I'm looking for a drill

[milesvdustin]

I have a 1/2" corded drill from Harbor Freight. It is a beast of a drill, I used it for drilling out wheel studs on my volkswagen. I bought it for 20 bucks as a one time use tool. It has now drilled tons of holes in thousands of things, and I beat on it real hard. Ran my buddy's grain mill without a sweat.

 

[huntingohio]

I second all the harbor feight suggestions, I havent seen one of there electric tools break, and the chicago line is an unconditional replacement warranty. I wouldnt use them on a jobsite but crush grain yeah I sure would

 

[fosgate]

I have a couple new Rockwells for my cordless drills but I wanted a good corded drill and was disappointed in the store. I wound up buying a couple of rebuilt vintage corded drills for way cheap off of ebay. One I have is WWII era and is way overbuilt for what I'll ever use it for and expect it will outlast me easily. The other not as old and just bought it because my father had one. I think I paid maybe $30 for the pair. Key to buying them is from people who either collect them or at least take care of them and there are parts available to rebuild them or recently rebuilt. Too often you get those guys who found one in their deceased grandparents shed and throw them up for sale because they are worn out or have not been used in twenty years and they are bound up inside, needing to be rebuilt. Ebay is a good source to find some decent ones.

 

[huntingohio]

HOLY COW! that bottom one is one massive drill... can I barrow it to go do some natural gas prospecting?

But on a serious not those drills look great!

 

[mmseng]

I do NOT want a variable speed, and want to use it for mainly my barley crusher. I want one with a speed that I can lock into place.

My issue is that my drill is too fast, even with trying to hold it at a "not fast" speed- it's hard to do and my trigger finger hurts trying to do it. I want to be able to set the speed, and just drill.

Yeah, this is exactly what I'm looking for. Hell, I'd even go for a table-mounted drill or something as long as it's powerful with plenty of torque at low speeds.

 

[Bobby_M]

I've never seen a corded drill that achieved "multi-speed" with selectable gear ratios like the higher end cordless ones. Having a 300 RPM, high torque setting is awesome for milling and drilling stainless. Corded drills don't compete in these two situations.

 

[rawkstar320]

This is a variable corded drill, might be interesting....
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-3-8-in-Variable-Speed-Clutch-Driver-D47CK/100485417/

 

[Bobby_M]

That's what I meant though, all the corded drills achieve their variable speed via how hard you press the trigger. The torque is horrible at the lower speeds.

 

[ButcherBoy]

Get yourself a used Shopsmith, add a custom mill base and a couple of pulleys to drop the speed down and you have yourself a high torque variable speed power source. As a bonus you can use it to build that custom walnut bar you've always wanted when you aren't milling grain. I suspect the mill would wear out before the Shopsmith.

 

[huntingohio]

Get yourself a used Shopsmith, add a custom mill base and a couple of pulleys to drop the speed down and you have yourself a high torque variable speed power source. As a bonus you can use it to build that custom walnut bar you've always wanted when you aren't milling grain. I suspect the mill would wear out before the Shopsmith.

I have always wanted one of those, they are getting to be a bear to find

 

[cincydave]

Tried some 3/8 inch corded drills but after a few minutes they got hot and started smelling funny. Now I use an old Milwaukee Hole Hawg that I borrowed from my neighbor. It can be set to 300 rpm, and is a beast. Doesn't break a sweat, tons of torque (nicknamed the wrist breaker). Downside is they are about $300 unless you pick up a used one on auction site or CL.

If I was actually buying one, I'd probably try one of the 1/2 inch Harbor Freight ones, as there is a lot of good feedback on here about them. Here is a link to one of several threads on them.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/harborfreight-drill-grain-mill-337006/

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Hopefully this video will work. Its a little demo of my mill setup. Sorry about the out of focus bits. It's kinda tough to video without seeing the screen on your phone.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...ch?v=SpegD711Y3A&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[mmseng]

Hopefully this video will work. Its a little demo of my mill setup. Sorry about the out of focus bits. It's kinda tough to video without seeing the screen on your phone.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...ch?v=SpegD711Y3A&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Oh that is perfect. Adjustable, but not based on trigger pressure. Not sure why they thought it was a good idea to put the dial directly in the middle of the trigger... but I'm not complaining because it's the only one I've seen so far with the non-pressure-based adjustment. Definitely gonna try to find one of those. Thanks for the vid.

P.S. If anyone else has problems viewing youtube's mobile site from a desktop browser, like I do, try this link instead:

 

[Golddiggie]

Been using my 18v DeWalt corldess hammer drill to power my mills. First a BC then my MM2-2.0. With the 1/2" chuck, I didn't have issue going from the smaller (3/8") shaft on the BC to the bigger (1/2") shaft on the Monster...

I might see about going to the ancient 1/2" drill that's in the rolling section of the tool box that was my father's. I remember using it to drill into concrete growing up. It's a monster/beast of a drill. All metal housing and such. Might use that to power my mill on the table.

 

[fosgate]

With all the self improvements I'm surprised some northerner has not adapted an old snowmobile motor and clutch and dubbed it "Man Mill". Could you imagine an 800cc 200hp Mod motor with pipes and throttle control cranking grain at 6500 rpm at only half throttle? Wonder how long it would take the rollers to get red hot and burn up the grain?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zHhD-45Id0&feature=related

 

[jsguitar]

Hopefully this video will work. Its a little demo of my mill setup. Sorry about the out of focus bits. It's kinda tough to video without seeing the screen on your phone.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...ch?v=SpegD711Y3A&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks for posting this. I have the same drill and am going to mount it similar to what you did here.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Thanks for posting this. I have the same drill and am going to mount it similar to what you did here.

The stack of washers with the bolt through to the top is probably overkill but it made it easy to mark the holes on the angle brackets. That and I like overkill.

 

[mmseng]

I just bought that drill today. Thing practically turned itself right out of my hand when I just plugged it in and pulled the trigger without anything in/on the bit lol.

I'm looking forward to using it this week. I've got the warm power-tool fuzzies.

 

[jsguitar]

Off hand, do you know the size of the bolts you used to mount the HF drill?

 

[jsguitar]

Nevermind, it looks like it's a m10.

EDIT: See several posts ahead. I picked up M10-1.25 which is the wrong pitch. It should be M10-1.5.

http://manuals.harborfreight.com/manuals/93000-93999/93632.pdf

ETA: I'm not sure what the one on the very back is other than it's a little smaller. I'll probably just use the knob that comes with.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

I think they are M10. I didn't use the rear, just the top and both sides.

 

[jsguitar]

I think they are M10. I didn't use the rear, just the top and both sides.

Ok, thanks.

 

[jsguitar]

Well the M10 screws I picked up are just a smidge too big for the HF drill. They only go in about a 1/4". I should've brought the drill with me.

EDIT: See below, I picked up the wrong pitch number.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

What thread pitch did you get? Mine is 100% most definitely M10x1.5

 

[jsguitar]

They say M10-1.25. I didn't even know that was something I had look at.

So, if I understand you, they need to be M10-1.5?

 

[jeepinjeepin]

They say M10-1.25. I didn't even know that was something I had look at.

So, if I understand you, they need to be M10-1.5?

Mine are. I would assume all are the same. Also, mind the length you get or use a nut to lock them from going too far in. It may be possible for them to contact the motor fan if they are threaded too far in. Use the handle as a guide for how much you know is ok.

 

[jsguitar]

Ok thanks. Hopefully this will help someone else who wants to do this too. I was ignorant of the taper number so I learned something new which is good, and good to know about being careful with the length.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Ok thanks. Hopefully this will help someone else who wants to do this too. I was ignorant of the taper number so I learned something new which is good, and good to know about being careful with the length.

There are usually 2 common thread pitches for each bolt size. Standard are generically called coarse and fine, but specify a thread per inch for each different size. Metric I'm not so sure about. There is still "coarse and fine" but they are never called that.