Fobco Star refurb and maintenance

[D Hart]

Hi all,

Hope I'm posting in the right section...

Have just bought an old fobco star, which seems generally to be in very good used condition, if rather grubby. Certainly no play in the spindle/quill and the table is in good nick, with virtually no damage. I'm tempted, however, to do a basic strip down and rebuild, just so I know that all is as it should be in the workings. I have the dismantling guide from lathes.co.uk, which is very comprehensive, but I do have some questions to put to you all before I embark on this.

The main question I guess, is how achievable is this for someone with limited experience refurbing machine tools, as well as a relatively limited range of tools at my disposal. The guide says the engineering and construction of the drill is quite straightforward, but I still have some reservations, so feel free to provide encouragement at this point! Does this even need doing, given that the machine seems to have been fairly well maintained and is in good working order?

Most of my worries boil down to reassembly, where the guide says to end-load the bearings, but gives no indication of how much end loading is required. So any guidance on this would be much appreciated, as well as advice on the best way to achieve this - I think some of you have used long clamps to do this? Or should i just be leaning on a length of steel tubing? I'm particularly concerned about the 'single smart tap with a two pound lump of brass' required to seat the bearings, as this seems very specific but at the same time quite vague. Certainly, I don't have a two pound lump of brass, and I worry that my idea of a smart tap might differ from that in the guide, so I'd be very grateful for any advice on this also.

Finally, some advice on the best lubricants to use would be very useful, as well as some idea of how often the machine requires lubrication.

I'm sure once I get under way with this, there will be a host of other queries but I think the above is sufficient for now and any advice/guidance would be most gratefully received...

Thanks in advance ,

Diccon

 

[colinc]

Hi,

To be honest, I think you are committed already, just crack on an source advice as you go if you need it. I just overhauled and repainted and refurbished my old boxford drill and it was all colmon sense really. Well worth the effort though, it just purrs away when I turn it on.

Colin

 

[D Hart]

Thanks Colin - was beginning to lose hope that anyone would reply! Do you have any advice on correct lubricants to use in old drills like this, or will a standard lithium based grease do the trick?

 

[AJB Temple]

I fully refurbed a Star. Strip, rewire, plush, repaint, new chuck, new belt, grease. I am no engineer and I found it easy. I got lithium grease from a machine shop. I had the advantage of almost total ignorance to carry me through. Try to keep all of the old plates intact.

 

[D Hart]

Thanks AJB, just the sort of encouragement I needed! I'm probably ignorant enough to prevail! Did you replace the bearings or just refit the old ones? And did you have any problems getting the right end-loading on them on reassembly?

 

[AJB Temple]

I re-used the bearings as they were fine. I did not fret at all about end loading!

In my case the FOBCO is used in my workshop, for woodwork and limited metalwork. I do not need engineering machine shop precision and so I blithely did the refurb and I am very pleased with it. The drill has been totally excellent. I would not part with it.

 

[colinc]

Can't help on the end loading issue I'm afraid but care and common sense will prevail I am sure. Have fun,

Colin

 

[AES]

Have you started stripping already? If not, and if the drill runs OK (you said no run out on the quill, and hopefully NIL funny noises, etc when it runs) then personally if you've not started I'd leave it alone.

By all means give it a clean up and lub, even a repaint if necessary (externally), but while I agree with the others and doubt there's anything there that's at all complicated and beyond the capabilities of any person with basic mechanical sense (which it sounds from your post that you have), IMO there's a lot to be said for the old saying about "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

Just my take, but if you have already started, don't worry, there's plenty of members here who'll help with any Qs that arise (as you see above, there's people who have experience of that particular drill - I haven't).

 

[AJB Temple]

Lot of logic to that AES, but if you want them looking smart (I did) then it is much easier to clean and paint in a professional way with the drill stripped down. It's a pretty simple assembly really. I've actually got two Fobco stars, one of which I bought already refurbed. There is not a great deal to get wrong.

 

[D Hart]

Thanks all, and sorry for the delay replying - work gets in the way sometimes.

AES - there is a lot to say for the 'if it ain't broke' approach and so far I've limited myself to fairly harmless tinkerings - previous experience tells me I probably should not rush into something like a full strip down without adequate preparation. Anyway, currently I can't even get the chuck off, so any attempts at anything more involved could be a long and protracted process!!

 

[wallace]

I believe if its well maintained condition and just needs a clean then leave alone, if its been clown painted and obviously needs attention then a full strip is the thing to do. Does it have original paint

 

[D Hart]

Thanks Wallace, yes on the whole I think it is pretty well maintained, though I had the plate over the switch off today and there is a tonne of excess grease inside the casting! I'm coming round to the 'less is more' approach to this machine and currently am concentrating on replacing the grease nipples with something compatible with modern guns/couplers so I can at least get some fresh grease in there. However, I cannot get the chuck off the spindle taper for the life of me. Any suggestions? I suspect application of heat is the only thing that will shift this now...

 

[AES]

As said before, I don't know this particular machine, but often (mine included, a cheapo Rexxon) although the chuck is held into the spindle with a Morse Taper (mine's MT 3), the chuck is held onto the MT part with an adaptor (in my case it's B16). This is bolted to the MT taper part - either from above, or below (through the chuck, when fully open).

HTH

 

[memzey]

Hi Diccon,

Can you post a picture of your Star, front on, with the quill extended please? There are a number of us with the same machine but different variants drift out the chuck in different ways. Pictures would help us to help you quite a bit.

 

[D Hart]

I did open up the chuck but I didn't see any evidence for a screw/bolt holding the chuck onto the taper. Will get some pics later on, when i'm next up the workshop, but it does have the knurled ring, which is exposed when the depth stop is moved up the quill.

thanks again, all of you!

 

[memzey]

If you have the knurled ring then that’s the way to remove the chuck. Forget about screws holding the taper etc. Extend the quill as far as it will go then lock it off in position. Loosen the depth stop holder and shuffle it up an inch or two, then using a set of mole grips or a correctly sized C spanner, turn the knurled ring in a clockwise rotation. The chuck will fall out so have something soft for it to land on!

 

[D Hart]

Here is a pic of the quill at full extension, showing the knurled ring:

It seems to be proper stuck tho: I have tried both a c-spanner and a hammer and punch, but to no avail, so any suggestions as to a way forward would be gratefully received. I've been wary of using too much force, especially with a hammer and punch, for fear of bending the spindle. But its all a bit of a struggle to stop the spindle rotating as I apply force to it. Best approach so far has been to chuck a big allen key as a handle and use the c-spanner but I don't seem to have the strength to shift it! I guess its possible someone's used some loctite or similar? If I was to use some heat on it, what would be the best way to go about this? Would a hot air gun be sufficient, or do I need to go buy a blow torch?

 

[memzey]

Looks lovely. Can’t imagine why anyone would have put loctite on that part, it’s probably just stuck. I’d get a good penetrant on it like plus gas and try working the ring in both directions to break the seal. I used mole grips, directly on the ring, tapped with a hammer to get mine going but I don’t think it was as stuck as yours appears to be. I did wrap the ring with leather to prevent damage and improve grip though. Perhaps try that? I don’t think warming the ring up with a hot air gun would hurt and may help as well. I wouldn’t go the blow torch route myself.

 

[memzey]

By the way I don’t think it matters whether the chuck turns as you rotate the ring. That might actually help come to think about it. Just try with mole grips and penetrating oil and let us know how you get on.

 

[D Hart]

Thanks memzey, I'll give it another go. Just to clarify tho, it's the chuck that's stuck, not the ring, which turns freely. I have had some WD40 on the chuck where it mates with the taper (left for 24 hours or so), also to no avail, but I'll try something like plus gas and see how I get on. Failing that, I guess I'll just leave it for now! There's a bit of runout on the chuck at full extension but nothing so bad that I can't live with it for a while. I'm more concerned at present with how to get grease into the machine via its antiquated nipples, so any advice on that also gratefully recieved!

Thanks again,