The Electrical drill was invented in 1889 in Melbourne Australia. The drill is a tool which is used to create a hole.

Generally, it is used to create a hole in hard substance. The drill has two different actions that are rotary action and hammering action. So, the hole which is been created with the help of the drill is through its rotary or hammering action. They typically look like a handgun, with a trigger type button. They are also used for pouring screws and are often provided with a hammer action which makes them capable of being used as masonry drills. The screw guns or electric screwdrivers are generally suitably modified drills. These kinds of drills have a motor which contains brushes. The authentic design works with a single forward drill and have a very simple on-off action of the button; they can work on both, AC or DC power. There are different kinds of drills which are available in the market. Today?s speed drills contain solid state phase control circuits that limit their use to AC power only. As trend and technology is increasing day by day, the electronics now give them changeable speed, reversibility and torque control. The following are some types of drills available in the market. The hammer drill is specially made up with an exception that, it is provided with a hammer action for drilling stonework. The extra benefit in hammer drill is that the hammer stroke may be engaged or disengaged as per the requirement. The rotary drill which is also known as rotor hammer drill is an electronic which is generally used for drilling holes in stones. This difference between rotary drill and hammer drill is that, through rotary drill hammer action cannot be performed it is just made with an idea of creating holes in stones. Except this each and every feature of hammer drill and rotary drills are same. The cordless drill is a sort of electric drill which has an inbuilt battery which you can recharge. Mostly they are available in hammer drill configuration and they also have a grip feature, so that you can use for driving screws. A drill press which is also known through several names like pedestal drill, pillar drill, or bench drill, this are always fixed on the floor or the workbench. The drill press has a base, pillar, table, spindle and a drill head it is generally driven with the help of an induction motor. Read more: http://www.eioba.com/a29046/power_drill_history_the_history_of_the_drill#ixzz18OQI EzY9

Hand powered drilling tools and machines

Hand-powered devices have been used for millennia, but during the last quarter of the 19th century a radically improved generation of tools appeared, taking advantage of modern mass production machinery and processes (like interchangeable parts) and an increased availability in superior material (metal instead of wood). One of the outcomes included an array of new drilling machines, but their heydays were over fast. These human-powered tools were not only a vast improvement over those that came before them, they also had many advantages in comparison to the power drills that we use today.
A 1922 breast drill (picture credit).

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For most of human history, drilling a hole into whatever chosen material required an extensive amount of time and effort. The first crude drilling tool was the awl, a sharp stone, flint, copper or bone point that could be attached to a piece of wood. The awl was pressed against an object and then rotated by hand, much like a present-day screwdriver. An alternative primitive method was the "hand drill" or "shaft drill", where a stick was rotated between the palms. Abrasives such as sand could be used simultaneously to make this drilling method more effective. These were extremely labour-intensive tasks, especially when the material that had to be drilled was hardy, like stone.

In his study of ancient stone-working technology (see sources), Denys Stocks came to the conclusion that even with a bronze drill bit it took up to 5 hours to drill a tiny hole 1 centimetre deep in a hard stone like quartz. Drilling holes into hard stone was commonplace in ancient times, for example in construction work and the making of necklaces and bracelets, so it is not surprising that our forefathers were investigating more efficient drilling methods with fervour. Strap drills, bow drills and pump drills The first step toward mechanisation was the "strap drill" (also known as "cord drill" or "thong drill"), which offered an increased rotation speed of the drill bit. The tool consisted of a drill bit attached to a longer wooden shaft, which was rotated by wrapping a cord or leather strap once around it and holding the ends with one's hands; by pulling in one direction and then the other, the shaft spun and drilled into the material. The top of the shaft rotated freely in a mouthpiece which was held between the user's teeth to exert more downward pressure. The tool was also used to make fire, which is the reason why it is also known as a "fire drill".

The strap drill was widely used, but was eventually superseded by the "bow drill", which appeared at least 6,000 years ago in Egypt. Based on the cord drill, the difference was that the cord or strap, again wrapped

once around the shaft, was tied to a bow. Holding the drill vertically and the bow horizontally, the user then moved the bow backward and forward - much like a cellist - to revolve the shaft (picture on the right, by Rudolf Hommel).

The bow drill possessed two advantages over the strap drill: the shaft could be rotated at a higher speed, and as only one hand was needed to handle the bow, downward pressure could be exerted with the other hand instead of the mouth. Smaller bow drills were also used for dental care. The tool could be made from a few pieces of wood, a piece of string and a drill bit. A later improvement to the bow drill was the pump drill, which appeared in Roman times (picture on the left, source). It is similarly operated, except it functions by means of a downward instead of sideward movement. Sandor Nagyszalancy explains how it works in his book "Tools Rare and Ingenious": "Pump drills get their name from the way they're used. Pumping the crossbar up and down causes a string to wind and unwind at the shaft, thus spinning a pointed bit that's fastened to the end of the shaft back and forth. The thick, rounded section just above the bit serves as a small flywheel to keep the spinning motion going."

Once more, the pump drill offered superior rotating speeds and more downward pressure. All these ancient drills were used in conjunction

with a sharp drill point or with the help of abrasives (especially when drilling through stone). Pump and bow drills (which could not work without ropes and knots) are among the most successful tools ever made. Bow drills were still used in the western world at the end of the 19th century by carpenters for drilling small or delicate holes, whilst small pump drills are still sold today as a tool for jewellers. Bow and thong drills operated by several people The Chinese were especially keen on the above drilling tools. They relied on bow, pump and thong drills up until the beginning of the twentieth century and never developed any of the drilling tools that will be discussed further below. Rudolf Hommel photographed some of the Chinese drilling devices in his book "China at work". Chinese shipbuilders employed a larger version of the thong drill which was operated by two to three people. It was used for drilling the preliminary holes for the iron spikes which they utilized in ship construction. Henry Chapman Mercer describes the tool in his 1929 book "Ancient Carpenters' Tools": "To work the apparatus, the thong is twisted around the spindle, whereupon one man holds down the pivot handle, thereby pressing down the drill bit into the wood, while two other man, each grasping the thong by one of its terminal handles, or one man holding a thong-handle in each hand and pulling the thong to and fro, cause the drill to twirl back and forth, as with the common bow drill."

The thong drill. Picture from "China at work" by Rudolf Hommel. According to some historians, the Egyptians also made use of large bow drills operated by several people to make large holes (and to hollow out spaces) in their pyramids. Bronze hollow tubes of about 11 centimetres in diameter in conjunction with abrasives would have been used as a drill bit ("tube drills" or "core drills"), after which the remaining core is then carefully removed. Even larger holes could have been made by

performing several drilling operations right next to each other, in a circular form. The core drill allows for larger holes without sacrificing drilling speed, because much less material has to be reduced to powder.

Denys Stocks conducted real-life experiments to see if this method could work, and succeeded. The results indicate that two drillers were required to push and pull a large bow, while a third person balanced a stone drill-cap on top of the shaft to exert downward pressure. Stocks achieved a drilling speed of 2 centimetres per hour in granite stone, and thinks the ancient Egyptians could have reached speeds of 12 cm per hour. Whether or not the ancient Egyptians applied this technique remains open to debate, though. Archaeological remains of these tools have never been found, and unlike smaller drilling operations (common bow drills, stone drills to hollow out granite vases) these large-scale operations were only vaguely alluded to in wall paintings.

Augers, gimlets and reamers Another very important invention from Roman times was the T-shaped auger (and the much smaller gimlet). Basically a long drill bit with a pair of wooden handles for rotating

it. The tool looks a like an oversized corkscrew (picture on the left, source). Augers were used to drill large and/or deep holes in wood, for which the bow or pump drill was not very useful. They were applied by shipbuilders, bridgebuilders, millwrights, wheelwrights and the like. In the Middle Ages augers were sometimes equipped with a breastplate on top for more drilling pressure - the user could rest the entire weight of his body on the pad. However, operating them was a tedious task. The Roman writer Vitruvius noted that the difficulty of the boring increased exponentially with the diameter of the hole. Apart from drilling holes, an auger was also used for "reaming" - enlarging an already existing hole.

The drilling action of the auger is based on the principle of leverage: the longer the handle, the greater the potential of applied force. Some augers and reamers were huge and had to be operated by several people. One example is the wheelwrights' reamer, which was used to core the hub of a wheel in order to receive a metal bearing. This was again no easy task, because if the hole was not perfectly straight the wheel would hobble along on the axle. Augers and reamers were essential tools until the end of the 19th century. Eric Sloane describes (and illustrates, on the right) the use of the tool in his 1964 book "A Museum of Early American Tools ":

"Oddly enough, the experts have not decided just how these reamers were used. But I rigged up a wagon wheel on a wheelwright's bench, then put a hooked reamer through the hub, which I had weighted with 75 pounds. With two men turning a very long detachable handle it worked nicely. With an ordinary reamer, a man exerts about half its weight downward; this can be bettered with a 75 pound weight plus the 25 pound weight of the tool itself." Pipe and pump augers Another spectacular example was the pipe auger (and pipe reamer). These tools were used to bore water pipes from tree trunks. This kind of wooden water pipes was quite common in towns and smaller cities from the 15th to the 17th century, notes Maurice Daumas in "Histoire gnrale des techniques, tome 2" (illustration below, Maurice Dumas).

Stephen Shepherd, author of the Full Chisel Blog, explains how the pipe auger is operated: "This type of bit will follow the center of the tree (they selected good straight trunks of the appropriate diameter) so the hole will be centered. What is unusual about this arrangement is the very long shank and the interchangeable bits and reamers. Some pipe auger handles were segmented and lengths could be added as needed. The shanks were slightly longer than the logs being made into water pipes. Twenty feet [6 metres] is not an uncommon length." "There is a permanent set-up to do the work. Saw bucks or stantions to hold the log and smaller ones to hold the shank of the bit in the proper location. After the pilot hole is bored, the bit is changed out to a reamer to enlarge the hole. In order to facilitate the reaming, a rope is run through the hole and fixed to the hook on the end of the reamer. Now the work gets easy for the fellow twisting the handle as he no longer needs to push the auger, the fellow on the other end pulls the rope (also one with weights), pulling the reamer through the pilot hole enlarging the opening, as the handle is twisted."

Illustration by Stephen Shepherd, Full Chisel Blog. This took quite some time. In his 1751 "Encyclopdie", Diderot writes that one man could bore a 5 cm diameter hole through 11.6 metres of pipe per day in alder or elm, but only 1.95 metres per day in oak. A similar method was used for boring the barrels of muskets and cannons, and for making wooden water pumps to get water up from wells or chisels. Continuous versus reciprocating drills The arrival of the auger did not nullify the bow and pump drills. Each had their advantages and drawbacks because they work in totally different ways. Firstly, with a bow or pump drill, downward pressure is applied by one hand, while with an auger it is applied by two hands. Second, the auger turns slowly in one direction, while the pump and bow drill work by quick reciprocating revolutions in both directions. The auger pares the wood into shavings as it goes down; the pump or bow drill pulverizes the wood into sawdust. The result is that the auger is much better suited to drill large holes, but not useful to make holes in materials other than wood. On the other hand, pump and bow drills will only drill comparatively small holes (with the possible exception of the large Egyptian tools), but can be used for drilling holes in all kinds of materials that need to be pulverized instead of pared: stone, marble or metal, for example. Medieval breakthrough: the hand brace

While augers remained essential tools for large diameter holes until the end of the 1800s, the Middle Ages brought an important drilling innovation when it came to somewhat smaller holes: the "hand brace" or "bitstock". It introduced - for the first time in history - a continuous drilling motion. Both bow drills and augers worked by means of intermittent rotations, and during the short pause in between turns the drill bit had the tendency to get stuck. The U-shaped body of the brace solved this problem. The user turned the handle continuously while exerting downward pressure with the hand or the chest on the pad (some later braces, the cage-head braces, had a larger breastplate). Braces came in many different sizes, with lengths varying from 10 centimetres or less to tools almost half a metre long. The earliest representation of the hand brace dates from 1425, when it appears on a painting by the Flemish artist Robert Campin. The oldest surviving brace was recovered from an English ship that sank in 1545. Hand braces have remained in use ever since, although they can be difficult to find today. From the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century, braces improved only moderately. Early wooden braces were made with bits permanently attached, while later models had crude mechanisms for interchangeable bits. The shape of the tool hardly changed, but there was an evolution in the materials used.

English hand braces. Source: Hans Brunner Tools. Most medieval hand braces were made almost entirely out of wood (sometimes even a naturally curved limb of a tree) with some minor iron reinforcements, and - of course - an iron drill bit. Later models were heavily reinforced with metal plates. Some braces were very crude, while others may be considered works of art. The early 19th century "Ultimatum" braces made by William Marples, crafted from japanned ivory or exotic wood (ebony, rosewood) and decorated with engraved and polished brass sidings, were famous for their aesthetic appeal. Modern hand powered drilling tools The next revolution in hand powered drilling tools only occured at the end of the 19th century, with the arrival of much improved hand braces and a whole new class of drilling tools: geared drills and boring machines, which took over the heavy duties from augers. They were much more powerful and versatile than their predecessors, but unfortunately their success did not last long. Half a century later they were almost completely superseded by electric power drills. As a result, many people are not even aware of the existence of these remarkable tools.

A rare 1880 combination of hand brace and geared drill, source In the overview of modern hand powered drilling tools that follows, I will focus almost exclusively on the products of one enterprise: the Millers Falls Company from New York. Although there were a few important competitors, notably Goodell Pratt and North Brothers, Millers Falls dominated the market in the US and their tools are generally regarded as the best. Moreover, since the US became the forerunner of early mass production techniques, these tools became an example for most European manufacturers too. Cheap steel and interchangeable parts The improvement of drilling devices was mainly the consequence of the arrival of cheap steel and the invention of interchangeable parts. Randy Roeder, author of a splendid website dedicated to Millers Falls Tools, summarizes the changes in two paragraphs, using the hand brace as an example: "The braces being offered by American companies at this time were among the finest hand-powered boring devices ever mass produced. The braces of the 1930s would have been a dream come true for a woodworker a century earlier. In the early nineteenth century, most braces were made of wood and prone to breakage if too much torque was applied to them. The forged iron braces sometimes made by blacksmiths were better in this regard, but both types were plagued with mechanisms inadequate to hold a bit securely and incapable adjustment for variations in the size or shape of a shank."

1872 patent premium model lever-type ratchet, source. "One hundred years later, a brace with an adjustable Barber chuck [patented in 1859], mounted on a quality steel frame and fitted with a rotating sweep handle and ball bearing head was considered bottom of the line. Better models came equipped with a ratchet mechanism allowing the user to bore a hole without making a full rotation of the sweep. Some of the best braces were manufactured with all or part of the ratchet mechanism enclosed, or boxed. Premium models came equipped with chucks which allowed for bits with a variety of shanks to be used. Fit and finish, of course, played a role in determining the eventual cost of the tool. "

Hand and breast drills Apart from the improvement of the centuries-old hand brace, a whole new range of drilling tools appeared - most notably, so-called geared drills. The earliest picture of a geared drill appears in 1816 and the first geared drill patent is from 1838. It is most likely that they originated in France, perhaps as late as the end of the 1700s. Geared drills finally offered metal workers an alternative to the 6,000 year old bow drill and the 2,000 year old pump drill. WK Fine Tools, a website dedicated to late 19th century drilling tools, explains: "A geared drill transfers its power from a vertical hand cranked main gear to a horizontal pin gear spinning on a shaft connected to a bit holding device. Depending on the size ratio of main gear to pinion a greater number of revolutions could be achieved from one turn of the crank." Geared drills (also named "eggbeater drills" - see why) were initially made for drilling in metal, for which higher rotation speeds are a necessity. However, they were also used for drilling into soft wood, in which case the mechanical advantage simply led to easier drilling. Like hand braces, geared drills worked by continuous motion, but they offered the additional benefit of making the drill turn faster than the rate at which the crank is turned. Many models also offered the possibility of changing the bit rotation speed.

Geared drills came in two varieties: "hand drills" and "breast drills". Millers Falls Company started mass producing them in 1878 and remained market leader ever since. Randy Roeder explains the differences between the two types: "Hand drills [picture below, source] are generally fifteen inches or less in length, are best suited for drilling holes in wood and light metals, and are most effective when used by a worker whose body is positioned above a work piece. They work best when operated at high speed and are especially useful for accurately drilling small-sized holes without damaging delicate drill points."

"Breast drills [picture below, source] typically exceed fifteen inches and are topped by a concave plate that provides a surface which the user can lean against when boring a hole. Sometimes referred to as "chest drills," "belly drills" or "knee drills," these tools were indispensable in the construction industry, in blacksmith shops, in factories and in shops where rail cars were fabricated. Ruggedly built, the drills are useful for boring holes in iron, steel and extremely tough wood. Designed with the expectation that a worker would be putting a fair amount of body weight into a task, the breast drills are especially effective when used in a standing position, alongside the work piece."

Breast mills, even though they were human powered, could be very powerful tools. An example is the Millers Falls No. 13 breast mill pictured above, which was introduced in the mid-1880s. It had a driver that was six inches (15 cm) in diameter, which provided for a gear ratio of 4.5 to 1. This means that the drill bit spun 4.5 times faster than the user's hand. Later models had even higher gear ratios. The No. 666, which was introduced in 1937, had a mechanical advantage of more than 7 to 1. The breastplate replacing the knob did more than merely allowing the user to push his chest into the drill, notes Stephen Shepherd: "It also freed his hands to turn the crank and hold an auxiliary handle on the pivot and opposite the crown wheel. The length of the arm to the turning knob varies from a knob mounted to the rim of the wheel, to a bar that extends beyond the wheel adding to the mechanical advantage." More than 200 different models Hand braces and geared drills came in a surprisingly large variety. In 1915, the inventory of Millers Falls included 28 hand drills, 40 breast drills and 135 variations on the hand brace - especially the latter figure is remarkable considering the tool's simplicity.

One example is the Whimble Brace (above), of which the catalogue description reads as follows: "Ship builders, bridge builders and others whose work requires an unusually

powerful sweep will find this brace a strong, sturdy tool, capable of standing the rough use to which it is necessarily put". Or take the "Corner Brace" (below), which was "the only practical tool for boring in corners and close to walls, and is indispensable to carpenters, bellhangers and plumbers".

Stationary use Both braces and hand and breast drills could be mounted in special frames. The result was a hand powered "drill press", "bench drill", "post drill" or "beam drill", which further improved the performance of the tools. An example is the mounted breast drill pictured on the left, which was presented in 1883 (called the "Universal Hand Drill Press"). The magazine 'Carpentry and Building' devoted an article to it:

"A steel frame is provided, in which the No. 10 breast drill may be used quite advantageously. The drill is held true by the frame, and the work is held firmly in place by the clamp shown in the engraving. The lever-feed provided by this arrangement may be operated by hand, or a weight may be employed, as may be preferred. The advantage of an attachment of this kind for use in connection with a breast drill is obvious. Most of the work done by a tool of this character can be better performed with the drill mounted in the frame. When the breast-drill is used in the ordinary manner it very frequently requires heavy pressure, which is quite fatiguing to the workman. In the arrangement shown there is a leverage of five to one, which makes the feeding an easy matter. When work is required that cannot be done in the frame, the tool can be taken out in a very small space of time, and used in the ordinary way."

Many different frames were available, and the same principle could also be applied to the hand brace (see the patent illustration below). Angular and ratchet drilling machines could be attached to broken machines and swung around so as to drill at a variety of angles (above, right). Apart from the advantages listed above, this arrangement also gave the operator the advantage of keeping one hand free. A variant of such a stationary hand powered tool was the "wood boring machine" (image on the right, source).

This two-handed drill was the most powerful model the Millers Falls Company made, and was introduced in the 1860s. An adjustable model drilled at any angle, while the wooden base that holds the superstructure is a seat for the operator to sit on. Stephen Shepherd used the machine and was impressed: "The two hand cranks and gear mechanism makes this an aggressive drill, even with big twist bits. It easily bores big holes in timber. At the proper depth, the rack gear is moved to engage a gear and continuous turning of the hand crank pulls the bit out of the hole with the greatest of ease."

A completely different hand powered drilling machine (not manufactured by Miller Falls) was especially designed for piercing through tough rocks. The "Ingersoll Hand Power Drill" (image on the left) is pictured and described in the 1892 encyclopedia "Modern Mechanism": "The spring is compressed by the lifting of the cross-head, and its recoil on release produces the blow, which is delivered dead on the stone without shock to the men. The spring ordinarily supplied for a drill to be worked by 2 men is compressed to 200 lbs, and produces with the momentum of the working rod and drill a blow of about 300 lbs."

Continued availability The continued availability of some hand powered drilling tools is at least as remarkable as their diversity. For instance, the Millers Falls No.2 hand drill, one of the company's most popular eggbeater drills, was introduced as early as 1878 and could still be found (largely unchanged) in their 1981 catalogue - over 100 years after its introduction (see the picture of a 1903 model on the right, source).

The No.2 hand drill even survived the introduction of the so-called Buck Rogers hand drill (picture below), its more radically designed modern looking cousin with enclosed gears, which appeared in the late 1940s and was discontinued by 1960. The No.2 is the most spectacular example when it comes to availability, but most other conventional models remained available for many decades, too.

Nevertheless, the heydays of modern hand powered drilling tools were over fast, even before the 1920s began. While Millers Falls had 135 different models of hand braces in its 1915 catalogue, the number of braces in the catalogue had shrunk to 35 by 1938 and to 13 in 1949. Randy Roeder explains what happened: "The growing preference for electric boring tools was making itself felt in the workplace, and it is plain that the market could no longer sustain a huge line of braces, many of them differing only slightly from another. Oddly, the company continued to market breast drills into the 1980s. Although the drills were already an anachronism, competitors were so few that it had the market pretty much to itself."

The 1981 Millers Falls catalogue (see the illustration on the right, the company was bought by Ingersoll-Rand by then) features only 3 braces, one hand drill and one breast

drill. Today, new hand braces and hand drills can still be bought, but they are rare. Breast drills have disappeared altogether - not one company sells them anymore (update: they are still for sale, see comments). Pinnacle of drilling machinery The interesting thing is that the drilling tools that appeared in the late 19th century were not only a vast improvement over earlier tools; they also have many advantages over their present-day successors, the power drills. Of course, as most modern products, power drills offer the advantage of convenience: merely pushing a button will do the job. But that luxury comes at a steep price. Obviously, modern power drills are dependent on fossil fuels to generate the electricity for them to use. Any interruption in the electricity supply will render a power drill utterly useless. The simple operation of drilling a hole would then be impossible, which is quite remarkable since less than 100 years ago no electricity was needed to perform the job almost as quickly as today.

Power drills are also dependent on fossil fuels for the manufacture of their materials (mostly plastics) and their electronic components, as well as for the mining of the resources to make these (rare earth metals included). Naturally, manually powered drills require energy for their manufacture, too. They are made almost entirely from iron and steel with nickel plating. But there is a crucial difference to consider here; even if we

assume that the embodied energy of a hand drill is similar to that of a power drill, it has a much longer service life. Silent, safe, flexible, forgiving Even when disregarding energy and environmental issues, hand powered drills offer some real, practical advantages. They are rather silent, while power drills can produce up to 130 decibels of noise. Their independence from electricity and batteries also guarantees that you can use them anywhere you want for as long as you want, unhampered by cords that are always too short and batteries that never last long enough. Manually powered drills are also much safer than power drills, and because of their lower drilling speeds and more direct control, corrections are much easier to make while drilling a hole (especially handy for clumsy people like me). Of course, the lower rotation speed can also be seen as the (only) drawback of a hand powered drill. They can do all the jobs that we now use power tools for, but for large and/or deep holes in hard materials this will cost more time and some exercise - and that's enough for us to laugh at them. Exactly the same issue was found with human powered cranes. Low-tech or high-tech? We always compare simpler solutions like hand powered drills to modern, unsustainable machinery, and never to the tools that came before them. Hand powered drilling tools are indeed low-tech if you compare them to power drills. However, they are definitely hightech when you compare them to bow drills, augers and crude wooden hand braces. The hand drills that we now disregard are products of the industrial revolution, and they should not be taken for granted. Efficient hand powered drills require good steel, mass production factories, and oil to keep their gears in shape.

Water powered drilling mill. Source: Deutsche Fotothek.

One last thing. It is important to note that this article only discusses the history of hand powered drilling tools and machines. From the late Middle Ages onwards, large scale drilling and boring was also performed by animal power, water power and wind power, requiring no human effort at all. See for example the water powered drilling mill above, which was used for boring water pipes as an alternative to the pipe auger that was described earlier. Large-scale drilling operations became more important at the end of the 19th century, which led to a whole new range of machines equipped with steam engines and electric motors. No attempts to improve the existing water and wind powered boring machines with interchangeable parts and better materials were made. Kris De Decker (edited by Shameez Joubert) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19th century drilling tools:

Milles Fall Home Page (Old Tool Heaven) by Randy Roeder. General information as well as a description and picture of every Millers Falls drill tool ever sold including one-hand operated push drills which I have ignored here. WK Fine Tools. In-depth information of Millers Falls drills and other drilling tools. There is a complete anatomy of the N0.2 hand drill to be found, as well as a broad overview of UK and US boring tools and their makers (including patent drawings of many tools). Type study of the Millers Falls No.2 Eggbeater Drill by George Langford. More information, more links. Full Chisel Blog has a great section on drilling tools. Millers Falls Company catalogue 1904 at the Toolemera Blog. Millers Falls Catalogues 1925 (or 1939), 1949 and 1981 at Rose Antique Tools. Boring Tools, by Chuck Zitur. 1891 catalogue of breast drills and braces manufactured by H.S. Bartholomew. 1923 Goodell-Pratt Company catalogue. 1926 Yankee tools catalogue. 1930s Metabo tool catalogue. The American Patented Brace Database. American Mechanical Dictionary, Edward H. Knight, 1881

Modern mechanism; exhibiting the latest progress in machines, motors, and the transmission of power, Benjamin Park, 1892.

Drill bit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the fictional character, see Drill Bit (Transformers). For the planned skyscraper nicknamed Drill bit, see Chicago Spire. For the types used in drilling wells, see Well drilling.

From top to bottom: Spade, lip and spur (brad point), masonry bit and twist drill bits

Drill bit (upper left), mounted on a pistol-grip corded drill. This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

Drill bits are cutting tools used to create cylindrical holes. Bits are held in a tool called a drill, which rotates them and provides torque and axial force to create the hole. Specialized bits are also available for non-cylindrical-shaped holes. This article describes the types of drill bits in terms of the design of the cutter. The other end of the drill bit, the shank, is described in the drill bit shank article. Drill bits come in standard sizes, described in the drill bit sizes article. A comprehensive drill and tap size chart lists metric and imperial sized drills alongside the required screw tap sizes. The term drill can refer to a drilling machine, or can refer to a drill bit for use in a drilling machine. In this article, for clarity, drill bit or bit is used throughout to refer to a bit for use in a drilling machine, and drill refers always to a drilling machine.

Contents
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1 Characteristics o 1.1 Materials o 1.2 Coatings 2 Universal bits o 2.1 Twist drill bits o 2.2 Step drill bits o 2.3 Unibit o 2.4 Hole saw 3 Metal drills o 3.1 Center and spotting drill bits 3.1.1 Use in making holes for lathe centers 3.1.2 Use in spotting hole centers o 3.2 Core drill bit o 3.3 Countersink bit o 3.4 Ejector drill bit o 3.5 Gun drill bit o 3.6 Indexable drill bit o 3.7 Left-hand bit o 3.8 Metal spade bit o 3.9 Straight fluted bit o 3.10 Trepan 4 Wood drill bits o 4.1 Lip and spur drill bits o 4.2 Wood spade bits o 4.3 Spoon bits o 4.4 Forstner bits o 4.5 Center bits o 4.6 Auger bits o 4.7 Gimlet bits o 4.8 Hinge sinker bits o 4.9 Adjustable wood bits 5 Other materials o 5.1 Diamond core bits o 5.2 Masonry drill bits o 5.3 PCB through-hole drill bits o 5.4 Installer bits 6 See also 7 References o 7.1 Bibliography 8 External links

[edit] Characteristics
Main articles: Drill bit shank and Drill bit sizes Drill bit geometry has several aspects:

The spiral, or rate of twist in the drill, controls the rate of chip removal in a drill. A fast spiral drill is used in high feed rate applications under low spindle speeds, where removal of a large volume of swarf is required. Low spiral drills are used in cutting applications where high cutting speeds are traditionally used, and where the material has a tendency to gall on the drill or otherwise clog the hole, such as aluminum or copper. The point angle, or the angle formed at the tip of the drill, is determined by the material the drill will be operating in. Harder materials require a larger point angle, and softer materials require a sharper angle. The correct point angle for the hardness of the material controls wandering, chatter, hole shape, wear rate, and other characteristics. The lip angle determines the amount of support provided to the cutting edge. A greater lip angle will cause the drill to cut more aggressively under the same amount of point pressure as a drill with a smaller lip angle. Both conditions can cause binding, wear, and eventual catastrophic failure of the tool. The proper amount of lip clearance is determined by the point angle. A very acute point angle has more web surface area presented to the work at any one time, requiring an aggressive lip angle, where a flat drill is extremely sensitive to small changes in lip angle due to the small surface area supporting the cutting edges. The mechanic drills used widely by vendors to further describe the length of the drill itself. The actual length x diameter must be found and published. The Jobber Drills used widely by vendors to further describe the length of the drill itself. The actual length x diameter must be found and published.

Most drills for consumer use have straight shanks. For heavy duty drilling in industry, drills with tapered shanks are sometimes used. The diameter-to-length ratio of the drill bit is usually between 1:1 and 1:10. Much higher ratios are possible (e.g., "aircraft-length" twist drills, pressured-oil gun drills), but the higher the ratio, the greater the technical challenge of producing good work. Tool geometry[1] Workpiece material Point angle Helix angle Lip relief angle Aluminum 90 to 135 32 to 48 12 to 26 Brass 90 to 118 0 to 20 12 to 26 Cast iron 90 to 118 24 to 32 7 to 20 Mild steel 118 to 135 24 to 32 7 to 24 Stainless steel 118 to 135 24 to 32 7 to 24 Plastics 60 to 90 0 to 20 12 to 26

[edit] Materials

Titanium nitride coated twist bit Many different materials are used for or on drill bits, depending on the required application. Steels

Soft low carbon steel bits are used only in wood, as they do not hold an edge well and require frequent sharpening. Working with hardwoods can noticeably shorten their lifespan. They are cheaper than longer-lived bits. Bits made from high carbon steel are an improvement on low-carbon steel due to the hardening and tempering capabilities of the material. These bits can be used on wood or metal, but lose their temper, resulting in a soft cutting edge, if overheated. High speed steel (HSS) is a form of tool steel; HSS bits are much more resistant to heat. They can be used to drill metal, hardwood, and most other materials at greater cutting speeds than carbon steel bits, and have largely replaced carbon steels in commercial applications.

Cobalt steel alloys are variations on high speed steel which contain more cobalt. Their main advantage is that they hold their hardness at much higher temperatures, so they are used to drill stainless steel and other hard materials. The main disadvantage of cobalt steels is that they are more brittle than standard HSS.

Others

Tungsten carbide and other carbides are extremely hard materials that can drill in virtually all materials while holding an edge longer than other bits. Due to their brittleness and high cost they are mainly used for drill tips, small pieces of hard material fixed or brazed onto the tip of a bit made of less hard metal. However, it is becoming common in job shops to use solid carbide drills, and in certain industries, most notably PCB drills, it has been commonplace for some time. Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is among the hardest of all tool materials and is therefore extremely wear-resistant. It consists of a layer of diamond particles, typically about 0.5 mm (0.019") thick, bonded as a sintered mass to a tungsten carbide support. Bits are fabricated using this material by either brazing small segments to the tip of the tool to form the cutting edges, or by sintering PCD into a vein in the tungsten carbide "nib". The nib can later be brazed to a carbide shaft and ground to complex geometries that cause braze failure in the smaller "segments". PCD bits are typically used in the automotive, aerospace, and other industries to drill abrasive aluminum alloys, carbon fiber reinforced plastics and other abrasive materials, and in applications where machine downtime to replace or sharpen worn drills is exceptionally costly.

[edit] Coatings

Black oxide is an inexpensive black coating. A black oxide coating provides heat resistance and lubricity, as well as corrosion resistance. These result in a longer drill life than the typical uncoated high-speed steel drill. Titanium nitride (TiN) is a very hard ceramic material, and when used to coat a high-speed steel bit (usually twist bits), can extend the cutting life by three or more times. A titanium nitride bit cannot be properly sharpened, as the new edge will not have the coating, and will not have any of the benefits the coating provided. Titanium aluminum nitride (TiAlN) is another coating frequently used. It is considered superior to TiN and can extend tool life five or more times. Titanium carbon nitride (TiCN) is another coating and is also superior to TiN. Diamond powder is used as an abrasive, most often for cutting tile, stone, and other very hard materials. Large amounts of heat are generated, and diamond coated bits often have to be water cooled to prevent damage to the bit or the workpiece. Zirconium nitride has also been used as a drill bit coating for some Craftsman tools.

[edit] Universal bits

These drill bits can be used in wood, metal, plastic, and most other materials.

[edit] Twist drill bits

The twist drill bit is the type produced in largest quantity today. It comprises a cutting point at the tip of a cylindrical shaft with helical flutes; the flutes act as an Archimedean screw and lift swarf out of the hole. The twist drill bit was invented by Steven A. Morse of East Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1861.[2][3] The original method of manufacture was to cut two grooves in opposite sides of a round bar, then to twist the bar (giving the tool its name) to produce the helical flutes. Nowadays, the drill bit is usually made by rotating the bar while moving it past a grinding wheel to cut the flutes in the same manner as cutting helical gears. Twist drill bits range in diameter from 0.002 to 3.5 in (0.051 to 89 mm)[4][5] and can be as long as 25.5 in (650 mm).[6] The geometry and sharpening of the cutting edges is crucial to the performance of the bit. Small bits that become blunt are often discarded because sharpening them correctly is difficult and they are inexpensive. For larger bits special grinding jigs are available. A special tool grinder is available for sharpening or reshaping cutting surfaces on twist drills to optimize the drill for a particular material. Manufacturers can produce special versions of the twist drill bit, varying the geometry and the materials used, to suit particular machinery and particular materials to be cut. Twist drill bits are available in the widest choice of tooling materials. However, even for industrial users, most holes are drilled with standard high speed steel bits. The most common twist drill (sold in general hardware stores) has a point angle of 118 degrees, acceptable for use in wood, metal, plastic, and most other materials, although it does not perform as well as using the optimum angle for each material. In most materials it will not tend to wander or dig in. A more aggressive (acute) angle, such as 90 degrees, is suited for very soft plastics and other materials; it would wear rapidly in hard materials. The bit will generally be selfstarting and cut very quickly. A shallower angle, such as 150 degrees, is suited for drilling steels and other tougher materials. This style of bit requires a starter hole, but will not bind or suffer premature wear so long as a suitable feed rate is used. Drills with no point angle are used in situations where a blind, flat-bottomed hole is required. These drills are very sensitive to changes in lip angle, and even a slight change can result in an inappropriately fast cutting drill bit that will suffer premature wear.

Long series drills are extended length twist drills. They are not the best tool for routinely drilling deep holes as they require frequent withdrawal to clear the flutes of swarf and prevent drill breakages. Gun drills are the preferred drills for deep hole drilling.

Twist drill bit with Morse taper shank Twist drill bit cutting edges

11/32" (8 mm) drills - longseries morse, plain morse, jobber

[edit] Step drill bits

A step drill is a drill bit that has had the tip ground down to a different diameter. The transition between this ground diameter and the original diameter is either straight, to form a counterbore, or angled, to form a countersink. The advantage to this style drill is that both diameters have the same flute characteristics, which keeps the drill from clogging when drilling in softer materials, such as aluminum, as compared to a drill with a slip-on collar. Most of these bits are custom-made for each application, which makes them more expensive.[7]

[edit] Unibit
A unibit, also incorrectly known as a step drill or step bit, is a roughly conical bit with a stair-step profile.[7] Due to their design, a single bit can be used for drilling a wide range of hole sizes. Some bits come to a point and are thus self-starting. The larger-size bits have blunt tips and are used for hole enlarging. Unibits are commonly used on sheet metal[7] and in general construction. One drill bit can drill the entire range of holes necessary on a countertop, speeding up installation of fixtures. They are most commonly used on softer materials, such as plywood, particle board, drywall, acrylic, and laminate. They can be used on very thin sheet metal, but metals tend to cause premature drill wear and dulling. An additional use of unibits is deburring holes left by other bits, as the sharp increase to the next step size allows the cutting edge to scrape burrs off the entry surface of the workpiece. However, the straight flute is poor at chip ejection, and can cause a burr to be formed on the exit side of the hole, more so than a spiral twist drill turning at high speed.

The unibit was invented by Harry C. Oakes in 1971 and patented in 1973.[8] It was sold by the Unibit Corporation in the 1980s, but since the patent expired it is sold by other companies.

[edit] Hole saw

Main article: Hole saw Hole saws take the form of a small open cylinder with saw-teeth on the open edge parallel to the axis of the drill. They can be used to make large holes in wood, sheet metal and other materials.

[edit] Metal drills

[edit] Center and spotting drill bits

Center drills, numbers 1 to 6 Center drill bits are used in metalworking to provide a starting hole for a larger-sized drill bit or to make a conical indentation in the end of a workpiece in which to mount a lathe center. In either use, the name seems appropriate, as the drill is either establishing the center of a hole or making a conical hole for a lathe center. However, the true purpose of a center drill is the latter task, while the former task is best done with a spotting drill (as explained in detail below). Nevertheless, because of the frequent lumping together of both the terminology and the tool use, suppliers may call center drills combined-drill-and-countersinks in order to make it unambiguously clear what product is being ordered. They are numbered from 00 to 10 (smallest to largest).[9] [edit] Use in making holes for lathe centers Center drills are meant to create a conical hole for "between centers" manufacturing processes (typically lathe or cylindrical-grinder work). That is, they provide a location for a (live, dead, or driven) center to locate the part about an axis. A workpiece machined between centers can be safely removed from one process (perhaps turning in a lathe) and

set up in a later process (perhaps a grinding operation) with what is often a negligible loss in the co-axiality of features. [edit] Use in spotting hole centers Traditional twist drill bits may tend to wander when started on an unprepared surface. Once a bit wanders off-course it is difficult to bring it back on center. A center drill bit frequently provides a reasonable starting point as it is short and therefore has a reduced tendency to wander when drilling is started. While the above is a common use of center drills, it is a technically incorrect practice and should not be considered for production use. The correct tool to start a traditionallydrilled hole (a hole drilled by a high-speed steel (HSS) twist drill) is a spotting drill, or a spot drill, as they are referred to in the U.S. The included angle of the spotting drill should be the same as, or greater than, the conventional drill bit so that the drill bit will then start without undue stress on the drill's corners, which would cause premature failure of the drill and a loss of hole quality. Most modern solid-carbide drills should not be used in conjunction with a spot drill or a center drill. They are specifically designed to start their own hole. Usually, spot drilling will cause premature failure of the carbide drill and a certain loss of hole quality. If it is deemed necessary to chamfer a hole with a spot or center drill when a carbide drill is used, it is best practice to do so after the hole is drilled. Center drills wander as easily as anything else in hand-held power drillsso for such operations, a center punch is often used to spot the planned hole center prior to drilling a pilot hole. However, a center drill works nearly as well as a spotting drill for most rigidly-clamped drilling operations, especially in softer metals such as aluminum and its alloys. The small starting tip has a tendency to break, so it is economical and practical to make the drill bit double-ended.

[edit] Core drill bit

Three-fluted core drill as used on castings A core drill bit can be, as pictured, a bit used to enlarge an existing hole. The existing hole may be the result of a core from a casting or a stamped (punched) hole. The name comes from its first use, for drilling out the hole left by a foundry core, a cylinder placed in a mould for a casting that leaves an irregular hole in the product. This core drill bit is solid.

These core drill bits are similar in appearance to reamers as they have no cutting point or means of starting a hole. They have 3 or 4 flutes which enhances the finish of the hole and ensures the bit cuts evenly. Core drill bits differ from reamers in the amount of material they are intended to remove. A reamer is only intended to enlarge a hole a slight amount which, depending on the reamers size, may be anything from 0.1 millimeter to perhaps a millimeter. A core drill bit may be used to double the size of a hole. Using an ordinary two-flute twist drill to enlarge the hole resulting from a casting core will not produce a clean result, the result will possibly be out of round, off center and generally of poor finish. The two fluted drill also has a tendency to grab on any protuberance (such as flash) which may occur in the product. A quite different core drill bit is a hollow cylinder which will cut an annular hole. A diamond core drill bit is intended to cut an annulus in the workpiece. Large bits of similar shape are used for geological work, where a deep hole is drilled in sediment or ice and the drill, which now contains an intact core of the material drilled, is retrieved and the strata in the core sampled are studied.

[edit] Countersink bit

Main article: Countersink

[edit] Ejector drill bit

Used almost exclusively for deep hole drilling of medium to large diameter holes (about 3/4" up to about 4" diameter). An ejector drill uses a specially designed carbide cutter at the point. The drill body is essentially a tube within a tube. Flushing water travels down between the two tubes. Chip removal is back through the center of the drill.

[edit] Gun drill bit

Main article: Gun drill A drill suitable for drilling holes much deeper than their diameter.

[edit] Indexable drill bit

Indexable drill bits are primarily used in CNC and other high precision or production equipment, and are the most expensive type of drill bit, costing the most per diameter and length. Like indexable lathe tools and milling cutters, they use replaceable carbide, HSS or ceramic inserts as a cutting face to alleviate the need for a tool grinder. One insert is responsible for the outer radius of the cut, and another insert is responsible for the inner radius. The tool itself handles the point deformity, as it is a low-wear task. The bit is hardened and coated against wear far more than the average drill bit, as the shank is nonconsumable. Almost all indexable drills have multiple coolant channels for prolonged

tool life under heavy usage. They are also readily available in odd configurations, such as straight flute, fast spiral, multiflute, and a variety of cutting face geometries. Typically indexable drills are used in holes that are no deeper than about 5 times the drill diameter. They are capable of quite high axial loads and cut very fast.

[edit] Left-hand bit

An 1/8 inch left-hand drill bit Left-hand bits are almost always twist bits and are predominantly used in the repetition engineering industry on screw machines or drilling heads. Left-handed drills allow a machining operation to continue where either the spindle cannot be reversed or the design of the machine makes it more efficient to run left-handed. With the increased use of the more versatile CNC machines their usage is less common than when specialized machines were required for machining tasks. Screw extractors are essentially left-hand bits of specialized shape, used to remove common right-hand screws whose heads are damaged, making use of a screwdriver impossible. The drill bit is rotated counter-clockwise and will tend to jam in the damaged head and then turn the screw counter-clockwise, unscrewing it.

[edit] Metal spade bit

A spade drill bit for metal is a two part drill with a tool holder and an insertable tip, called a insert. The inserts come in various sizes that range from 716 to 2.5 inches (11 to 63 mm). The tool holder usually has a coolant passage running through it.[10] They are capable of cutting to a depth of about 10 times the drill diameter. This type of drill bit can also be use to make stepped holes.

[edit] Straight fluted bit

Straight fluted drill bits do not have a helical twist like twist drills do. They are used when drilling copper or brass because they have less of a tendency to "dig in" or grab the material.

[edit] Trepan
A trepan, sometimes called a BTA Drill (after the Boring and Trepanning Association), is a drill that cuts an annulus and leaves a center core. Trepans usually have multiple carbide inserts and rely on water to cool the cutting tips and to flush chips out of the hole.

Trepans are often used to cut large diameters and deep holes. Typical drill diameters are 6" to 14" and hole depth from 12" up to 71 feet.

[edit] Wood drill bits

[edit] Lip and spur drill bits

10.5 mm lip and spur bit The lip and spur drill bit is a variation of the twist drill which is optimized for drilling in wood. It is also called the brad point bit or dowelling bit. Conventional twist drill bits tend to wander when presented to a flat workpiece. For metalwork, this is countered by drilling a pilot hole with a spotting drill. In wood, there is another possible solution, that used in the lip and spur drill. The centre of the drill bit is given not the straight chisel of the twist drill, but a spur with a sharp point and four sharp corners to cut the wood. The sharp point of the spur simply pushes into the soft wood to keep the drill bit in line. Metals are typically isotropic, and an ordinary twist drill shears the edges of the hole cleanly. Wood drilled across the grain has long strands of wood fiber. These long strands tend to pull out of the wood hole, rather than being cleanly cut at the hole edge. The lip and spur drill bit has the outside corner of the cutting edges leading, so that it cuts the periphery of the hole before the inner parts of the cutting edges plane off the base of the hole. By cutting the periphery first, the lip maximizes the chance that the fibers can be cut cleanly, rather than having them pull messily out of the timber. Lip and spur drill bits are also effective in soft plastic. Conventional twist drills in a hand drill, where the hole axis is not maintained throughout the operation, have a tendency to smear the edges of the hole through side friction as the drill vibrates. In metal, the lip and spur drill is confined to drilling only the thinnest and softest sheet metals in a drill press. The drills have an extremely fast cutting tool geometry: no point angle and a large (considering the flat cutting edge) lip angle causes the edges to take a very aggressive cut with relatively little point pressure. This means these drills tend to bind in metal; given a workpiece of sufficient thinness, they have a tendency to punch through and leave the drill's cross-sectional geometry behind.

Lip and spur drill bits are ordinarily available in diameters from 3 mm (1/8") to 16 mm (5/8").

[edit] Wood spade bits

Spade bits are used for rough boring in wood. They tend to cause splintering when they emerge from the workpiece. They are flat, with a centering point and two cutters. The cutters often are equipped with spurs in an attempt to ensure a cleaner hole. With their small shank diameters relative to their boring diameters, spade bit shanks often have flats forged or ground into them to prevent slipping in drill chucks. Some bits are equipped with long shanks and have a small hole drilled through the flat part, allowing them to be used much like a bell-hanger bit. Intended for high speed use, they are used with electric hand drills. Spade bits are also sometimes referred to as "paddle bits."

Spade bits

Tiny spade bit

[edit] Spoon bits

Spoon bits consist of a grooved shank with a point shaped somewhat like the bowl of a spoon, with the cutting edge on the end. The more common type is like a gouge bit that ends in a slight point. This is helpful for starting the hole, as it has a center that will not wander or walk. These bits are used by chair-makers for boring or reaming holes in the seats and arms of chairs. Their design is ancient, going back to Roman times. Spoon bits have even been found in Viking excavations. Modern spoon bits are made of hand-forged carbon steel, carefully heat-treated and then hand ground to a fine edge. Spoon bits are the traditional boring tools used with a brace. They should never be used with a power drill of any kind. Their key advantage over regular brace bits and power drill bits is that the angle of the hole can be adjusted. This is very important in chairmaking, because all the angles are usually eyeballed. Another advantage is that they do not have a lead screw, so they can be drilled successfully in a chair leg pretty much without having the lead screw peek out the other side. When reaming a pre-bored straight-sided hole, the spoon bit is inserted into the hole and rotated in a clockwise direction with a carpenters' brace until the desired taper is

achieved. When boring into solid wood, the bit should be started in the vertical position; after a "dish" has been created and the bit has begun to "bite" into the wood, the angle of boring can be changed by tilting the brace a bit out of the vertical. Holes can be drilled precisely, cleanly and quickly in any wood, at any angle of incidence, with total control of direction and the ability to change that direction at will. Parallel spoon bits are used primarily for boring holes in the seat of a Windsor chair to take the back spindles, or similar round-tenon work when assembling furniture frames in green woodworking work. The spoon bit may be honed by using a slipstone on the inside of the cutting edge; the outside edge should never be touched.

[edit] Forstner bits

25 mm (1") Forstner bit

Another Forstner bit Forstner bits, also known as Forstner flange bits or webfoot augers, named after their inventor, Benjamin Forstner, bore precise, flat-bottomed holes in wood, in any orientation with respect to the wood grain. They can cut on the edge of a block of wood, and can cut overlapping holes. Because of the flat bottom to the hole, they are useful for

drilling through veneer already glued to add an inlay. They require great force to push them into the material, so are normally used in drill presses or lathes rather than in portable drills. Unlike most other types of drills, they are not practical to use as hand tools. The bit includes a center point which guides it throughout the cut (and incidentally spoils the otherwise flat bottom of the hole). The cylindrical cutter around the perimeter shears the wood fibers at the edge of the bore, and also helps guide the bit into the material more precisely. The tool in the image has a total of two cutting edges in this cylinder. Sawtooth Forstner bits are available, which include many more cutting edges in the cylinder. These cut faster, but produce a more ragged hole. Forstner bits have radial cutting edges to plane off the material at the bottom of the hole. The bit in the image has two radial edges. Other designs may have more. Forstner bits have no mechanism to clear chips from the hole, and therefore must be pulled out periodically. Bits are commonly available in sizes from 8 mm (5/16") to 50 mm (2") diameter. Sawtooth bits are available up to 100 mm (4") diameter. Originally the Forstner bit was very successful with gunsmiths because of its ability to drill an exceedingly smooth-sided hole.

[edit] Center bits

The center bit is optimized for drilling in wood with a hand brace. Many different designs have been produced. The center of the bit is a tapered screw thread. This screws into the wood as the drill is turned, and pulls the bit into the wood. There is no need for any force to push the bit into the workpiece, only the torque to turn the bit. This is ideal for a bit for a hand tool. The radial cutting edges remove a slice of wood of thickness equal to the pitch of the central screw for each rotation of the bit. To pull the bit from the hole, either the female thread in the wood workpiece must be stripped, or the rotation of the bit must be reversed. The edge of the bit has a sharpened spur to cut the fibers of the wood, as in the lip and spur drill. A radial cutting edge planes the wood from the base of the hole. In this version, there is minimal or no spiral to remove chips from the hole. The drill must be periodically withdrawn to clear the chips. Some versions have two spurs. Some have two radial cutting edges. Center bits do not cut well in the end grain of wood. The central screw tends to pull out, or to split the wood along the grain, and the radial edges have trouble cutting through the long wood fibers.

Center bits are made of relatively soft steel, and can be sharpened with a file.

A 19 mm (3/4 inch) center bit, made sometime before 1950 Center bit tip detail

[edit] Auger bits

The cutting principles of the auger bit are the same as those of the center bit above. The auger adds a long deep spiral flute for effective chip removal. Two styles of auger bit are commonly used in hand braces: the Jennings or Jenningspattern bit has a self-feeding screw tip, two spurs and two radial cutting edges. This bit has a double flute starting from the cutting edges, and extending several inches up the shank of the bit, for waste removal. This pattern of bit was developed by Russell Jennings in the mid-19th century. The Irwin or solid-center auger bit is similar, the only difference being that one of the cutting edges has only a "vestigal flute" supporting it, which extends only about 1/2" (12 mm) up the shank before ending. The other flute continues full-length up the shank for waste removal. The Irwin bit may afford greater space for waste removal, greater strength (because the design allows for a center shank of increased size within the flutes, as compared to the Jenning bits), or smaller manufacturing costs. This style of bit was invented in 1884, and the rights sold to Charles Irwin who patented and marketed this pattern the following year. Both styles of auger bits were manufactured by several companies throughout the earlyand mid-20th century, and are still available new from select sources today. The diameter of auger bits for hand braces is commonly expressed by a single number, indicating the size in 16ths of an inch. For example, #4 is 4/16 or 1/4" (6 mm), #6 is 6/16 or 3/8" (9 mm), #9 is 9/16" (14 mm), and #16 is 16/16 or 1" (25 mm). Sets commonly consist of #4-16 or #4-10 bits.

The bit shown in the picture is a modern design for use in portable power tools, made in the UK in about 1995. It has a single spur, a single radial cutting edge and a single flute. Similar auger bits are made with diameters from 6 mm (3/16") to 30 mm (1-3/16"). Augers up to 600 mm (2 feet) long are available, where the chip-clearing capability is especially valuable for drilling deep holes.

20 mm (3/4") auger bit for wood

Auger bit tip detail

[edit] Gimlet bits

The gimlet bit is a very old design. The bit is the same style as that used in the gimlet, a self-contained tool for boring small holes in wood by hand. Since about 1850, gimlets have had a variety of cutter designs, but some are still produced with the original version. The gimlet bit is intended to be used in a hand brace for drilling into wood. It is the usual style of bit for use in a brace for holes below about 7 mm (1/4") diameter. The tip of the gimlet bit acts as a tapered screw, to draw the bit into the wood and to begin forcing aside the wood fibers, without necessarily cutting them. The cutting action occurs at the side of the broadest part of the cutter. Most drills cut the base of the hole. The gimlet bit cuts the side of the hole.

Gimlet bit for wood, made sometime before 1950.

Gimlet bit tip detail

[edit] Hinge sinker bits

30 mm hinge sinker bit The hinge sinker bit is an example of a custom drill design for a specific application. Many European kitchen cabinets are made from particle board or medium-density fiberboard (MDF) with a laminated plastic veneer. Those types of pressed wood boards are not very strong, and the screws of butt hinges tend to pull out. A specialist hinge has been developed which uses the walls of a 30 mm (1-3/16") diameter hole, bored in the particle board, for support. This is a very common and relatively successful construction method. A Forstner bit could bore the mounting hole for the hinge, but particle board and MDF are very abrasive materials, and steel cutting edges soon wear. A tungsten carbide cutter is needed, but making a tungsten carbide Forstner bit is impractical, so this special drill is commonly used. It has cutting edges of tungsten carbide brazed to a steel body; a center spur keeps the bit from wandering.

[edit] Adjustable wood bits

An adjustable wood bit meant for use in a brace An adjustable wood bit has a small center pilot bit with an adjustable, sliding cutting edge mounted above it, usually containing a single sharp point at the outside, with a set screw to lock the cutter in position. When the cutting edge is centered on the bit, the hole drilled will be small, and when the cutting edge is slid outwards, a larger hole is drilled. This allows a single drill bit to drill a wide variety of holes, and can take the place of a large, heavy set of different size bits, as well as providing uncommon bit sizes. A ruler or vernier scale is usually provided to allow precise adjustment of the bit size.

These bits are available both in a version similar to an auger bit or brace bit, designed for low speed, high torque use with a brace or other hand drill (pictured to the right), or as a high speed, low torque bit meant for a power drill. While the shape of the cutting edges is different, and one uses screw threads and the other a twist bit for the pilot, the method of adjusting them remains the same.

[edit] Other materials

[edit] Diamond core bits
Main article: Diamond core drill bit The diamond masonry mortar bit is a hybrid drill bit, designed to work as a combination router and drill bit. It consists of a steel shell, with the diamonds embedded in metal segments attached to the cutting edge. These drills are used at relatively low speeds.

[edit] Masonry drill bits

The masonry bit shown here is a variation of the twist drill bit. The bulk of the tool is a relatively soft steel, and is machined with a mill rather than ground. An insert of tungsten carbide is brazed into the steel to provide the cutting edges. Masonry bits typically are used with a hammer drill. The bit is both rotated and hammered into the workpiece; the hammering breaks up the masonry at the drill bit tip, and the rotating flutes of the drill bit body carry away the dust. Rotating the bit brings the cutting edges onto a fresh portion of the hole bottom with every hammer blow. Hammer drill bits often use special shank shapes such as the common SDS type. Masonry bits of the style shown are commonly available in diameters from 5 mm to 40 mm. For larger diameters, core bits are used. Masonry bits up to 1000 mm (39") long can be used with hand-portable power tools, and are very effective for installing wiring and plumbing in existing buildings. A star drill is a hand powered drill used in conjunction with a hammer to drill into stone and masonry. A star drill's cutting edge consists of several blades joined at the center to form a star pattern.

25500 mm SDS-plus masonry bit

Masonry bit tip

[edit] PCB through-hole drill bits

A great many holes of very small diameter must be drilled in printed circuit boards (PCBs) used by electronic equipment. Most PCBs are made of highly abrasive fiberglass, which quickly wears steel drills, especially given the hundreds or thousands of holes on most circuit boards. To solve this problem, solid tungsten carbide twist bits, which drill quickly through the board while providing a moderately long life, are almost always used. Carbide PCB bits are estimated to outlast high speed steel bits by a factor of ten or more. Other options that are out on the market and used in some situation are a diamond drill bit, or a diamond coated drill bit. In industry, virtually all drilling is done by automated machines, and the bits are often automatically replaced by the equipment as they wear, as even solid carbide bits do not last long. PCB bits typically mount in a collet rather than a chuck, and come with standard-size shanks, often with pre-installed stops to set them at an exact depth every time when being automatically chucked by the equipment. Due to the high rotational speedsthese bits are used at 30,000 to 100,000 RPM or even highertheir small size, and the brittleness of the material, even the slightest wobble of an operator's hand will shatter one, as will accidental contact with almost any object. Due to their brittleness these bits cannot be used in a hand drill, and even most moderately expensive drill presses will have too low a speed and too much chuck wobble to use them without breaking them. Resharpened and easily available PCB Drills have historically been used in many prototyping and home PCB labs, using a high-speed rotary tool (such as a Moto-Tool by Dremel) in a stiff drill-press jig. If used for other materials these tiny drills must be evaluated for equivalent cutting speed vs material resistance to the cut (hardness) as the drill's rake angle and expected feed per revolution are optimised for high-speed automated use on fiberglass PCB substrate.

Two PCB drill bits. A box of #76 (0.02in, 0.508mm) PCB drill bits.

[edit] Installer bits

Installer bits, also known as bell-hanger bits or fishing bits, are a type of twist drill bit for use with a hand-portable power tool. The key distinguishing feature of an installer bit is a transverse hole drilled through the web of the bit near the tip. Once the bit has penetrated a wall, a wire can be threaded through the hole and the bit pulled back out, pulling the wire with it. The wire can then be used to pull a cable or pipe back through the wall. This is especially helpful where the wall has a large cavity, where threading a fish tape could be difficult. Some installer bits have a transverse hole drilled at the shank end as well. Once a hole has been drilled, the wire can be threaded through the shank end, the bit released from the chuck, and all pulled forward through the drilled hole. Sinclair Smith of Brooklyn, New York was issued U.S. Patent 597,750 for this invention on January 25, 1898. Installer bits are available in various materials and styles for drilling wood, masonry and metal. A variant of the installer bit has a very long flexible shaft, typically up to 72 inches (1.8 m) long, with a small twist bit at the end. The shaft is made of spring steel instead of hardened steel, so it can be flexed while drilling without breaking. This allows the bit to be curved inside walls, for example to drill through studs from a light switch box without needing to remove any material from the wall. These bits usually come with a set of special tools to aim and flex the bit to reach the desired location and angle, although the problem of seeing where the operator is drilling still remains. This flexible variant of the installer bit is used in the USA, but does not appear to be routinely available in the EU.

An 3/8" (9 mm) 18" (457 mm) installer bitCloseup of installer bit

[edit] See also

Drill and tap size chart Endmill

Gallery of Post Drills

Champion No. 98 Post Drill. (Photos at
left) The Champion Blower & Forge Company Number 98 post drill is one of Champion's smaller models and was designed for farmer's home workshops. The #98 is a single speed drill, self-feed, rated for drilling holes up to 1 inch diameter, length of vertical feed travel is 3 inches. The #98 will drill to the center of a 14-inch circle, thus making it a 7-inch drill press. Crank handle length is adjustable. The #98 accepts 1/2-inch straight shank drill bits and was also available by special order for use with 41/64-inch drill bits. About this drill: This drill is owned by the author. It was purchased for $65 at an antique tractor swap meet around 1999. More photos will be added later after this drill has been set up in the author's shop. The drill was in good working condition and was complete, no missing parts except for the chuck wrench. This drill appears to be an early model that was made before the introduction of the Champion Never-Slip Chuck. The chuck that was mounted on the author's post drill is a simple screw chuck that is identical to the red drill featured at top of this page. The chuck was in poor condition - the threads of the set screw hole were stripped out and the original set screw lost. The author re-threaded the set screw hole to a larger size and installed a cap screw temporarily in place of a suitable set screw. Feed arm & drive gear. The feed arm of the #98 is held against the eccentric wheel by spring pressure. The spring is installed in the frame near the feed arm pivot bolt. Another bolt on the feed arm frame (on the front side of the feed arm opposite of the spring) provides limited adjustment of the self-feed. A wheel is riveted to the lower end of the feed arm where it rides against the eccentric wheel. The eccentric wheel is built into the hub of the drive gear on this drill.

Champion Number 200 Post Drill.

The Champion #200 is a medium size heavy duty post drill that was rated to drill a 1 1/4-inch diameter hole and could drill to the center of a 16-inch circle (8-inch drill press). The #200 was designed specifically for the small professional blacksmith shop. Vertical feed pressure is transmitted to the quill through ball bearings to reduce friction. This drill had two feed options, self-feed, and lever feed. Changing between each feed option took only a couple seconds. This fastchange dual feed option cut work time dramatically by allowing the blacksmith to raise the drill up out of the work by lever instead of unwinding the feed wheel, and the blacksmith also had the option of using the lever feed for faster drilling in light work. The Champion #200 is a two-speed drill and the crank is turned in the same direction at both speed settings. The #200 drill was bored for 1/2-inch straight shank drill bits, but could be special ordered for 5/8-inch or 41/64-inch straight shank drill bits. Drive and free pulley sets could also be special ordered to allow this drill to run on lineshaft power in the shop. Author's note - this is an excellent drill. A medium size drill with most of the options normally found on the largest drills. To see photos of the blacksmith's shop where this drill is located, visit these links: Steam Show Blacksmith and http://www.beautifuliron.com/steam.htm The Number 200 drill shown here is mounted on a wall of a blacksmith's shop. It is in beautiful condition and appears to be complete (no parts missing). The blacksmith/owner uses this drill every day. A wood block has been placed on the drill table by the smith for drilling small objects. The #200 shows up in Champion's 1909 catalog so I estimate the age of this drill is probably around 100 years old. Where to see this drill: Old Thresher's Reunion grounds, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, USA. The drill featured here, is privately owned, and can be seen at the blacksmith shop in the North Village. Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA, is a very large antique steam power and steam tractor show held once each year. Visitors to Old Threshers' will find a steam tractors, steam locomotives, agricultural equipment, and steam power industrial machinery in operation throughout the entire event. Visitors can ride on the restored steam trains and electric trolleys. Flea markets offer antique and modern tools for sale. To learn more about Old Threshers' Reunion go here: http://www.oldthreshers.org/ Champion Blower & Forge Company Catalog 1909 reprint. For anyone interested in Champion Blower & Forge Company

products, I recommend buying a reprint of The Champion Blower & Forge Company Catalog circa January 1909. Reprints of this catalog can be purchased from Centaur Forge, http://www.centaurforge.com , Burlington, Wisconsin, USA. The catalog shows all of the company's products that were made in 1909. Drills, forges, blowers, tire bending and shrinking equipment, taps and dies. This is an excellent source featuring some of the best tools of the era. The catalog includes a cutaway drawing of the internal working parts of the Champion 400 blower - the best hand cranked forge blower ever made! The Champion Blower & Forge catalog of 1909 is an excellent reference for identifying and inspecting these old tools and all of their parts. Champion made some of the very best tools and these tools are still used in many shops today.

Canedy-Otto Number 18 Post Drill. The large

drill in these photos (photos at left) is a Canedy-Otto #18. The #18 is a very large post drill that will stand over 6 feet tall when mounted to a post or wall at a comfortable working height. The #18 is similar in size and design compared with the author's New #16 shown on the restoration page at CanedyOtto New No. 16 Drill. Both drills still have their original Western Chief Safety Chucks, and the #18 has an old Jacobs chuck fastened in the Safety Chuck, thus allowing the drill to accept modern drill bits. The chuck key is tied to the Jacobs chuck arbor with wire to prevent its loss while the museum prepares to move this drill to a more permanent display. I could not positively identify the smaller drill in the photo but I did notice that the smaller drill uses the same Canedy-Otto Western Chief Safety Chuck as the #18. The Canedy-Otto Number 18 weighed approximately 400 pounds. Back gears allow quick speed changes and multiple drilling spindle speeds. Free and fixed pulleys allowed the Number 18 to be powered by line shaft in the shop, and a hand crank allowed the drill to be powered by hand when the line shaft was not running. A feed handle with three arms allowed the operator to apply feed pressure by hand while the drill was operating on line shaft power - thus allowing fast operation similar to the modern motorized drill press. Both drills described here (photos at left) are incomplete - missing parts. The larger #18 is missing the big flywheel that was originally attached to the top of the vertical shaft (at top of the drill). The small drill is missing the feed wheel

- the feed wheel would have been located on top of the drill spindle. Compare the the larger drill at left, with the Champion drills in catalog images above. The larger Champion drills have a large horizontal flywheel mounted on top of the drill - this flywheel is missing from the Canedy-Otto drill at left. Also compare the smaller drill at left, with the farmer's workshop drill at right. The horizontal spindle feed wheel and handle are clearly visible on top of the drill in the photo at right. When buying an old drill, it is important to inspect the tool to be sure all parts are present and intact. Farmer's home workshop. Another small hand cranked drill (photo at right) is found in the farmer's shop exhibit in Museum A. The thumbnail photos at left show the entire display as it might have appeared in the farmers barn or work shed. Small post drills were often purchased by mail order as part of a tool kit along with some small blacksmithing tools. These are just a small sample of some of the hand tools that would have been found in a small workshop on a farm around 1900. There are hand cranked post drills in almost every workshop at Old Threshers. Before the era of electricity, the hand cranked drill offered the simplest and easiest way to perform small drilling jobs. Visitors will see these drills in use throughout the Old Threshers museum displays and living history workshops. Where to see these drills: Old Threshers grounds, Heritage Museum A. The museums are located near center of the park. Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, USA, is a very large antique steam power and steam tractor show that is held once each year during the Labor Day holiday weekend. Visitors to Old Threshers' will find a steam tractors, steam locomotives, agricultural equipment, and steam power industrial machinery in operation throughout the entire event. Visitors can ride on the restored steam trains and electric trolleys. Flea markets offer antique and modern tools for sale. Antique steam, gasoline, and oil engines and tractors are offered for sale as restoration prospects. To learn more about Old Threshers' Reunion go here: http://www.oldthreshers.org/

Drill Press
Earlier, especially nineteenth century, the Drill Press was called "Drilling Machine"

under construction 7-8-09 A versatile power tool, the drill press is widely used in home workshops. Along with drilling and boring operations, drill presses can

be equipped with attachments for Mortising, Routing, Shaping and Sanding. Drill presses come in both floor or bench models. (Some Drill Presses -- called "radial" -- have heads that adjust in or out from the support column, and tilt at various angles, simplifying the drilling of precise angle holes. A power tool for drilling or boring, it evolved from the hand tools for drilling/ boring, such as the Brace and Bit -see image below on the left -- applied to contrivances of many kinds for boring holes in metal, stone, and other hard substances, from a pointed steel tool to an elaborate drilling machine.
Today's drill press was first known as a "drilling machine", later "floor drill", "pedestal drill", "pillar drill", or "bench drill". As the terms suggest, the names designate the physical location of the tool in a shop: also a "fixedstyle" of drill may be mounted/bolted on a wall, stand, or bolted to the floor or workbench. Structurally, a drill press consists of a base, column (or pillar), table, Spindle (or QuillChuck, and usually is driven by an Induction Motor and belt. The head has a Earlier forms of the drill press include the brace and bit. Here is an example "feed lever" radiating of a brace and bit from the 1900s, before electrification, with a good cut of from the quill's sleeve that, when rotated, the anatomy of the chuck (i.e, "grip"). moves the Spindle and Chuck up and down, Source: Ira S. Griffith, 1911, page 57. See Sources parallel to the column's axis. The drill press's "table" adjusts vertically and -- to accommodate angle work, on some models -- can be "tilted". On floor models, the table's up-and-down movement is generally a rack and pinion mechanismdefinition and images of rack and pinion). Older drill press models may rely on the drill press operator to lift and reclamp the table in position. The table may also be offset from the spindle's axis and in some cases rotated to a position perpendicular to the column. The size of a drill press is typically measured in terms of swing. Swing is defined as "twice the throat distance", the distance from the center of the spindle to the column's edge (For example, a 16-inch drill press will have an 8-inch throat distance.)

"Drills" Date Back Centuries

See pages 3 and 4 of John Jacob

Holtzapffel, 1881, Turning and Mechanical Manipulation volume 4 The bow drill was well-known among Ancient peoples. ... [P]robably the oldest of the developed machine tools,[the drill press and the bow drill are the] only complex tool[s] known to antiquity. ...[U]ntil the end of the 18th century, technically, these two tools were the most important available to the mechanic. Source: Robert S. Woodbury, History of the Lathe: A Study in the Growth of a Technical Element in an Industrial Economy. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1961, page 13;

Note below -- in quotations from the Oxford English Dictionary that, historically, "drills" date back centuries. (Later, I will -- in Appendix 23 Woodworking Industry: From Handicraft System to Factory System -- show more on the impact "electrifying" the drill.)

1683 etc [Joseph] Moxon ... ...Mechanick Exercises: or, the Doctrine of Handy- works, applied to the arts of smithing, joinery, carpentry, turning, and bricklayery ; to which is added mechanick dyalling, etc. , 3rd edition. Lond. 1703,6 Drills are used for the making such Holes as Punches will not conveniently serve for. 1688 R. HOLME Armoury III.The Drill is a shaft or long Pin of Iron with a Steel point. 1874 ; Edward Henry Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary: A Description of Tools, Instruments ... 1876, Volume 1, page 751. 1879 Cassell's Technical Education I. 185 The drill is a revolving cutter..to form circular holes in iron or other material. Source: Oxford English Dictionary

Advances in Drill Presses in 19th Century

Two authorities of the nineteenth century offer distillations, if you will, of advances in the technology of drill presses, after electrification. Keep in mind though, AC power and individual motors for each machine did not occur until early in the twentieth century. So, realistically the tools they describe -- the examples for the nineteenth century below -- are driven with Line-Shafts and Pulleys,, LineShaft being a term defined here. In the meantime, for a resounding conviction about the centrality of the drill press in today's woodshop, check out Collins and others, below. The chief qualifications essential to a drilling machine which is to be used for miscellaneous work are as follows : First, it must be capable of being readily connected with the shafting by which the driving power is transmitted to the various parts of a workshop, and in

such a manner that the speed of the drill can be varied; secondly, it must be provided with an efficient and variable 'feed motion ;' and, thirdly, it must have a perfectly firm `table' for the reception of small articles, which must offer as little obstruction as possible to large ones. Stability and strength of framing are of course most important qualities for all machine tools, though they are not invariably to be found in the frames of drilling machines. Source: C P B Shelley Workshop Appliances 1873

DRILLING-MACHINE A machine carrying a rotating tool and a means for chucking the object to be bored. These machines differ greatly in size and appearance, in the mode of presenting the tool, presenting and chucking the work. The larger machines are frequently known as boring-machines ... Drill-press. 1. A drilling-machine in which a screw is made to feed the drill to its work. In the illustation, the press is shown in elevation and vertical section. It has feet for bench work, and a sling and adjustable sockets when used for tapping papes. 2. A drilling-machine of large size. Source: Edward Henry Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary: A Description of Tools, Instruments ... 1876, Volume 1, page 751.

Historically, as noted above, drill presses date back to the mid-1800s, and at that time are called "drilling machines": -- I am using text and images adapted from C P B Shelley's Workshop Appliances 1873 -- see both Shelley and Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary: A Description of Tools, Instruments ... 1876, Volume , page 751.

Knight shows two more models, each of which -- a radial drill "machine" and a horizontal drill "machine" -- has its equivalent today.

In the 1930s, the Drill Press Flexes Its Muscles in the Home Workshop
And the Competition Was Fierce On the left is a fragment from a chapter on drill presses in the 1930s by Archie Frederick Collins. In Amateur Power Woodworking Tools Collins' reviews the "state-of-the-art" of drill presses common in the home workshop in the 1930s. decade. Read more of what Collins writes here Along with Delta, other machine tool manufacturers were targeting the growing homeworkshop market for power tools: Walker-Turner, BoiceCrane, J D Wallace, Sears, Montgomery-Ward, Champion, all hurried to market bench-top, floor and wall-mounted models.

In 1937, however, in the Delta publication, James Tate, Getting the Most Out of Your Drill Press, we view images of both floor and bench models of the well-recognized Delta line. Thus -- until I find more information -we can conclude that in the interval between 1931 and 1937, Delta made substantial changes in its drill press line. In addition, on the left, above, another 1937 publication, Archie Frederick Collins' Amateur Power Working Tools -- describes in detail most of the 1930s drill presses mentioned above, and above on the left, is an image of the first paragraphs of Collins' chapter on the drill press.

Emergence of Delta's Famous Drill Press in Early 1930s

When the Delta Drill press pictured below was introduced is not clear, although we know the following: Herbert Tautz, founder of the Delta line, authored with Clyde Fruits The three-volume set, The Modern Motor-Driven Woodworking Shop. While no drill press is shown in the pages of the set, what is shown is of equal interest. On the left is Delta's "Boring Machine and Circular Saw, Mounted on a Bench" (Several different congigurations are also shown, but there is not Drill Press shown the three-volume set. Just a year later, in 1931, page 30 of Delta's catalog includes the drill press shown below. This same drill was advertised by a hardward store in Appleton, Wisconsin. On page 32 of the same catalog, is a notice of the availability of Getting the Most Out of Your Drill Press (curiously, the newspaperarchive.com, the database where I located the Appleton, Wisconsin advertisement, does not list any other papers showing the Delta drill press.) Notice, too, that the drill press comes WITHOUT the fractional horse-power motor needed to drive the unit.)

Below, Are Delta Drill Presses, On the Left, the 14-in 1931 BenchTop Model, on the Right, the 17-in 1937 Floor Model

And Tools to Work Withal... "the best there is"...

Shop of Frank C. Green, Marshall, Missouri, fitted out with several power tools. Popular Homecraft touts this shop as "state-ofthe-Art" for 1932, including a shadowy image -- on the right, towards the rear of the image -- of a Champion bench drill press. These images of the shop and the Champion drill press come from Popular Homecraft 3, no 3 September-October 1932, pages 210 & 265.) REMEMBER the "newspaper" stories you've read and the movies you've seen where the demon reporter, editor, or whoever the hero might be, sighs happily as he hears the throbbing roar of the mighty presses? Well, Frank C. Green, who lives in Marshall, Mo., is one of the men who make the presses roar, being by trade a newspaper pressman but, after the day's run is over and the press is washed up "You can find from two to a half-dozen young men in my home shop enjoying seeing different articles in the course of construction." I have not spared time or expense in equipping my shop with the best there is. As fast as new machinery or tools worthy of consideration are put on the market, I add them to my now very complete outfit. My shop equipment now consists of the following, in addition to about a thousand hand tools: Champion Bench Drill

Plus the following Power and Hand Tools:

New South Bend 9-in. lathe with about $100 worth of extra equipment; Oxyacetylene welding outfit; Wallace 14-in, handsaw, with unit motor; Bonnett-Brown circular saw and extra attachments with unit motor; Black & Decker electric hand drill; Stanley miter box with 6 by 30 in. saw; Foley saw filer, Model F5; Lacquer spray painting gun with compressor and tank; Driver flexible shaft outfit, with all present available accessories; Atkins Silver Steel handsaws; 16-in, drum sander with disk sander attachment.

My list of small tools is by far too large to enumerate, but all the tools I have are of standard brands and not the cheap kinds that so many beginners make the mistake of wasting their money on.

Three Authorities Capture the Impact of Drill Press

Archie Collins in 1937 In 1937, in a well-received book, Amateur Power Working Tools, Archie Frederick Collins argued the drill press -- beyond just drill holes in wood -- has a much larger array of functions beyond just drill holes in wood (see image on left above from Collins' chapter on the drill press). Read more of what Collins writes here In 1950, Milton Gunerman Asserts the Importance of the Drill Press for the Woodworking Community

Anatomy of Drill Press Headstock, 1940s Vintage Originally a metalworking machine, the drill press underwent an amazing transformation when it moved into the home workshop. Now, among other operations, it does Mortising, Routing, Planing, Sanding, Shaping, and Dovetailing. (After reading Gunerman's words on the Drill Press-- written in 1950, at the peak of

the Post-WWII boom -- and 25 years before DeCristoforo, I decided to adapt these words for this entry.) 1. Not only does it drill in metal, as before, but it also bores in wood and to demonstrate its versatility in home workshops -performs such other woodworking operations as mortising, routing, grinding, sanding and shaping. 2. To make all this possible the drill press's speed range was increased, to between 600 and 5200 R.P.M. Where as drill presses made exclusively for the machine shop have a speed range from 400 to 2000 R.P.M. 3. The drill press consists of the following main parts: (1) a hollow steel column fastened to a cast-iron base, (2) an adjustable table and (3) a head, which contains all the drill press's operating mechanism. 4. The column -- machined to a smooth polished finish on floor machines range in height from 66" to 72", on bench machines from 36" to 44./li> 5. The cast-iron table, clamped to the column, is adjustable up and down, and can be set at any angle. 6. To aid in clamping workpieces, the drill press table has several slots and (usually) a central hole. 7. Auxiliary tables, made of plywood or another material, such as particle board, make working with larger workpieces convenient. Similar to the table, the cast-iron base has slots and holes for clamping work to it, and/or anchoring the machine to floor or stand. 8. The head is fastened to the upper end of the column. It has a central shaft or spindle, which rotates in a sleeve called the quill. The quill, together with the spindle, is moved up or down either by a single bar or by a wheel having three or four spokes or bars with a ball on the end of each. 9. To increase the versatility of the drill press, different manufacturers have provided various means: One type of drill press, for example, optional spindles, each spindle with a different purpose -- One takes a Jacobs chuck, another, a drill with a No. I Morse taper, a third, router and mortising bits, a fourth, shaper cutters having a 1/2 bore, and a fifth, for grinding wheels. Of all special operations, Mortising is perhaps the most unusal .

1. Mortising differs from boring in that square or rectangular holes are made instead of round ones. 2. When mortising with the hollow mortise chisel, both the chisel and the bit need to be sharp. Source: Milton Guneraman, ed., "The Drill Press", How To Operate Your Power Tools 52 1930, pages 5-9 ( Milton Gunerman was a editor/contributor to Home Craftsman magazine in the 1940s and 1950s. For more, click here) In 1972 -- later in 1991 -- R J DeCristoforo Observes Why, Even for the Sparsely Equipped Homeworkshop, the Benchtop Drill Press Became a Much-Desired Machine

To buy a drill press based only on the need to drill holes is no longer realistic. If you use good techniques and choose wise accessories and jigs, the drill press can become one of the most versatile tools in your woodworking shop. Furthermore, it can easily become the second most important piece of equipment in your home workshop. Its essential mechanism is a spindle that has a gripping device at the free end. In most cases, a key-operated, three-jaw chuck is used; but there are times when a substitution is necessary or wise. Such a substitution can be needed when you are using mortising bits and chisels, which require special holding items, or when you are using router bits, which develop sufficient side thrust to warrant a special kind of chuck. Two decades later, DeCristoforo reinforces this declaration: Excluding a sawing tool, the drill press, whether a bench or floor model, is the most important power tool in the woodworking shop. Source: R J DeCristoforo, DeCristoforo's Complete Book of Power Tools, Both Stationary and Portable New York: Harper, 1972, page 178; R J DeCristoforo, The Drill Press Book, Including 80 Jigs and Accessories to Make Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1991.

Advantages a Drill Press Over a Hand-Held Portable Electric Drill:

1 Less effort is required to apply the drill to the workpiece. The movement of the chuck and spindle is by a lever working on a rack and pinion, which gives the operator considerable mechanical advantage

2 The table allows a vise or clamp to position and lock the work in place making the operation much more secure 3 The angle of the spindle is fixed in relation to the table, allowing holes to be drilled accurately and repetitively

Pulleys Make Speed Changes Easy

Speed change is achieved by manually configuring the belt across a Stepped Pulley arrangement. (Some drill presses add a third stepped pulley -- a speed changer -- to increase the speed range.) Other model of drill presses use a variable-speed motor in conjunction with the stepped-pulley system, while still other, older, drill presses use a "traction-based continuously variable transmission for wide ranges of chuck speeds", which can be changed while the machine is running. On the left, anatomy of vintage bench-top drill press from Willis H. Wagner. Modern Woodworking, pages 13-16. Note that the main parts consist of a base, column, table and head (i.e., the top part containing the Chuck, the Quill and the Motor). The chuck attaches a spindle that in turn rotates inside a sleeve called a quill. The quill assembly -- which moves up and down by a feed lever, with the length called a "stroke" -- is spring loaded so that, when the lever is released -- the chuck returns to its uppermost position. The length of the stroke is adjustable. The drill press's "table" is adjustable up and down on the column and can be rotated and/or tilted. Drill press sizes -- which range from 14" to 2O" -- as noted above, are given as twice the distance from the column to the center of the spindle. Spindle speeds are set by shifting a belt on step Pulleys. Variable speed drives are also available. For wood drilling and boring operations, speeds should range from 400 to about 1800 rpm.

Leaflet for Mortising Attachment for Delta's Bench Top 14" Drill Press
pdf for Mortising Attachment leaflet, "Delta PM-1704 1949 "14-B 14" Drill Press Instruction Manual"

Sources: Sources: 1677 etc : Joseph Moxon ...Mechanick Exercises: or, the Doctrine of Handy-works, applied to the arts of smithing, joinery, carpentry, turning, and bricklayery; to which is added mechanick dyalling, etc. , 3rd edition. London, 1703; C P B Shelley Workshop Appliances 1873; Edward Henry Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary: A Description of Tools, Instruments ... 1 1876; Wood-working for Amateur Craftsmen. by Ira Samuel Griffith (Popular mechanics press, 1911); James Tate, Getting the Most Out of Your Drill Press Milwaukee: Delta Specialty Company (Divison of Delta Mfg. Co), 1931; James Tate, Getting the Most Out of Your Drill Press Milwaukee: Delta Power Tool Division, Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 1937 (22nd ed.); W. Clyde Lammey, Power Tools and How to Use Them Chicago: Popular Mechanics Press, 1950, pages 48-49; Popular Mechanics Do-It-Yourself Encyclopedia Chicago: Popular Mechanics Press, 1955, volume 3, pages -- with no pagination, readers need to find the entries alphabetically, but the trip is worth it: (1) drill chuck servicing; (2) homemade ball-bearing drill press; (3) drill press from auto parts; (4) drill press speed attachment; and (5) drill press technique; R J DeCristoforo, Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone Cincinnati, OH: Magna Publications, 1955; Jeannette T Adams, Arco's New Complete Woodworking Handbook, New York: Arco, New edition, 1972; Willis H. Wagner Modern Woodworking: Tools, Materials and Procedures South Holand, IL: Goodheart-Willcox, 1976; Consumer Guide. The Tool Catalog New York: Harper & Row, 1978; R J DeCristoforo, The Drill Press Book, Including 80 Jigs and Accessories to Make Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1991; Sandor Nagyszalanczy Power Tools: An Electrifying Celebration and Grounded Guide Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, 2001; Garrett Wade Company, Tools: A Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia Simon and Schuster, 2001. (Note on Sources: While designed specifically for the 1950s Shopsmsith, DeCristoforo's manual has a universality, making it appropriate as simply a "how-to guide" to most power woodworking tools used in the home workshop. If you have an opportunity to buy either and/or both DeCristoforo's 1972 and 1991 manuals -- listed above -- you definitely will not regret the cost, because the information is truly solid and worthwhile; as the title for DeCristoforo's 1991 manual says, the book includes "80 jigs and fixtures" that you can build to make your drill press an outstanding tool in the shop. Willis' Chapter 14 dedicates fourteen pages of text, photos and

diagrams, and is largely still relevant, even though his textbook is three decades old. Drill presses are often used for miscellaneous workshop tasks such as sanding, honing or polishing, by mounting sanding drums, honing wheels and various other rotating accessories in the chuck. This can be unsafe in some cases, as the chuck arbor, which may be retained in the spindle solely by the friction of a taper fit, may dislodge during operation.

[edit] Geared head drill press

Geared head drill press. Shift levers on the head and a two speed motor control immediately in front of the quill handle select one of eight possible speeds A geared head drill press is a drill press in which power transmission from the motor to the spindle is achieved solely through spur gearing inside the machine's head. No friction elements (e.g., belts) of any kind are used, which assures a positive drive at all times and minimizes maintenance requirements. Levers attached to one side of the head are used to select different gear ratios to change the spindle speed, usually in conjunction with a two- or three-speed motor. Most machines of this type are designed to be operated on three phase power and are generally of more rugged construction than equivalent sized belt-driven units. Virtually all examples have geared racks for adjusting the table and head position on the column. Geared head drill presses are commonly found in tool rooms and other commercial environments where a heavy duty machine capable of production drilling and quick setup changes is required. In most cases, the spindle is machined to accept Morse taper tooling for greater flexibility. Larger geared head drill presses are frequently fitted with power feed on the quill mechanism, with an arrangement to disengage the feed when a certain drill depth has been achieved or in the event of excessive travel. Some gear-head drill presses have the ability to perform tapping operations--a reversing mechanism drives the tap into the part under power and then backs it out of the threaded hole once the proper

depth is reached. Coolant systems are also common on these machines to prolong tool life under production conditions.

Radial arm drill press.

[edit] Radial arm drill press

Radial arm drill press controls A radial arm drill press is a large geared head drill press in which the head can be moved along an arm that radiates from the machine's column. As it is possible to swing the arm relative to the machine's base, a radial arm drill press is able to operate over a large area without having to reposition the workpiece. The size of work that can be handled may be considerable, as the arm can swing out of the way of the table, allowing an overhead crane or derrick to place a bulky piece on the table or base. A vise may be used with a radial arm drill press, but more often the workpiece is secured directly to the table or base, or is held in a fixture. Power spindle feed is nearly universal with these machines and coolant systems are common. The biggest radial arm drill presses are able to drill holes as large as four inches (101.6 millimeters) diameter in solid steel or cast iron.

[edit] Mill drill

Mill drills are a lighter alternative to a milling machine. They combine a drill press (belt driven) with the X/Y coordinate abilities of the milling machine's table and a locking

collet that ensures that the cutting tool will not fall from the spindle when lateral forces are experienced against the bit. Although they are light in construction, they have the advantages of being space-saving and versatile as well as inexpensive, being suitable for light machining that may otherwise not be affordable.