Colin the Pillar Drill

This is a great example of how you can fix something with nothing more than a bit of TLC and some elbow grease.

Clarke CDP 5DC Pillar Drill
Colin the Pillar Drill in the boot of my car 19/12/2021

While perusing the spares & repairs section on eBay, I came across this broken Clarke CDP 5DC pillar drill.

The previous owner noted that the drill worked but the switch wouldn’t stay on.

Thankfully the problem was simple: corrosion on the switch contacts prevented it from latching.

All it took was a good clean with some emery cloth and WD40. Now I have a fully working pillar drill for £35 !

The name Colin came from when my wife misheard “pillar drill” as “caterpillar” and thus it was named after the famous caterpillar shaped cake.