Fobco Star Modifications

Has anyone on here ever converted the bench mounted version of this drilling machine into a floor standing one by simply swapping the 55mm diameter column for a longer one ?

Looking at photo's of both it seems the floor standing one has both a bigger base and table. I was wondering about bolting the smaller base to a frame to increase its footprint, but would be interested to hear any opinions or suggestions please.

I have a chance to buy a bench model locally and would want to also make a new extended spindle for it to accept 2MT drills and chucks instead of the JT6 one fitted as standard. That would take up more working height hence the reason for converting to floor standing.

Thanks

Phil

Hi Phil The floor standing one has a solid column and a wind up mechanism for raiseing and lowering the table. It would have to be bolted to the floor or a substantial plate fastened to the floor of a wooden floor. You could make a new spindle with a Morse taper, they were available on some models.

David

Phil

What you are proposing will end up being a pretty serious expenditure of effort and money. Unless you have suitable material stashed away a new column won't be cheap and making a new spindle will be a fairly serious undertaking. Need a decent size, accurate lathe to do the job easily. Then there is the wind-up mechanism mentioned by David which is pretty much essential for a floor mounted metal working drill. Partial offload of table plus tool weight by either a gas strut or simple hanging weight is OK on wood working drills but doesn't work that well with the generally heavier stuff involved in metalworking.

Had a Pollard Corona type primarily intended for woodworkers having a hanging counterweight which came close to OK. But the table ran on box ways and was very heavy giving less relative change in weight when work was mounted up. Box ways stopped the table twisting so heaving up didn't upset the alignment. I feel that on a round column you'd never get it straight again after moving up if you don't have mechanical lifter. Whether the common rack and handle type or Pollard style double screw-jack.

Finally, although the Star is a more than decent quality drill its the big 7-Eight and 10-Eight that are the standout floor standing versions. In my view about as good as a round column floor standing drill can go.

If the price is right buy it, use it for now and be prepared to trade up when the right machine comes along. Always a ready market for good quality bench drills at acceptable prices. Floor standing ones, especially hefty floor standing ones can be hard to shift. My Pollard 15AY cost me £100 plus collection which, objectively, was silly.

Clive

I have got a floor standing fobco star and it doesn’t have any wind up mechanism, so not essential to have.

Having looked at lots of photo's on Google, I think the wind up table system was only fitted to the 7/8 model and bigger machines.

I am a bit undecided what to do at the moment, I currently have one of the typical cheapo Chinese pillar drills, and whilst it is just about capable of drilling holes, there is not much else good to say about it really.

All my other machine tools apart from a bandsaw are good old fashioned British made quality items, and I would like my drill to be the same.

I might just buy the Fobco if the price is right and mount it on a fabricated stand and see how I get on with it for now.

Phil

Hi Phil,

I think that you would be happy with the bench mount for 99% of the work you will do. I had a floor mount Kerry and only used the extra height available once.

I've just bought a mercury bench drill and that has a Bt 16 taper which I thought would limit its flexibility. I bought a new keyless chuck and tried it but it would not run concentrically. Pit the old Jacob's back on and it was fine, new chuck; all over the shop.

As long as your chuck has enough range to take the drills you use you will be fine. It's not essential to have a Morse quill. Nice but not essential.

If you need a bigger machine save your pennies and buy bigger, don't try to force a small machine into a bigger role. I have just taken that advice regarding a perfectly good small bandsaw, leave it alone and buy the right machine.

Best regards Mick

Just a quick update on this one.

I have just finished a total rebuild and refurbishment of the Fobco as a standard bench drill, but whilst doing it was offered a Boxford PD8 floor standing eight speed drill fitted with inverter speed control also.

So I have decided to to buy the Boxford instead and let the Fobco go to a new home. See adverts section.

Phil