Miller Falls Egg Beater – Lose Handle

[Richard Line]

Its a Miller Falls Model 77, typical of many of their egg beater drills, but without the bit storage in the handle.

The handle appears to be fasten onto a steel rod that is then inserted into the drill's frame and pinned in place. The handle currently will rotate a little less a 1/16 of a turn, it can also be pulled back on the steel rod about 1/4 of an inch. It becomes tight at the limits of either of those moves. There are also 2 hair line cracks that are about 1 inch long, both are tight and don't appear to open when the handle is rotated or pulled back.

The drill is quite usable as is, but can be a bit annoying when using a larger bit (1/4").

Does anyone know how the handle is fastened to the steel rod. Also any ideas on a reasonable repair. My thought have been to use super glue or epoxy.

The pictures show the drill and a close up of the handle attachment, with the handle pulled back.

Thanks for any help and thoughts.

Dick

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[Robert Hartmann]

Dick, I've done a number of restores on MF drills, but never a 77. Having seen many, I've seen them either pinned (no pin is visible on the wood, pinning the wood handle to the rod) or screwed on (rod is threaded). Just a guess, but I would assume it is threaded. If you can't live with it and no one knows definitively, I would try to unscrew the handle. It will probably take some force and of course may damage it. If you can get it put some JB Weld it and put it back together. I've used that on a few and it holds very well. I attached a couple pics of a MF 980 I did. The handle where it attached to the frame was chewed up, cracked and loose. I filled it with JB Weld and fit the brass ferrule over it. It was solid as new.
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[Richard Line]

Robert, thanks for the input. It has helped me. I was just about to squirt some super glue in, when I thought again based on what you said about your drill's handle attachment and I decided to fiddle a bit more. I pulled a bit harder on the handle, with a bit of wiggling or the handle. I slowing came off. Turns out the shaft has to keys formed on it. The handle was probably pushed on, maybe with some glue or moisture on the wood inside the hole. I hope the keys show on the photo.

Now,I'll get some epoxy or JB Weld to fasten the handle back on the shaft.
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