Near 70 Year Old Heavy Cast Aluminum 5/8" Drill

[Model 12]

In a few months it'll be 58 years since a true American hero passed away and left us feeling yet another loss. Seems given today's state of things, this sort of hurts me worse than it did then.
When Alvin C. York passed on, the 1941 movie about him with Gary Cooper was up and running on television.  There's this one part where an old timer says, "They ain't making mules like they used to."
Well, it's been 60 years since I seen a mule pulling a wagon, and it seems true about all sorts of things. Cars for sure. It's been 40 years since I stepped up to get into an already old car. And I sure miss those handles you could turn to roll the window up or down. I can't repeat some of the things I say about those electric things when I just want to open or close a little and it just keeps on going.
Anyway,  it seems mules and tools have something in common.
I got hold of this Hitachi 1956 110 Volt Drill. The model is known as the "Wood Drill", but for the special 110 Volt version it's designated simply as 5/8".
I measured the thickness of the Aluminum Motor Housing to a better than 5mm thick. That's about 13/64". The solid, still running to this day construction is both remarkably simple and downright rugged.
First picture is how she looked before I started in on her.
Then 2nd there's what they call the diaphragm, solid Aluminum, looking at it behind, from the Motor Housing side.
The 3rd picture is the Armature of which the forward gear end passes up through the diaphragm's center hole; a ball bearing shield side.
The back end of the Housing; 4th picture looking through the coil, is where the ball bearing on the back end of the Armature rests in; shield side out. This all shows real good here on account of the back hatch being removed and the sun shining in there .
5th picture is the  the Gear Case side of the diaphragm. See the open side of that bearing where the armature gear passes up through. The gear on that Armature engages with the large Intermediate Gear.
Now in #6, this is the forward aspect of the Gear Case. And that big gear is situated on the Spindle for the 5/8" Chuck.
It's a tapered chuck; JT3. All the other drills of this series; from this time period, 1/4" through 5/8", are Jacobs Tapered Chucks. The 3//4" has no chuck. It uses a Morse Taper for retention of drill bits.
Finally, the restored drill and its brass nameplate.
She sure runs. I used lithium grease. That 500 RPM doesn't need anything exotic.
Some of y'all I've gotten to know, I wish you could see her up close..

[Bill Houghton]

That is one substantial tool.  Must be fun to wind it up and drill holes with it.

[Model 12]

I aim to find that out soon Bill.
I took another shot at restoring the luster to that upper handle. I found success with an angle grinder with a wire cup. I sprayed WD-40 or CRC 5-56 as I went. That wood dowel fitted tight into the bottom is a standard feature. That pipe handle threads into a big hole that overlies the Motor Housing.

[lptools]

They took a lot of pride in that tool!! You don't often see a knurled grip on an auxiliary handle. Nice job on cleaning that up!!

[john k]

Very good, on you and the drill.  Have a 5/8 here as well, would look fine with a buffing.  Have used it and can just say,  Hang On!   That gear reduction makes then a torque monster

[Yadda]

Very nice!

[Model 12]

[size=10pThanks fellas.
yadda, yes it sure is nice. Chuck is in fine shape.
John K.,3M Scotch Brite pad with light oil ( WD-40) sure buffs.
Lou, me and some others been calling that "checkered" like a fine gun stock. But seems you got the accepted terminology there with "knurled". You imply knurled is sort of rare. I reckon so, I can't find any drill that shows that a'tall. I figured this Hitachi was influenced by Thor, but Thor doesn't have that.[/size]

[lptools]

I guess I always thought of "checkered" as in a gun stock, on a somewhat flat surface. I have always thought of "knurling" in relation to round objects, such as the knurling on a chuck shell of a Bit Brace!

[Model 12]

Well, seems you thought right. I'm now using "knurled" for my key word in my search. So far no good. I think I recall that  old Milwaukee C-312 HD 1/2" Drill had a pipe handle like that. Pictures are both rare and inconclusive. Do you know about that Drill?

[lptools]

Somewhere around here I have an older model B & D and a Milwaukee, I will try to get photos in a few days!!

[Model 12]

john k,

Very good, on you and the drill.  Have a 5/8 here as well,

I meant to ask, What model 5/8" drill do you have? Seems they're scarce as hens teeth.

[lptools]

I think the B & D is 1/2", not sure about the Milwaukee!

[Omeomai]

What a strange coincidence: I was just conversing with an old friend about watching Sgt York on DVD in Okinawa back about a dozen years ago.  That was an excellent story, and true!  Well, couple stupid details they got wrong, such as the farm at the end, he knew about, and he wasn't such a hick as described, but the overall story is true. 

Anyway, that inspired me to comment, so thanks for that.

What surprises me most about your old drill is the condition of the spline.  It looks unused! The corresponding gears look great too, but the splines seem to show wear before the beats cuz each ridge in the spline interacts with the gear multiples of times more than the reciprocal.  Very kool old tool!

[Model 12]

Omeomai, good to hear from ya. Yep, the bearings too.
Well, Hollywood has a way of doing that. My brother was engaged to some girl in Tennessee and her Mother went to school with some of his children.