Wolf ‘Cubmaster’ Electric Drill
From Object Wiki
| Wolf Cubmaster electric motor drill, 1950 | |
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| Manufacturer | Wolf |
| Production years | 1950 - 1958 |
| Production location | Hangar Lane EALING |
Wolf Cubmaster electric motor drill, 1950 Wolf Safetymaster electric drill, 1958
The Cubmaster and Safetymaster are examples of the first British power tools available for the home. Before the war, power tools had only been used in industry. These drills now encouraged home-owners to do odd jobs and major renovations round the house.
Most drills could also be fitted with sanding and polishing attachments, or put into a frame to make it a steady fixed drill. Some could even be converted into a simple lathe.
Wolf made quite a number of different styles, types and sizes of drills, including a heavy duty model, available with different chuck sizes. The one with the larger chuck had a slightly different casting.
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[edit] How it works
An electric motor is attached to a trigger and a chuck which holds a drill bit via a series of gears to increase torque.
[edit] Memories
I have here in Melbourne, Australia a 1/4" Wolf drill pictured (right), which I believe (from scouring the web for examples) is from the early 1940s. A family friend had it in his workshop, but I strongly suspect that he probably picked it up from a neighbourhood hard rubbish collection pile one day as he was the sort of guy that constantly picked things like that up. So there is no deep history about it. All components (the chuck, motor, trigger, trigger lock, etc.) work perfectly well and smoothly as found.
I have a Wolf Cub drill and I use it every day. It is the most compact high speed drill - there is nothing like it on the market today. Even after years of use, the commutator is still perfect. It is an unusual commutator in that it is on the end face of the armature, the brushes bearing along the axis of the drill. It fits the palm of the hand perfectly. Lovely tool even by todays standards.
— Gervais Sawyer (Croydon)
I have examples of the Wolf Cub and the larger 1/4" drill similar to the ones photographed. The first of these came from my grandpa over 20 years ago and still works today. It was known as a light production model and was presumably an earlier version of the one shown in Melbourne, since it has an 'up/down' as opposed to trigger switch. I also have examples of the other type, which I've picked up over the years at car boot sales, markets, auctions and vintage rallies. There are still a few of them around in service; the ball bearing motor is very reliable. IIRC, they take a number 1 chuck key. The only thing I would say with these is that, unlike most modern drills, they do generally need earthing; if in doubt get a new 3 core lead fitted and check the insulation. The drills themselves rarely give trouble but I've seen a few with dodgy cables.
— Stephen
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Do you remember this drill? Add your memories. |
[edit] In the Science Museum
Source: S Wolf and Co. Inv: No: 1974-570/7, 1974-570/8
This object is currently on display in the Dan Dare & the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain exhibition at the Science Museum, London.I forgot to add that not all the drills had ball bearings; the light production model had them but some of the others like cubmasters had sleeve bearings (Stephen)
[edit] More information
- Woodwork forums has an entry from Gerhard on a history of the Wolf company