Flexible Drill Shaft...

[Batpig]

Fellow Sapiens,

I know this one's a little mundane, but I'm nonetheless wondering whether any of you can recommend any particular Flexible Drill Shaft that might be worth buying (or particularly worth avoiding...) Are the Sontax/Medallist/Trojan's all the same unit in this case, or is one of them good, and the others are duds?

Best Wishes,
Batpig

[rhancock]

I've been thinking about buying one of these too, but I held back as all the ones I've looked at at Bunnies et al have been on the cheap side and I figure they're likely to fall apart. Hopefully someone can recommend a decent brand.

[Batpig]

Dear Richard,

I had a bit of a ring around to just about everyone on the Northside, and the best (sounding) unit that I could track down was an "ETC" branded unit over at United Tools, Hendra, for $69. Problem is, it's chuck size is no better than the Sontax/Medalist/Trojan/Prager brigade: just 6mm (so it could just as well be coming off the same production line, couldn't it...)

For obvious reasons, I can well understand why they only want you to put drill bits into the things up to just 6mm. The problem is, however, while that's big enough if you just want to drill 1/8" rivet holes into the side of existing guttering insitu on a second storey roof (without having to dangle the whole heavy drill out there above a very hard concrete driveway below), it's definitely not big enough to accommodate the 8mm or so spindle of the drill-driven Hydroseal Tap Re-seating Tool (which doesn't need much power behind it. It's spindle is only that big in order to limit "play" and wear within it's housing).

If you're cruising by United, you could drop in and have a look at the ETC. Apparently Shinano are doing one or two of them as well, but I don't know who's carrying them. The cheaper one would apparently retail for about $50 if you could find it.

If you happen across one with a 10mm chuck, please drop me a line...:-

Best Wishes,
Batpig.

[NeilS]

http://www.woodworkforums.com/showpost.php?p=590007&postcount=31

Rang Gasweld here in Adelaide and they have a 10mm keyless chuck one for $$46.

Only place I could find one with more than 6mm capacity.

[Batpig]

Dear Neil,

Thank-you for the Head's-Up. I'll keep an eye out for it to turn up locally. There's a couple of them doing the rounds at the moment (including one from Ozito) but they're both still 6mm "jobbies".

As things have turned out, I probably don't need a 10mm unit for the original reason that I wanted it for - namely to be able to drive a "Hydroseal" Tap-Reseater with a Drill, without the weight and general bulk of the Drill affecting the "trueness" of the Reseater in the Tap-socket. This is because there turned out to be not much "play" in the Hydroseal's assembly, and also because my Cordless Drill has a good one-handed chuck.

But a decent Flexible-Shaft would still be good to have, especially for drilling-out rivets, or drilling new rivet holes into guttering when you're a fair way up, and you're doing it from a position of lying on top of the roof (and you don't want to hold your Drill out in mid-air over a concrete driveway two floors below...:-) By rights, the 10mm unit should be more sturdily put-together than the 6mm versions...

Many Thanks,
Batpig.