They don't make them like they used to.
 

I present to you a vintage Black and Decker ¼ inch drill. When I first looked it over and saw the metal case, I though. “Wow, there’s an antique tool. Don’t see those every day. Probably electrocute you if you plug it in.” In fact, the outer insulation of the cord was broken where it met the body of the thing and you could see lots of cloth and paper insulation peeking out.

So I pulled out a multimeter and checked the continuity between the prongs of the plug first. I figured there should be no continuity until I pull the trigger and then there should be continuity. But there was a beautiful electrical path between the two prongs, even without pulling the trigger. Exciting! Then I tested for continuity between each prong and the metal out shell of the drill. Perfect continuity again! Everything was electrically connected to everything else.

I couldn’t see any bare wires in the frayed part of the cord, so I started taking the drill apart. The screws were a little stripped, like somebody else had done the same thing decades ago. Once I got it apart, I was appalled to see that it was even worse than I expected. The cord could twist freely where it passed through the grommet, and I could se that it had.

The power cord had lost all its insulation just on the inside of the grommet, and the hot, neutral, and ground were all bare and twisted around each other.

Attachment 58542
You could see that there was a clamp on the cable after it penetrated the body of the drill to keep it from pulling out. That’s good. But there was nothing to keep the cable from twisting, and it had twisted around itself a lot. I untwisted them just to see how bad it was. At least an inch of bare wire on each conductor. And it wasn’t even copper wire. The wire was aluminum.
Attachment 58543


So I cut the cord off the thing so nobody in the future would plug it in. I thought I might cut the cable back to some fresh spot and re-use it, but the cable insulation was was breaking everywhere as I tried to straighten it out. Looking at the cable, that’s when I fully realized that the plug was a two prong plug, but the cable had a ground wire in it too. Coming out the back of the plug was a green ground wire that had been cut off years ago. I’ve never seen that before.

Attachment 58544

I guess, you were supposed to wrap the ground wire around a pipe or something before you used the drill?
Attachment 58545

I put the thing back together without a cord just to take a look at it. Pretend it works and see what it would be like to use it. Black & Decker is crap in 2016, but had a reputation for making good tools back in the day.

First off, the grip is horrible if you are used to a modern drill. I can get one finger on the trigger, one finger on the handle grip, the third finger is halfway off the grip, and my pinky is just tucked underneath not really doing anything.
Attachment 58546

There’s a little pin on the bottom that you can push in to lock the trigger in place. This picture really shows how you feel like you are going to drop this drill at any time. There’s nothing to hold on to.
Attachment 58547

It’s got a tiny keyless chuck. I didn’t know that they had keyless chucks back in the olden days. I guess when it’s so small, it would work just fine. No big drill bits can fit in here, so you won’t be fighting much torque.
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So let’s look at the plate to see what it has under the hood.
Only 1.3 amps. And it spins kinda fast at 2250 RPM. Patent 2487011 was issued in Nov. 1949. So this was probably built in 1950.
Attachment 58549

Let’s compare it to my low end Black & Decker drill that I bought about 20 years ago. My 20 year old drill is nothing special. But it’s got 3.0 amps of power compared to this old drill’s 1.3 amps. It runs slower too at 1200 RPM, but that’s faster than you are ever going to need.
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And look at how much bigger the grip is on the “new” drill. Did people have tiny hands 65 years ago?
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And while I always though my 3/8 inch drill had a small chuck, it looks enormous by comparison.
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Thankfully, they don’t make them like they used to.

So if had plugged this in with the bare wires all wrapped together like that and the metal housing charged, would I have gotten a shock before the circuit breaker tripped? I was wearing sneakers on a dry linoleum floor.

I also had a 1/4" B&D drill very similar to that one, but the handle was slimmer and a bit longer and the wiring wasn't pooched. I think I gave it to my sister when she needed a drill. I miss it, it was the best looking drill.

I doubt Black & Decker is to blame for the wiring, it's obvious somebody has messed with it. I suspect the chuck has been replaced too, keyless chucks were pretty rare in those days.

I have a B&D industrial drill from way back, probably WW I era. The cord had been replaced with a heavy duty 25 ft cord courtesy of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where my Ex-father-in-law stole it. It's a big two handed drill but only a 3/8 chuck.
The odd thing is the trigger mechanism, pull and release it's on, pull and release it's off. This rolling block trigger is really disconcerting to us used to modern triggers. I replaced it with a newer trigger but saved the original so it could be restored.

"Keyless Chuck - great nickname for a homeless guy." - Carolla

According to the November 1951 Popular Mechanics, this was a $22.95 drill, which is $213.37 today. There's one on Ebay for $5 right now.
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You also apparently put your middle finger on the trigger and have your index finger along the side of the drill. That way you get three fingers on the grip.

I was going to say that very thing, Glatt.

Is this a high-speed drill by any chance?

I think there used to be higher speed drills, and the ones I'm thinking about were short-gripped like yours and you laid your index finger along the side, where the indentation is on yours. Not for heavy duty work, but, for light duty, repetitive stuff.

Next up in the "they don't make them like they used to" category is gas ranges.

We went window shopping for gas ranges yesterday just to see where things stand in the market these days. It looks like to get what I want in a gas range, I'm at a $2k price point. Ugh.

Also, ranges at that price point come with WiFi and Bluetooth. A fucking oven with WiFi and Bluetooth. Apparently it's so it will shut off automatically if you aren't in the same room as your Nest, Alexa, Echo, or whatever smart home device you have and that device thinks you are not home. Safety feature, you see, so your house doesn't burn down. Also, you can call up your stove from your cell phone and get it preheating when you are on your way home.

These are features I don't really want. What if Putin decides he wants to burn my house down and hacks my oven?

Non-feature features, I guess this is where we come to at the end of a line of technology?

J. F. C.:eek:

You can get a range for as low as $500, but over time I've accumulated a list of pet peeves with gas ranges, and in order to avoid all of them, I'm at $2K. And still don't have exactly what I want.

my peeve with gas ranges is that you no longer have to light a match and start the fire your own self. I actually liked that part

Now it's like having a grenade that can pull it's own pin.:eyebrow:

That would actually be cool. I like match light as well.

I like knobs and hate touch pads that have a flexible membrane to jamb your finger against to try to make contact with a button underneath. Ideally, there will be a knob for each burner, a selector knob to choose bake or broil, and a temperature knob for the oven. 6 knobs total. A small toggle switch to turn on the oven light. Nothing digital anywhere. Except maybe a temperature reading.

I like a drawer under the oven to store the cookie sheets and lasagna pans, but it should have a smooth motion. Preferably drawer slides using ball bearings. The drawer should be removable so you can reach under the range to collect dead mouse carcasses or stuff you drop behind the range.

I like the modern looking restaurant style burners that cover the whole top with a gray surface underneath to hide dirt and grime. I hate cleaning the stove top.

I like an upper "back splash" on the cook top with the vent from the oven exiting the top of the back splash where the venting air will not impact the function of the cook top burners.

Many modern gas ranges have a steam cleaning feature where you pour water into a depression on the oven floor and turn the oven on to steam everything loose.

Basically, I'm describing a Viking that goes for $6K. But there are some GE's that come close and if you are willing to risk an LG they make one that hits most of those marks too.

Look at this BS. This is the $1K GE gas range that is otherwise pretty good.

Attachment 62848

That is an abomination. UI is simply not considered for products like this. Now I'm angry too. :mad2:

The only thing that would be worse is if, to reach this control panel, you have to reach directly across a set of gas burners that may be lit. Don't tell me, I already know.

Have you checked for those places that refurbish the old stoves?

I'd love it if such places actually exist.

Craigslist
Habitat for Humanity Store
ReStore
Joe's Used Appliance and Ottoman Emporium

Come on man, I plumbed and installed my own gas range, installed a backsplash from a different range and didn't even make the news. You gave birth to a flippin bandsaw.

You can do this.

I googled it and there are quite a few of them, but the Prices I saw would give you apoplexy. :haha:

You've put a lot of thought into this, and I agree with every point you make :thumb: But Bruce has a point . . .

Every time I see a news story about how someone's natural gas stove, heater, fireplace, etc., has blown the ever-lovin' shit out of their house - or an entire neighborhood block! - I'm extremely thankful I have an all-electric house.

Og like cook in fire pit or eat raw. Actually I have an all electric house as well. With a tight house suffocation is a thing as well as blowing shit up.

Right there with you on controls glatt. So far I like everything about my Subaru except the music interface, give me knobs and buttons. I would hope that hipsters would start demanding these things, of course they pay a premium.

While perusing owners manuals of various ovens to try to really understand them.

Well, duh. Feature, not bug. Who wants to eat live turkey?

Canary in the coalmine ??

Move the bird out the gas...

My wife woke up first this morning, went downstairs, and wondered why it was so hot. Then she walked into the kitchen and the oven was turned on and hot.

My iPhone was also turned on when I woke up. I know that happens when the power flickers. If the phone is turned off and plugged in to the charging cord, the phone powers back on. Same thing happens if it's turned off while plugged in, and the power comes back on.

So now I'm wondering if our old oven also turned on in the middle of the night (3:30am because I remember something woke me up then, and a vibrating phone on the bedside bookcase would do that.) The plastic membrane cover over the touch pad has a crack in it.

All this is to say that we should really buy a new range shortly.

Or you can wait for the insurance company to buy you one after the fire. :eyebrow: A stove turning itself on in the middle of the night of when you're not home is absolutely unacceptable. That should never be possible.

Or... Ambien.

Edited to add

Critically important is why. Only gas stoves I have seen always turned on gas mechanically. Apparently this is an electrical gas control? Never saw one.

This could be a major design fault. For example, electronics must have a seperate circuit (often called a watchdog timer) that forces everything off if an electronics failure is detected. I can personally cite some industrial equipment I redesigned because such required functions were missing. In one case, all valves opened simultaneously - that should and must never happen. (In this case, fortunately only birds were killed.)

So, you may not have to pay for anything. If any electronics could open valves (and ignite gas), then GE may pay for everything (to keep you quiet).

Critically important is to know up front what exists. Then define what would have failed to let that stove power on. Know that stuff before legal powers take over.

Gas furnaces turn on electrically.

That's terrifying. Report that crap to the manufacturer, and see if others have reported the same thing.

Yeah. It's annoying. I have unplugged it. And we will continue to use it until we get a new one someday. Just have to always plug it in to use, and then unplug it again afterwards.

The culprit it almost certainly the cracked plastic membrane that covers the touchpad. The crack is right next to the bake button and comes from 15 years of pressing bake. Material fatigue. When the button gets pressed in now, the membrane kind of hangs up on itself at the crack, and continues to exert a little force on the contacts underneath. I saw it try to turn itself on when I was standing in front of it a month or two ago. I put electrical tape over the crack then, and that seemed to fix it, but apparently not completely.


Anyway, it's unplugged now.
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Now that I think about it a little, I think I am going to tear the membrane over that button off completely and put electrical tape over it. We can just press the tape.

I really just want to find a new range that has the features I want.

They don't make them like they used to.
 

And looking even more closely, I see there is a little frame in between the contacts behind the membrane. The cracked membrane flap is hanging up on the back side of that frame when it gets pushed in. Sometimes with enough force to press against the contact.
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The mower we bought 17 years ago started easily enough, and did the whole lawn just fine with old gas in it. Yard Machine, B&S motor, I think. :D