sure you're right Phil. Mostly I will be hogging out wood with forstner bits before routing. First job is to rebuild the benches in the workshop this Xmas holidays so I can get the Fobco up and running properly. I'm tight for space for everything so have to plan it out carefully so I can still get in there !
Pillar drill recommendations for a £300 budget
- Thread starter PeteCo
- Start date
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Does anyone know why some fobcos like mine have a much longer pillar than others? Mine is a bench model rather than a floor standing pedestal drill but still has a pillar which stands 41" high. Most others I have seen look much smaller. It's a squeeze to get it in the shed at 71" high when it's on the welded 30" pedestal stand that came with it.
Just curious about the different variations of this wonderful drill.
Cheers
Pete
Just curious about the different variations of this wonderful drill.
Cheers
Pete
woodbloke66
Established Member
Trevanion":30sgzrmf said:
You must have bought a 'Friday afternoon special'. I got hold of a Jet bench mounted drill some years ago and it's spot on; no complaints in any way, shape or form - Rob
Hi folks.
quick question about the Fobco Star which I am cleaning up ready to use in my small workshop
One of the pulleys is proving difficult to get off - it's the front one over the spindle and quill.
Looks to me like they are not the original pulleys (though they do look like the right type of cast iron pulley ) as I can see that someone has used a piece of copper sheet to make an internal sleeve to make the pulley fit the shaft diameter.
After trying to remove it using leverage from 2 screwdrivers - I decided to buy a gear puller to avoid damaging the pulley. The pulley seems to be iron rather than alloy but perhaps isn't the original pulley given the copper "insert"
I have checked that there isn't a second grub screw in either grub screw hole etc.
My question is whether it's ok to apply pressure from the gear puller directly to the top of the quill/spindle shaft to get the pulley off? I am a bit worried about doing some damage to the bearings down in the quill if I get this wrong
The gear puller central shaft is only about 12mm diameter guess I need to use something to widen it and sit it on top of the quill shaft ?
Hope that makes sense?
Any advice much appreciated
Cheers
Pete
quick question about the Fobco Star which I am cleaning up ready to use in my small workshop
One of the pulleys is proving difficult to get off - it's the front one over the spindle and quill.
Looks to me like they are not the original pulleys (though they do look like the right type of cast iron pulley ) as I can see that someone has used a piece of copper sheet to make an internal sleeve to make the pulley fit the shaft diameter.
After trying to remove it using leverage from 2 screwdrivers - I decided to buy a gear puller to avoid damaging the pulley. The pulley seems to be iron rather than alloy but perhaps isn't the original pulley given the copper "insert"
I have checked that there isn't a second grub screw in either grub screw hole etc.
My question is whether it's ok to apply pressure from the gear puller directly to the top of the quill/spindle shaft to get the pulley off? I am a bit worried about doing some damage to the bearings down in the quill if I get this wrong
The gear puller central shaft is only about 12mm diameter guess I need to use something to widen it and sit it on top of the quill shaft ?
Hope that makes sense?
Any advice much appreciated
Cheers
Pete
Trevanion
Greatest Of All Time
If you're pulling with the gear engaged into the divot on top of the shaft it won't affect the bearings down the bottom at all since all the load when you tighten up the gear is going into the pulley and into the divot in the shaft.
finish_that
Established Member
You are more likely to damage the pulley - crack it where the legs sit , put some packing in to spread the load and give the pulley hub a good 3 minute heat up with a blowlamp or heat gun before winding it off.
Came off fine with the gear puller.
Cleaned up and derusted all parts today.
Could do with some advice on how to deal with the angular contact bearings when I come to rebuild/ grease the quill and spindle. For now I am going to reassemble and get it running for a few tasks I have.
Cheers
Pete
Cleaned up and derusted all parts today.
Could do with some advice on how to deal with the angular contact bearings when I come to rebuild/ grease the quill and spindle. For now I am going to reassemble and get it running for a few tasks I have.
Cheers
Pete
Trevanion
Greatest Of All Time
I haven't got any experience to share with angular bearings other than they have a reputation for being a right pain in the behind, "Too tight!" and "Too loose!" will be your catchphrases for a good little while whilst you tinker with it. But once you've got that sweet spot where it runs freely without any play in the bearing will make it all worthwhile.
As far as grease goes, however, a common misconception seems to be that grease needs to be absolutely jam-packed into the bearing raceway to keep it running smoothly, this is not the case as now the motor has to work extra hard to churn up the grease on start-up and the friction from the sheer amount of grease can actually generate quite a lot of heat which can cause heat expansion in the bearing and therefore cause short life. Grease is actually more of a rust preventative in a bearing rather than a lubricator, its main purpose is keeping the surfaces of the balls and raceways free from rust and moisture whilst also acting as a lubricator.
My preferred grease, or rather what I have on hand is Shell Gadus S2, formerly known as Shell Alvania grease which many machine badges state the machine requires.
As far as grease goes, however, a common misconception seems to be that grease needs to be absolutely jam-packed into the bearing raceway to keep it running smoothly, this is not the case as now the motor has to work extra hard to churn up the grease on start-up and the friction from the sheer amount of grease can actually generate quite a lot of heat which can cause heat expansion in the bearing and therefore cause short life. Grease is actually more of a rust preventative in a bearing rather than a lubricator, its main purpose is keeping the surfaces of the balls and raceways free from rust and moisture whilst also acting as a lubricator.
My preferred grease, or rather what I have on hand is Shell Gadus S2, formerly known as Shell Alvania grease which many machine badges state the machine requires.
Thanks for the tips. Only grease I have on hand is a pot of Castrol LM grease ( which I use on everything in ignorance to be honest ! )
I guess it will do ?
I do also need to clean and grease the motor mount sliders - changing the belt is a PITA at the moment.
cheers
Pete
I guess it will do ?
I do also need to clean and grease the motor mount sliders - changing the belt is a PITA at the moment.
cheers
Pete
Finally a photo of my recently acquired and "refurbished" Fobco star.
I stripped and cleaned everything and put it back together - not sure about repainting yet . For now I just want to get using it !!
Going to invest in a dial gauge so I can measure the runout and tweak it.
Cheers
Pete
I stripped and cleaned everything and put it back together - not sure about repainting yet . For now I just want to get using it !!
Going to invest in a dial gauge so I can measure the runout and tweak it.
Cheers
Pete
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Trevanion
Greatest Of All Time
PeteCo":15nrmynx said:
It will probably be good enough.
woodbloke66":15nrmynx said:
I just saw this, I had a look online about the particular drill model after I bought it and apparently it was a common factory fault on them. I might have a go one day at trying to improve it or at least find the root of the problem, I reckon it might be that the bearing housing may be too large for the bearing but that's a pure guess. It doesn't really affect the use of the drill too much so I may never bother :lol:
