Miller Falls 120B Hand Drill, Please Help.

[SGT Christopher Burgin]

Hello, my name is Christopher T. Burgin, and this is my first time ever posting anything on the internet. Please forgive me if I screw something up.

I have here a Miller Falls 120B hand drill and wish to change the speed.

In Pic 1 (Green Arrow) there is a washer welded on the spindle for the crank. I am wondring if this is original or if some one before me had did this to make the drill permanently slow speed. I was thinking of grinding it off if it is not origianl equipment.

I did see the pin assembly (Blue and White arrows) and tried pounding it out, but thought I better ask before I screw it up.

If someone knows about this I would sure appreciate the advice.

Thank you very much.





Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4
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[Bill Houghton]

How utterly sad. You can see a picture of this drill here: http://oldtoolheaven.com/breast_drills/breast_drill4.htm. I've seen one of these at a garage sale (don't remember whether there's one hanging up in the ceiling joists in the shop...). In its proper form, the pin you can see in your second picture pushes against a catch that allows the spindle to release and be removed from one hole, then put through the other for the other speed. Some previous owner welded that washer on, presumably because some part of that mechanism failed. Sad to see someone do that; I can only assume s/he cared less about the drill than about what s/he needed to get done. I don't see any way to diagnose the problem without removing the washer. Offhand, I don't see any way to remove the washer except careful hacksaw and file work or extremely careful grinding, until you get the spindle back to its original diameter. Then see if the spring-loaded "catch" is still working, and, if not, why not.

[SGT Christopher Burgin]

So that pin assembly is spring loaded? I tried moving it and could only do so with light taps of a hammer. it stays in the "open position" but i can tap it back closed.


Thank you for your help.