Thread: Millers Fall egg beater drill

Fantastic pickup! I'm not jealous (much)

Very nice. And good value at 50p.

Looks like a Millers Falls No.2 - from 1907 to 1929 (they were made from 1894 to 1957). I hope you can find a suitable screw for the crank handle (without having to resort to drilling it out and tapping a metric thread ). It's also missing the little friction roller that keeps the teeth engaged while turning the crank.

Millers Falls hand drills 2 through 4D

Cheers, Vann.

Hi Vann,
do you know where i could get spare parts for
the drill. I have looked on E bay but no luck yet.

Thanks Martin.

Originally Posted by old workshop

Hi Vann,
do you know where i could get spare parts for
the drill...

I don't. I could have a look see if I could find a suitable set screw (it wouldn't be an original Millers Falls part - but if it's a standard American thread then chances are a BSW thread would fit - if not an ideal fit).

With regard to the little wheel, the best I can do is this website. He's sketched the parts you need. Maybe you could turn up the parts, if you have a metal lathe. Or have a someone local make them up for you.
Millers Falls No. 2 eggbeater drill type study - little rail road car wheel - LRRCW

Or you could approach the website owner - looks like he sells tools too.

Good luck.

Cheers, Vann.

Hi Vann,

I have looked at the LRRCW picture but am wondering if mine
would have been the very first No 2 which would have used the very plain
LRRCW which was a very plain thrust bearing.

Thanks Martin

Originally Posted by old workshop

...but am wondering if mine
would have been the very first No 2 which would have used the very plain
LRRCW which was a very plain thrust bearing.

I can't help you there. Your photos so far barely show the area where the "LRRCW" should be - but also, mine is a later model with the idler pinion.

Cheers, Vann.

Hi Vann,

I have taken a photo of area where the LRRCW is, hope this helps?IMG_20200203_092736[2217].jpgIMG_20200203_092743[2216].jpg

G'day Martin,
The last photo in your original post in conjunction with these latest two photos show that the drill would have had the adjustable friction roller (AFR) as sketched in the link supplied by Vann. This: https://oldtoolheaven.com/hand_drill...tionRoller.jpg
But in that last original photo you can also see two broken teeth on the drive gear, possibly caused by being operated without the AFR fitted.
Cheers,
Geoff.

Originally Posted by Boringgeoff

.......But in that last original photo you can also see two broken teeth on the drive gear, possibly caused by being operated without the AFR fitted.......

Geoff, I've been following this thread with some interest but zero knowledge of the subtleties of egg-beater drills. The actual purpose of the little (missing) gizmo has puzzled me from the start. If its purpose is to keep the drive gear snugged to the pinion gear, as suggested, I would have expected it to be made so there is no friction, i.e. it can roll freely with the drive wheel. The "adjustable-friction" bit suggests to me it's there to put friction on the wheel to smooth the action as you crank. Other makes seem to get away without needing anything extra to hold the gears together.

The broken teeth may be associated with the missing AFR, but while broken teeth aren't common, neither are they rare, I've seen them on other makes. There are some rough (& strong!) dudes out there in tool-abuser land....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

... Other makes seem to get away without needing anything extra to hold the gears together...

Sorry Ian, but with respect, I disagree.

The very common English made Stanley eggbeater comes in two models: the No.805, which has a single driven pinion (like this Millers Falls); while the No.803 has a driven pinion and an idler pinion - for exactly that purpose (to prevent the drive gear and driven pinion from disengaging).

I had about 5 No.805s (bought, gifted, and one inherited). With the single pinion they're clunky and drive poorly (only one was smooth). I gave all but the inherited one away to a kindy. The several double pinion No.803s I have all run smoothly. Generally any double pinion drill (of reasonable manufacture) will run smoothly. The opposite is true of single pinion drills.

The purpose of the LRRCW was an early attempt to keep the teeth engaged (no doubt a more economical way than suffering the cost of gear teeth on the idler). Even Millers Falls eventually changed to double pinions on this model of drill.

Some manufacturers simply used a flat tab of steel to prevent the teeth from separating. I think the idea of the LRRCW was reduced friction (when compared with the steel tab).

Cheers, Vann.

Ian, I don't know if Adjustable Friction Roller (AFR) is an original Millers Falls term or coined by the author of the Old Tool Heaven site, I would assume the roller is adjusted to minimal to nil contact with the pinion in relaxed mode and only come into action if the gear tried to climb up under a work load.

I bought a second hand gearbox for a truck a few years ago and when refurbishing it found a gear with one and a half teeth missing. I had to send to the USA for a replacement and often wondered how had that happened, perhaps it was the rough and strong dude you mentioned.
Cheers,
Geoff.

Originally Posted by Vann

...Sorry Ian, but with respect, I disagree....

No need to apologise, China! I guess what I wrote sounded like a statement, but it was meant to be more of a question, which you have amply answered.

After I posted this morning, I went to the shed & pulled out the eggbeater drill from the drawer where it has sat for years on end without seeing the light of day (as per a recent thread, good little battery drills have relegated many eggbeaters to a similar fate..) It's a "Qualcast", made in Sheffield, which I bought new about 50 years ago, and since my disposable income was very linmited at the time, I don't think it cost much even in1960s dollars. You know, this morning I would have sworn black & blue it only had a single pinion, but I would have lost my shirt on that. There for anyone to see was a perfectly real idler pinion. I must have realised that back when I used it regularly, but that was quite a while ago now, and I'd obviously forgotten.

Just for fun, I blew the accumulated sawdust & grot out of the mechanism, put a tiny spot of oil in the hole that says "oil" (for the quill shaft), and took it for a spin. It still works smoothly and the chuck still closes firmly on a 1/16" drill. Maybe I should give the poor negelcted thing something to do more often!

So idler pinions rule in eggbeater land.....
Cheers,

Hi,

I looked at a Stanley drill i have and noticed the drive wheel is 80mm
smaller on the Stanley drill opposed to the Millers Fall which is 100mm.
Maybe they needed the LRRCW to keep it sturdy, hence the broken teeth.

Thanks Martin.

Sorry got that wrong, 80 mm on the Stanley and 100mm on the Millers Fall.
So it is 20 mm smaller.

Thanks Martin.