax is a micro crystalline formula I got from Highland Hardware, recommended for protecting metal parts "By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen".

[Dan Andrews]

Hey Mike, sounds like you are comming along great with the breast drills. My Yankee has just about 0 paint or japanning left on it. I have been just removing loose rust and oiling most of my old tools that are rusty. I have repainted two of my less valuable hand drills (egg beater type). I must say they do look nice. I just hate to alter an antique tool that has much of its orriginal finish left. :)