Apologizing in advance
 

*cough*

Oh. My bad. Lessee.

I have a Sears 1/4" power drill that I've had for 25 years now. It still works great, but I'm thinking one of those keyless chucks sounds good. Anyone use one? Can I retrofit one to the Sears drill I've got?

Keyless chucks are basically amazing. I say this as a member of the younger generation (the generation born several years into the relationship you have with your Sears drill). They freaked me out a little bit at first, but once I got the hang of it I've never, ever been disappointed. They get the shit done, simply and effortlessly. And if all you have on hand is a single drill, but you want to swap between, say, drilling pilot holes dropping down screws, there's really nothing better. I'm sure there are downsides. But for general convenience of use, keyless is glorious.

Gin gimlet, right through my nose. Better than the other type of gimlet.

back in the day I enjoyed vodka gimlets. Not gin though. ....

I love 'em. That said, some are better than others. ;)

Good for the sinus eh?

The first one I used was artschool sculpture dept., dewalt yellow & black & beautiful. They had a nice setup of four or five chargers and five or six drills, batteries floating around. It wasn't a rich school, just moderately well-stocked and with a suitably hardass technician keeping the good shit from straying far from his toolroom.

The one I used Wednesday and earlier today is NYSCC machine shop property. I get the vague suspicion that, in between the ancient lathes and horizontal bandsaws -- monarch & three springs & other names I can't recall through this cloud of gin: chipped paint, steel & polish: wd-40, scotchbrite, & me... -- covers beat up but still cutting beautifully after twenty or thirty or fifty years, the shit that we have is quality. Quality if not current.

So, yeah; there are good and bad. I suspect that I have had the luxury of the good more often than not.

I was speaking of keyless chucks. 10 or 15 years ago I put a $200 keyless chuck on an $80 (brand new retail) piss-ant bench drill press. Made it pleasurable to use. Really should have them on all my drill presses and hand drills. :D

Keyless chucks ARE eggsalant , untill you over tighten them ,
Milwalke makes the BEST drill , not the cheapest but if'n you get a good'n they will last , and last , and LAST .
I have a 3/8' that I picked up in a pawn shop close to 20 years ago , VERRRRRY used , but you know what , that little bugger still runs as good as new ( I had a quality controll tech( at a Milwalke tool plant ) test the torque , and it still was with in spec for a new one )