Name This Tool
By Chuck Cage
TM reader Lee writes: “I recently purchased this tool at a junk sale for a few bucks because it looked neat, but I don’t know what it is. It has the ‘Thor’ logo on it, but no part number. After some Googling I found out that it was made by the Thor Power Tool Company (by matching the logo to those on Wikipedia), but that’s it. I can’t find any more information on the tool or the company. It’s an electric tool that resembles a drill. When you plug it in and pull the trigger, it sounds like a drill, but instead of a drill bit it’s got what appears to be a miniature torch. It’s also got three air/gas inlets/outlets. I have no idea what this tool is. Can you guys help?”
Well, you Toolmongers identified the last tool we posted like this in less than a day. Look past the jump for add’l pics.
As promised:
Any ideas? Let us know in comments.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Looks like a soldering gun
August 1st, 2007 at 2:25 pm
I’ll 2nd the “soldering gun”
August 1st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Yup, soldering gun.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:45 pm
More like a de-soldering gun, with the motor running a vacuum pump. Or alternatively some type of plastic welding or sealing tool.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I was thinking that the motor was running the fan that was sucking the hot air away from the heating element in the assembly so that the main heating element got nice and hot without the gun itself getting too warm.
but that made no sense at all. Alternatively, I don’t see a hole in the element for the desoldering, nor do i see a way to remove the removed solder.
The barbs for air lines confuse me though.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Is there a burr or bit nestled in the tip? I’d guess that the air fittings would be for blowing/sucking away the dust created by grinding or other activity.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:15 pm
it is a soldering gun. My dad had one like that.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Nope, not a soldering gun. Its a tool used in old “Big Iron” mainframe computer days to delete printed circuit connections to a pin on a circuit board. Old IBM 370 days computers had multi-layer circuit boards/backplanes and this tool would allow you to cut a trace on the 1st or 2nd layer. After deleting the trace a wire would be wrapped on the pin then to another to fix or change the circuitry. There was a vacuum to keep debris from falling on other circuitry.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Not a soldering gun. I’m betting there’s a mixing auger inside that nozzle, and that it’s for some kind of epoxy or other fluid dispensing system.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Damn. I think Steve Keller has it cold.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Wow, Steve! Sounds like you may have nailed it!
Actually, it’s funny that you mention IBM because that’s where I work and it’s where I bought the tool… Rather than pay to have all of their old/obsolete equipment recycled, our IBM site holds a “junk sale” every Wednesday where their employees can go and buy stuff like this at yard sale prices (in addition to this tool, I picked up an oscilloscope a few weeks ago for $30!).
If any of you want to see the high-resolution versions of these pics for more detail, I’ve got them on my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leemarr/
August 1st, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Hotknife for plastics?
August 1st, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Steve, now you’ve got me curious what the cutting tip looks like! I’d imagine it’s not totally unlike an unwrapping tool — a hollow sleeve with some sharpness around the perimeter, like an ultra-narrow hole saw. I would *love* to see a demonstration of how this thing works, a la http://www.circuittechctr.com/guides/guides.shtml for soldering.
August 1st, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Is that a reciprocating hot knife?
August 1st, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I’ve uploaded four more pics of the tip to my Flickr site:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1022/979444175_d87e1337a7_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1432/979444287_6959c88132_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1315/979444323_6dd3491de5_o.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1115/979444367_c7dc5c6f97_o.jpg
I just plugged the tool in again, and it’s very slight, but it feels like a vacuum is formed on the brass “T” fitting on the bottom of the unit when you pull the trigger.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:10 pm
They finally had a oscilloscope at the surplus sale? Damn, I need to start going to it again. I stopped going when I got tired of looking at the same crap every week.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:12 am
Yep! They’ve had some pretty good stuff recently. You’re right though… For a while there, it was just the same old stuff every week.
August 5th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
It is a hot knife. Pull the trigger and the blade on the end heats up, letting you slice through plastic mesh or sheet and seal the edge at the same time. I have used on of these many times.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I second that hot knife answer from Cameron.
August 7th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I’ll second the hot knife answer as well. I have seen it being used many times in nautical shops etc. for cutting polyester / ‘plastic’ rope: you can cut to length and melt the ends to keep them fron fraying at the same time. Pretty cool purchase therefore, especially since it seems to be a nice old, dependable model (check out that over the top heavy build: a modern one would be a flimsy glue gun-like thingy, right?).
August 13th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Many years ago, I had and used a hand tool with a tip just like that one to cut the inner traces on IBM 370 backplanes. I was told at the time there was a power tool to do the job but had never seen one. Last week I came across one that had been converted into a kids ray-gun and went off googleing for more info and came across this posting. Here is a link to what information I have collected so far. Including what I found here and elsewhere.
http://ibmcollectables.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=Thor
or http://tinyurl.com/3ex3yh
This tool is missing th rubber hose that connected the pump to the tip.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:11 am
It is a soldering iron. I have used them in the navy, stationed aboard several ships and working in tool issue as an electrician.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:53 am
no that aint no solderin gun, thats a wood burnin no gas havin apparatus
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 am
I was looking for info on a power drill my dad (who used to run a power tool repair business) gave me years ago and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found this “Name This Tool” post. What I have is a Thor 1/4″ compact drill that has “Code: E 110″ (the model no., I guess) on the specifications plate on top. From the rear of the drill up to the front-most point of the trigger it looks exactly like the tool pictured here. The drill measures ~6-1/4″ from the rear to the end of the chuck and ~5-5/8″ from the bottom of the grip to the top. I still use it although it needs a new set of brushes.
I posted some photos of it at http://www.flickr.com/photos/donboroughs/ .
March 14th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Don, it seems we both had similar situations. My dad gave me one just like yours except the gray paint was worn badly. It is at least 20 years old and still works well. It’s a single speed, no reverse but plenty powerful. You might try an electric motor repair shop for brushes. I’ll bypass the sending photos part since except for the serial numbers the two are the same.
Small world huh?
I guess THOR made several devices based on the same base unit… It would be interesting to see if there are more out there.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Came on line to look for brushes for my Thor drill Code E110. Let me know if you know a source. I tok over use of the drill in 1978 and have used it since. Small, powerful and reliable. The serial number is 9582-unreadable numbers. Thanks.