Fobco star bench drill

[heatherw]

Evening all,

I'm not sure where to post this, but I think this is the most likely place.

I'm thinking of buyng a secondhand Fobco Star and the only thing I'm not sure about it is the height of the pillar. How difficult would it be to change the pillar for a longer one? There are a couple of workshops here in the village which have big metal lathes, so the diameter post wouldnt be a problem. are there a lot of attachments to the pillar or is it just a straight piece of steel?

 

[dickm]

Just one dirty great heavy steel bar on mine. But is your potential one floor or bench mounting? Mine's bench.

 

[heatherw]

Hi Dick, it's bench. To be honest I only need another 10cm or so, just so as to be able to use longer drill bits, but the distance from chuck to table seems quite small when you consider the size of the drill head. Is the post just a straight round bar then, without any notches or taps to attach things to? I'm fairly sure it's solid in the Fobco.

I thought there might be someone around who's rebuilt one, and would know what lies underneath.

 

[chippy1970]

Just a plain solid post as far as I know , I refurbed one last year

 

[misterfish]

I recently needed to drill into a larger than usual lump of timber with my Fobco star and initially had a similar problem. However, I just rotated the table out of the way and used the base of the drill which gave me more than adequate space. As the head can be moved up and down the post it was easy to get it to a usable position. If you want I'll go and measure the size of the working depth I ended up with.

Misterfish

 

[Racers]

Hi,

If you mount the drill at the edge of your bench you can turn the head round and have it hang over the edge, work holding might be fun.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

When I drilled my bench for holdfasts, I made sure that four of the holes coincided with the slots on the base of the drill, so the drill can be bolted down and then swung in an arc towards and over the vice - if I need angled holes, I can put the item in the vice.

 

[heatherw]

Mmm, very interesting mr Fish. I didn't know you could move the head up and down. Although having said that I'm not sure whether I'd be capable of moving it up, down obviously wouldn't be a problem, Yes please, if you could measure the longest possible distance between chuck and table that would be great.

The weight is also the reason why I wouldn't be moving this item around much, but I suppose I could make it a dedicated table and I just happen to have a spare Record quick release vice which has been lying around for years waiting for me to think of a use for it, this could go on the edge of the table as phil.p says and problem solved. The question is which is more work, making a longer pillar or making a dedicated table. And which am I more likely to finish in the foreseeable future..........

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Unless you have absolutely no other option, do not change the pillar of a pillar drill. If you do have to, ensure that you end up with a bar that is dead straight, and finished to the same diameter as the original to close limits (no larger, and no more than about 0.0005" smaller). The reason is that the accuracy of the tool depends on the alignments maintained between base, head and table by the closeness of fit between pillar and the bores on the castings. If any are loose, that assembly will no longer be square to the rest - the amount may not be noticable, but may be significant in machine tool terms. Any inaccuracy will reflect in the work, and could be magnified several times depending on what is misaligned, and how.

If you need greater daylight between spindle and worktable, it may be worth looking for a floor-standing drill, or using one of the dodges outlined above.

 

[flh801978]

I have a bench mounted Fobco Star and find its sometimes limited in its capacitys so I bought a startrite floor standing machine however not much difference in practice
so I recently bought and fitted a new column for the startrite floor stander drill so I had a bit more room for large assemblies.
I needed a 2and3/4" diameter column....found that very difficult to find ended up with a 70mm length 6' long solid rather than a tube as originally ( £155)
Very heavy 60kg...
Now 70mm is about 5thou " over 2 3/4" however my nominal 70mm was only 69.95mm
the moving table fitted perfectly over the 70mm bar
the head and base didnt so taking a 75mm diameter flap wheel a few minutes work in a drill opened out the casting in the base and head so it was a perfect fit.
The startrite like the fobco clamps by a pair of slugs with coarse tapers gripping the column shaft from behind therefore pressing and registering the head and table to the front edge of the column.
Your column shaft would have to be massively bent for any appreciable inaccuracy to show up
So I would say go ahead and fit a longer shaft...just be sure to bolt down the base so no chance of it falling over

Ian

 

[dickm]

I love the way some folks are suggesting moving the drill around. It took two of us (one of whom was the muscular then-boyfriend of my daughter) to get my Fobco into place and it ain't moving again .

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I have a bench mounted Fobco Star and find its sometimes limited in its capacitys so I bought a startrite floor standing machine however not much difference in practice
so I recently bought and fitted a new column for the startrite floor stander drill so I had a bit more room for large assemblies.
I needed a 2and3/4" diameter column....found that very difficult to find ended up with a 70mm length 6' long solid rather than a tube as originally ( £155)
Very heavy 60kg...
Now 70mm is about 5thou " over 2 3/4" however my nominal 70mm was only 69.95mm
the moving table fitted perfectly over the 70mm bar
the head and base didnt so taking a 75mm diameter flap wheel a few minutes work in a drill opened out the casting in the base and head so it was a perfect fit.
The startrite like the fobco clamps by a pair of slugs with coarse tapers gripping the column shaft from behind therefore pressing and registering the head and table to the front edge of the column.
Your column shaft would have to be massively bent for any appreciable inaccuracy to show up
So I would say go ahead and fit a longer shaft...just be sure to bolt down the base so no chance of it falling over

Ian

If you don't mind a 'near enough' drilling machine, or try the new column trick with a budget model, then fine. However, it seems pointless to compromise something like a Fobco, which was built to be accurate, by replacing the column by something fitted by waving a flap-wheel at it.

To give an indication of the lengths that Fobco and similar premium manufacturers went to, the table is fitted to be about 0.001" higher at the front than at the back. The reason for that is the deflection induced by the weight of the machine vice, job and drilling pressure will deflect the table to bring it square to the column, so the hole drilled will be square to a job fixed to the table.

If the head is no longer square to the column because of flap-wheel 'adjustments', the spindle will no longer be parallel to the column to the accuracy built into the machine by the maker. For woodworking, that may well be good enough, but for the precision work for which the machine was built and set up, it won't be.

I'm not trying to be smart-arse or critical - just trying to point out so that you're aware.

 

[Myfordman]

The usual trick to get more range out of a bench drill for odd jobs now and then is to mount it on the end of a bench and for those bigger jobs, swing the head round 90 degrees to over hang the end of the bench so the workpiece can go down as far as the floor if necessary.

 

[misterfish]

With the table swung and rotated out of the way and with the head near the top of the column there is about a 32cm space between the bottom of the chuck and the base - obviously you have to allow for the length of the drill bit itself. The drill head mechanism gives nearly 10cm of drilling depth. I could probably raise the head another couple of cm.

The head of the drill can be moved up and down the column and clamped in any required position - it is heavy (as is the whole drill). There is also an adjustable collar on the column that goes below the head that helps support the head mechanism and allows you to set it so the head will not drop below a selected level and allow the head to be unclamped and rotated if required.

I could photo these bits if you want.

Misterfish

 

[ossieosborne]

I also have the bench mounted Fobco Star and I too went down the route of looking for a longer (floor mounting) pillar just to drill accurate dowel holes in long stock.

Two things swayed me against it: The tolerances of the replacement pillar, as mentioned by Cheshirechappie, and the fact the original pillar could well be an interference fit into the base table (it’s certainly a tight fit).

I came up with a different solution utilising the swivelling drill head and intermediate table. With the base placed close to the edge of a bench (cabinet on castors in my case) I made a table to hold long pieces vertically down the side of bench. The following pics might help:

My current working table bolted directly to the intermediate table. Thanks to 9fingers for the idea.

A "universal" plate (made out of Tufnol) to which I can fit various other tables. This plate would normally be bolted through the slots on the intermediate table (with the large table removed).

A simple table made from 2 pieces of tufnol and held together at right angles to each other.

Side view of the table showing the vertical fence.

Stock clamped to the fence.

By being able to slide the right angled table back and forth as well as rotating the drill head, it is quite simple to position the drill bit accurately.

TOP TIP:
To move the drill head and or the intermediate table up and down, I use a small screw type bottle jack.

HTH

Oz

 

[heatherw]

Misterfish, thanks for that. No need to photograph the bits, I was wondering what that collar thing was for. 32cm isn't as bad as I thought, I'll measure the existing one tomorrow to see how much more it is. And my long drill bits, of course.

ossieosborne I love the adjustable table thingy, I normally do that with cramps and it can get a bit crowded with stops on both sides and 2 for the fence as well. I want one.

The other tufnol arrangement seems to be a kind of wooden crossvice, is that right? I wonder if you can get Tufnol here, I don't think I've ever seen any.

Thankyou everyone, I'm learning lots of new stuff from this thread.

 

[ossieosborne]

The "t" shaped table is just a means of presenting a vertical fence to which the stock is clamped.

I used Tufnol simply because I had a sheet of it. Good quality (Baltic Birch) ply would be a suitable alternative as long as the right angled joint is well supported as mine is.

Some more piccies:

A different view of the table

My universal plate bolted through the slots in the intermediate table

The "vertical fence" table installed. The slots allow for N/S movement when aligning the drill bit to the required mark.

Front view of the table with the drill head slewed. As you can see, the drill press is currently in the centre as i've yet to need it "over the edge" since i placed it on the cabinet.

Closer view of the right angled bit

Side view of the vertical fence to which you clamp your stock

Another shot of my standard work table showing a typical holddown clamp

The fence moved forward allows you to overcome the restriction of the "throat".

Hope some of this helps. If you need any more info on these tables (not that i'm an expert), you know where to find me.

Oz

 

[heatherw]

Well, my Fobco Star is now here in Spain waiting to be pressed into service. It is VERY heavy. So when I want to move it I take it apart and move it bit by bit.

There are a few defects. Of course. It's been slosh painted blue. I've managed to get most of it off the tables and you can see it was originally cream. However, to get the paint off the casing I'd have to take the gears off to take it apart and I'm not prepared to try to do that until I have a better reason, such as a new motor. The motor it has works fine but is only 1/6 HP. I drilled a 35mm hole with a Forstner bit with no problem, (and it looks like no runout) but I think that anything much bigger in harder wood might be a problem. It's still a considerable upgrade on the one it's replacing. Would you always use the lowest speed on wood?

The other bigger defect which I'm not sure how to solve is the return spring. I opened the little spring compartment and it's empty. This was not obvious before because the lever which stops quill movement was tightened so the quill was up. Is it possible to buy new springs for Fobcos?

And it has little grease nipples which I don't know how to use. We had a bandsaw a long time ago which had grease caps which you screwed down every day, but how do you get grease in to grease nipples?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Any grease gun should either clip over the nipple or depress the ball bearing and "inject" into it. Get hold of a grease gun - it's easy.

 

[heatherw]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8oz-Push-Type ... 5d3dae9b8a

Would this do the job? I'd rather not have a full sized grease gun cluttering the place up. None of my other machines require one. As far as I know. Hmm, perhaps I should investigate further.

Or maybe this, but I can't see any way of fitting nozzles onto it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360654676189? ... 4.m1438.l2