Drill press running backwards

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RichB

RichB

Senior Member
Location
Tacoma, Wa
Occupation
Electrician/Electrical Inspector
ok guys--gonna tell on myself and see if anyone laughs at me::
Bought a new drill press--set it up 120VAC Single Phase-- put a bit in it and tried to drill--was running backwards!!!:happysad:
Took it back got anothwer one--same thing--Now I'm thinking --HUH?????:weeping:

Took it back and got ANOTHER ONE!!!--Same thing:rant::sick:

After scratching my head I finally went and got another bit out of my tool box and wa lah!!~ it drilled fine--:thumbsup:
Now here is the DUH-OH Part--can anyone guess??

Yup I have maybe 3 or 4 small (3/32 and under) "LEFT HAND" bits rolling around in my box--someone (one of the kids) grabbed one and put it in my drill index--And NO I did NOT call the store and tell them what happened--would NWEVER live it down!!:sick:

Rember--check the bitys first!!!
 
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mivey

mivey

Senior Member
It just so happens I've been working part time at that same store doing miscellaneous repair and maintenance work and I was beginning to wonder what was going on. I had left standing orders to let me speak directly to the customer the next time they came in.

Now we know. :D
 
marti smith

marti smith

Senior Member
Thats Ok- upon running new conductors to a 3 phase rooftop ventilator I failed to mark the leads, and so consequently 50 years of bird feces and dead birds and feathers got sucked into the room instead of out. At least it was the "mens" restroom...
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
BTW, what do you use the left-hand bits for? I sense a visit to the local tool supply in my future.
 
RichB

RichB

Senior Member
Location
Tacoma, Wa
Occupation
Electrician/Electrical Inspector
Alot of the time when drilling a broken bolt etc for extraction the bit will take a bite and just back out the broken one--I do need to get a new set of them also--And another reason--to make setting up drill presses more aggravating!!!
 
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sii

sii

Senior Member
Location
Nebraska
RichB said:
Alot of the time when drilling a broken bolt etc for extraction the bit will take a bite and just back out the broken one--I do need to get a new set of them also--And another reason--to make setting up drill presses more aggravating!!!
Click to expand...

"Alot of the time" = once in one thousand.:D
 
hockeyoligist2

hockeyoligist2

Senior Member
Location
close to greenville sc
That reminds me of a cruel prank one of the guys in the shop pulled years ago. We were putting up storage racks in a warehouse and had to drill a gazillion holes in the concrete. The operators were asked if they wanted to volunteer to help and work the weekend.

He gave two guys a hammer drill and put them to work. However he put the drill in reverse. They told him they thought the bit was dull because it was taking forever to drill the holes. He would walk over, quickly change directions and pop a hole in a few seconds, switch it back and tell them they needed to put more muscle in to it.

I happened to walk by about two hours in to their drilling and saw that it was turning backwards. I stopped them and put in in the right direction, they looked at me and said some very choice words about the guy that did it!
 
H

hurk27

Senior Member
Location
Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
Left hand drill bits were common on multi tasking CNC and Bridge Ports machines, years ago I temporally worked for a machine shop making stamping dies and we use left handed drills all the time, but most of them were tapered Bridge Port shaft bits.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Was working on a home addition a couple years ago. The construction guys (good friends) were starting to hang drywall on ceiling. They were using one of those quick load driver drills that have the screws in plastic strips where you drive one screw and it automatically loads the next one and you move on. It also had extension so the operator can just stand on floor and drive screws with this long driver. The guy operating the driver - one who has considerable experience - was cussing at the thing because the screws would only go in a little bit and never actually drive in and seat like they are supposed to. He probably messed with that thing for 2 or 3 minutes while a couple other guys meanwhile were getting tired of holding the sheet they werer trying to hang. Finally my helper at the time looked at it for a few seconds switched the reversing switch and drove a screw in just the way it is supposed to work.

We still give him a hard time about that incident from time to time. He says he has used that driver hundreds of times and never realized it had a reverse - partly because it is never needed .
 
R

rt66electric

Senior Member
Location
Oklahoma
new helpertrick

new helpertrick

I had a journeyman that would reverse the blade on 'newbies' hacksaw, just to see how long it would take them to hack through 1/2 emt. He would judge their intelligence accordingly.
 
B

BJ Conner

Senior Member
Location
97006
They were made for Australia.

They were made for Australia.

The drill presses were made for Australia, South America or Africa. :happyyes:
 
RichB

RichB

Senior Member
Location
Tacoma, Wa
Occupation
Electrician/Electrical Inspector
Wellllllll--as to noticing the drill running correctly I rejected what my eyes told me in favor of the bit not drilling--and after an initial--"that's odd" I never gave it another look or thought:sick:--

and yup Alot of the time!! But then I was an in house maint at the time and all the gear was in pretty good shape--not a lot of rust or overtorqued stuff--and like previously mentioned drill easy and keep it centered
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
RichB said:
Wellllllll--as to noticing the drill running correctly I rejected what my eyes told me in favor of the bit not drilling
Click to expand...
A lot of the time I spin the chuck the wrong way when putting a bit in my press. Something about that thing being higher than normal hand-drill working level looks backwards anyway.
 
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