Fobco Drill Extended Spindle VS Regular Spindle Pros and Con

[JMSHistoric]

Hi All,

I'm new here but have been lurking and learning from the forum for some time. I've been on the hunt for a Fobco Star ether a bench or floor standing model.

One thing I'm confused about though are the pros/cons between extended spindle versions and regular versions? I know that they use different tapers and obviously the extended spindle is not ideal for a bench mounted version but which is preferable/stronger?

It seems to me like the extended versions would be more prone to flex and warping over time causing them to become untrue. Also is it possible and easy to swap the extended spindle for a regular short spindle?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Rorschach]

Get a short spindle and buy a MT extender, I have one for my drill, very handy and takes seconds to fit.

 

[flh801978]

As far as I,ve seen there are 3 spindles for a fobco star
1. A short taper to mount chuck to directly
2. An extended mt2 socket
3. A mt2 or mt1 socket up through the spindle (rare)

All easy to change but not easy to obtain you can’t fit a no3 into a 1 or 2 machine

No 1 is the most common but you can only use the drill chuck no Accesories available to use mt drills
No 2 is less common but takes up 4 inches of available space between head and table...you can use any mt2 fittings...more likely to get out of true also
No 3 is rarer and perhaps best if you can find one.
It’s not easy to see at a glance whether a machine is a1 or 3. ( on eBay listings say )
No 1 has a knurled collar above the chuck to extract the chuck...these sometimes missing

IAN