As you have probably guessed by now, I have a bit of a thing about my tools! Some time ago I walked down to Hatton gardens during Jewellery week. There were people all along the street demonstrating their various crafts. The one that I remember most was a lady demonstrating how she carves jade.  To be honest, jade jewellery doesn’t appeal to me but the thing that struck me was the beautiful drill she was using with diamond wheels. The smoothness and precision was obvious from her work.

 

I made my mind up that day that one day I would get a Milbro pendant drill.

 

About a year later my wife got an electric piano and we did a deal that when my birthday came around that I would get my drill.

Between that day and my birthday, I noticed one for sale on Ebay. Bid for it and amazingly I won! It did cost an arm and a leg but I had my dream drill!


 

I have seen them Branded Milbro and Miles Engineering and I think Pioneer. I think they are all the same drill just with a different badge.

To the best of my knowledge they are made by Miles engineering and sold through Cooksons as Milbro and H.S.Walsh as Pioneer? Not sure how mine has a Miles Engineering badge on it but I suspect they are badged as such in a different industry (Note this is pure guess work on my part!)

 

Starting with the pedal, It is plastic and perhaps not as big as I would like but it does the job. Control is reasonable. The pedal is basically a lever and I would have preferred a longer lever to give greater speed control. If I’m honest, I actually prefer the bigger pedal of my Grobet drill.

 

 

 

The electrical connections between the motor and the pedal are very substantial!

 

 
Moving onto the motor itself, it has an integrated cooling fan. Motors like this can get quite hot when they are running for extended periods at low speeds.

It’s rated at 12,000rpm and 1/10hp.

The build quality is amazing. If nuclear war broke out, I suspect that this would be one of the few objects to survive. And I live in full knowledge that if I dropped it, It may well do some damage to the floor! It came with a mounting plate for wall mounting but I prefer to use a stand so I removed it and packed that away.

 

The shaft itself is just about as good as it can get. It has a metal coil tube rather than a nylon or plastic pipe. The central shaft is a much tighter spring than the Grobet.

 

 

My only criticism of this drill is the handpiece. This is purely down to the fact that my drill is the fixed handpiece option and I was used to the quick release slipjoint handpiece that the Grobet had.  The fixed handpiece is superb and silky smooth. Just thick enough to prevent cramp but not thick enough to be bulky at all. The level of precision is just amazing. I just wish I could go back to a change of bit taking 2 seconds instead of 30!

 

I have had the drill for about 6 months now. I have paid another £30 for a decent stand.  But apart from that it’s been as good as gold.

 

And here it is! the thing you have all been waiting for! my first ever youtube video!!!! ok its only a very short vid of the drill in operation... but hay its a start and the amount I have learned while uploading this will make the next ones a whole lot easier!

WHEN USING POWER TOOLS OR SOLDERING, MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYUS TAKE PROPPER SAFTY PRECAUTIONS. ALWAYS WEAR SAFTY GLASSES AND BE SURE TO WASH YOUR HANDS AFTERWARDS.