Hi ..
Was just curious what the first Sher drill looked like.. Apparently the Red Point Tool Co (Sher) produced their first drill in 1940... this predates the Drillmaster & Powermaster by at least 12yrs..
Ken.
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Hi ..
Was just curious what the first Sher drill looked like.. Apparently the Red Point Tool Co (Sher) produced their first drill in 1940... this predates the Drillmaster & Powermaster by at least 12yrs..
Ken.
Don't know but mine's pretty old. Probably 60's. I've got some attachments for it also.
Love old power tools :)
from time to time i see some Skil and Sher drills they have aluminion bodys ,Question ---were they as safe as their plastic brother's
Safe and strong.
They were built in the era where they built a strong motor and gearbox then made a housing to suit.
May be as safe. It depends on if it is double insulated or not. I don't recall when double insulating tools came into practice. Prior to that there was a greater risk of electrical shock.
ron
Mine's aluminium as is my B&D 9" saw and a couple of other tools. They have hardly ever killed me :)
RCD's are your friend.
Hi.. Am surprised that i didn't get a lot more responses from this topic !!.. Sher drills should be like backsides.. everyone has one !!.. then again i might have them all..:U
Anyway I have started recording details of all Sher power tools ..1940 to 1967 and am seeking details from owners..
What i need is the Model, Speed, Serial number and Colour, and if poss .. a pic
This should make a fairly accurate guide to dating the various models.
Cheers .. Ken.
Hi, I am trying to piece together the history power tool industry in Australia from 1940 to the present day. The main emphasis is on those products/brands manufactured in Australia. Brands include SHER, Black and Decker, Lightburn and KBC. Today hunting through the NSW State Library I discovered that Sidchrome manufactured a drill in Australia in the early 1970's!!!!
I'm interested in talking to people that worked with any of the brands mentioned above during the years when they were manufactured here.
If I find anyone with a SHER I'll send them your way.
b
my dad and i built a couple of half cabin boats when i was a kid back in the mid 60's in the UK the only power tool we had was a 3/8 drill the rest was buckets of elbow grease , i thought the drill was a wolf but maybe i am wrong and it was a sher i have had a lot of sleeps since then .
i do have a very old drill laying in the hay shed at home must have a look see what it is .
Hi all, just went and took a couple of pics of my grandfathers skil sher (now mine) don't really know much about it, name plate is a bit unreadable, still going strong
Attachment 150127Attachment 150128Attachment 150129
only thing I have done is changed the chuck from a 3/8" to 1/2"
Pete
I have an old ally that was my uncles, I will check it out today when I get to the workshop and post. I was using it for a while but have put it aside to put a new lead on it.
Hi Pete.Quote:
Originally Posted by pjt
Shame about the name plate..Is it a dual speed model ?..
Although made after 1967, apart from the gold paintjob and stick on name plate, it appears identical to a 1958 "Powermatic"..
Ken.
They're coming out of the woodwork!
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...s/sher1001.jpg
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/k...s/sher1003.jpg
Our grandfathers have a lot to answer for.
headed up a search party in the old hay shed this morning and located the old girl .
i think if i am going to ever use it again i am going to have to strip her down and give her a good clean up , probably not one of he oldest because this one has a plastic handle .
i should mount another search and find the BIG BIG drill that dad called his "gut buster" ,
its a monster and i think 600 rpm max ,
Hi Ken, yep its a dual speed, push in, let out a knob down near the chuck for speed change, can just see the lock pin in the sher side pic, takes a fair bit to stop it on the low speedQuote:
Originally Posted by kenny_10
Pete
Yep, I've got a 1960s unit...solid cast metal body. Still going strong. You could hook it up to a chassis and drive a lathe or a circular saw. Versatile.
George
I'll post pictures of all my Sher stuff when I get home tonight.
Does anyone on this forum have the original 1960s morticing attachment?
I've been trying to find one for years to add to my collection.
I found one guy who once did, but lost it in a shed fire.
Here's just some of my Sher stuff.
The first 2 pictures is the Shermatic I inherited from my dad. It's fantastic, and at the moment it's bing used as the drill press. As you can see, he (and now I) really looked after it, and there isn't any rust or dents or anything (the original table is set aside for the moment). I had it serviced about 10 years ago and it got new bearings in the gearbox, and it's been going strong ever since.
Attachment 153871Attachment 153872
The last 2 pictures is a Sher I picked up from ebay a few months ago. It's a Shopmate Mk2, which has induction motor and pulleys. It's much more rusty but I haven't cleaned it up yet. I'm going to use it as the grinder/sanding disk/lathe.
Attachment 153873Attachment 153874
I've got most of the attachments, but I know sher made a planing attachment (which I don't think I would ever use) and also a morticing attachment (which I am still looking for).
I saw the circular saw attachment, still with its box, in an antique shop the other day, $18. I suppose you have one of them already?
Yeah, there's lots of them on ebay too.
Never use it, esp. since I have 3 circular saws anyway.
Most of the other attachments I do use though - sanders, grinders, drill, lathe, etc.
Damian Carvolth's Tools
I just noticed I've got a couple of pics here. Be quick that website will disappear soon, I've changed ISP....
Hey Ken,
I've got about 4 Sher drills now, and 2 Wolfs! Two of the Sher's have serial numbers 113762 and 511510, Thats a 3/8" Powermatic Dual peed and 1/2" Shermatic Dual Speed. Would be good to know the year of manufacture. I'm thinking I'd have to get access to company records?
I'll try and organise some pics.
Darren
Hey John,Quote:
Originally Posted by John G
How'd you know what bearing to put in the unit? are they readily available? expensive?
Darren
No idea. I took it to a service centre years ago in Canberra and they serviced it and replaced some bearings. But I'm sure it's just some standard imperial size.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reno_daz
One other thing that I always remember about some of the old dual speed Sher drills is that they were a wrist breaker if the drill bit suddenly jammed.
No clutches in the drills back then.
They would go all day though even when pushed hard.
Stewie
Must say I have never used mine hand held.
My machinist mate reckon they used to be called widowmakers due to their all metal bodies. But I've never heard of any accidents.
Do they make 1/2" thread lathe chucks?
Sometimes I am making a jig or something and need to turn small metal or plastic pieces and a chuck would make things much easier. But don't know if they make them that small. 1/2" might be too weak for the weight.
Just inherited this:
Attachment 399762Attachment 399763
Seeing as how kenour has already resurrected this thread from hades lair...
I'll get some photos together, but my old sher drill has both DC and AC on the nameplate as acceptable electrical input (which I'm assuming puts it into the "older" category, given that reticulated DC started to go out of fashion after WWII). Unfortunately, my grandfather killed the gears after a few years of using it as a lawnmower starter in his later years, but I was able to find another, newer one and put his back together. I've kept all the old bits in case I ever get a mill and indexing head, at which time I'll re-make the old gears.
I love my Sher Shopmate and I have 3 drills so far
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Here's a shot of my Shopmate, I use it all the timehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...e0400ee739.jpg
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As a teenager in the late 60s I used to go to Miranda Fair. There was a Grace Bros shop there that had a fairly comprehensive Hardware/Tool Department. They had a bloke who often did demos on a Shopmate. I particularly liked the Wood Lathe set up and watched him gnawing at a bowl blank. At the time I thought it was marvelous but thinking back the demonstrator's technique was not that great. He entertained me though. I could never afford the hundred + Dollars to have one of my own.......come forward some 40 years and guess what.....at a rubbish tip right next to where I was going to dump my stuff, here is a Shopmate there on the ground. It was a bare frame but I knew exactly what it was. Since then I have acquired 3 Powermatic 2 Speed drills all with ½" Chucks. Along the way I have the circular saw set up as well. My intention is to restore the whole thing mainly just for the exercise
Hey Ken I have a threeQuote:
Originally Posted by kenny_10
1) Sher Powermatic 3/8, Dual Speed 750/3000, Serial No. 237970, Silver.
2) Skillsher Powermate 5/16, 2500, Orange.
I’ll find the third one tomorrow but here’s pics of the labels. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2f4be8b014.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3023c5ee50.jpg