mm wrote:
I got some tools left behind after a woman died, that her husband had
left behind 10 years ago when he died. Both were in their 80's. He
made furniture, at least as a hobby. There was some nice furniture
there that they were selling, that he made, that he and his wife had
used for, I think, decades.

Two were a matching quarter inch drill and something I thought was a
drill, but is labeled Black & Decker Model 586 Tapgun.

Now that I have the "tapgun" running, it only turns counter-clockwise
and it seems like a normal, low speed 1/4 inch drill, but it has a 1
inch push-back spring on the shaft just behind the chuck and
sometimes, like if I grab hold of the chuck, it seems to be moving
forwards and backwards, "tapping" the work.

I've wanted a hammer drill since I saw they made them (because they
make them), but I've never actually seen one run in hammer mode. Is
this a pre-cursor, since it only seems to tap and not hammer, or is it
just that this is B&D's name, and hammer drill is generic. Web
searches find nothing for me.

Why does it only turn counter-clockwise? And what is this especially
good for! I like it because it's old, but it really should do
something.


(Both have matching steel cases and 3-prong plugs, and this one was
broken. The trigger wouldn't pull in, but last night I fixed that
(only needed lubrication, but I think I had to take it apart to reach
the right spot))

I picked up Porter Cable's version at an auction some years back. It's
not useful on every project, but it's very useful when you need to tap
a lot of holes quickly. Did you ever tap wood? It works great,
especially in the nice dense tight-grained woods. That spring loaded
nose is the automatic part. It rotates in (clockwise) when you push
down and it reverses when you pull up on the tool. First time I tried
it I was _sure_ that I'd be snapping taps all over the place, but nope,
easy to use to boot.

Have fun with it

R