Author Topic: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill  (Read 3965 times)

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Offline oldtools

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Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« on: May 29, 2015, 02:15:11 AM »
My son came home with a 40 pound box someone gave him at work, had a Torna Hammer drill  & 4 bits in it..
Looked up Torna drill, It was Made by Hilti, 1st hammer drill made!!

..."1960-1969 Renaming of Maschinenbau Hilti OHG to "Maschinenbau Hilti Aktiengesellschaft".
Rotary hammer drills added to product offering; sales of the Torna rotary hammer drill begin."...

add to my collection of Drills, got the 1/2" THOR U44 & a BIG old B&D 1/2" drill...
« Last Edit: May 29, 2015, 02:17:40 AM by oldtools »
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Offline Aunt Phil

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2015, 12:55:05 PM »
Looks very similar to the Skil Rotohammer and Demohammer made in the early 60s. 

Bits and chucking look similar too.

I don't know if I'd buy Hilti's claim to be the first, they damn well never had a problem being the most expensive, and were generally good bang for the buck sold only by an arrogant bustard in a red truck who never forgot to tell you how lucky you were to be at a level of success that he came to you.

SnapOn marketing brought to the construction industry with a calender clearly not as good as Rigid.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance!

Offline oldtools

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2015, 02:44:45 PM »
Thank you Phil,  I think you are  right, further digging found a Skil brand was used & marketed by Hilti. that made it very popular...
Problem is do they still sell the special bits? now they have SDS, SDS max, etc.. these have a hex drive, maybe an adapter is available?...
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Offline Aunt Phil

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #3 on: June 01, 2015, 12:29:14 AM »
Get ready to clap your hands and jump for joy, Skil used at least if not 3 shanks in Rotohammers.

If ou ever use that KILLER, make sure you have 18" of pipe threaded in to overcome the torque it makes when it locks into something like a chunk of rebar. 

Real easy to tell if Skil made it, look for filthy black oil coating the tool and the guy using it after 15 minutes.  They did hit like hell though, and could be rebuilt.  I can walk to one right now with a 4 foot long Tilden bit I extended to get a 2" hole through a concrete wall.

I can also reach a Hilti RE-17 that provides 1/3 the operator pain and will outdrill Skil 2 to 1 easily.  When the arrogant SOB in the red truck got to town Skil was done.

All of the shank patents ran out years ago and bits and adaptors are easy to come by.  Grab a measurement on which Skil shank you need and I'll take a look at the bin if it ever stops raining here.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance!

Offline Bill Houghton

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2015, 06:03:27 PM »
My son had a similar tool to your rotohammer - gave up on it, because the hex shank bits are near impossible to come by.  He uses it for a living, though; you might do fine with it as an intermittent user.

He (and I, before him) wound up with a smaller Bosch tool that works great and takes SDS shank bits, easily found everywhere.

Offline Chillylulu

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2015, 06:02:41 PM »
I had an old milwaukee hex shank monster. After reading Phils description of the Skil drills I wonder if they made this one too. Too much black grease all over.

I found the size lacking. Not as much ppwer as an air hammer,  heavier than the roto hammers,  and slower than a core drill. I drilled a couple of 1-1/2" holes in walls.  Then it went back to the shop until someone asked about it. Good luck.

Chilly

Offline oldtools

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2015, 06:41:30 PM »
Thanks guys..  I just posted it on Craigslist, & it sold for $30.00...  He was happy with it, I felt good to find someone to use it...
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Offline Aunt Phil

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Re: Vintage TORNA Hammer drill
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2015, 07:53:19 PM »
Thanks guys..  I just posted it on Craigslist, & it sold for $30.00...  He was happy with it, I felt good to find someone to use it...

That wouldn't buy a replacement cord & set of brushes for that tool.

Would he like to buy some bits?
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance!