Another Fobco Thread - repainting a Star 8)

[Jimbo!]

Hello all,

My first topic here, I'm a general DIYer and not an engineer.

I've just acquired, courtesy of my uncle, a Fobco Star and am well chuffed with it too - replaces a £35 Draper bench press
http://sittingbourne.homeserver.com/dow ... main-1.jpg

He has cleaned up and enamelled the base and table in a superb high-gloss black already. The top seems mechanically perfect, smooth and quiet.

I'd like to have a go at re-painting the top. The belt cover seems easy enough to remove, but what about the quill and springs etc? Any pointers (or warnings!) greatly appreciated.

Once in pieces I was going to just give it a good clean in degreaser then paint using gloss enammel, black for the belt cover and maybe white for the body.

8) Many thanks for any and all help and advice!

 

[Charley]

Here's the photo;

 

[dickm]

Hello all,
The belt cover seems easy enough to remove, but what about the quill and springs etc? Any pointers (or warnings!) greatly appreciated.

Once in pieces I was going to just give it a good clean in degreaser then paint using gloss enammel, black for the belt cover and maybe white for the body.

Can't remember the details, but when I removed the quill on mine, it seemed pretty straigtforward once the pulley was off.
See comments on the spring in my posting in the other Fobco thread.
Why not repaint in the original cream - keep it original?

 

[Rich]

Hi Jimbo, sorry to steal your thread but this is a question for Dickm, if you go to projects and workshop tours there is a pic of my fobco star (under Rich's workshop) I'm sorry I don't know how to transfer the pic to this thread, anyway my fobco appears to be in it's original condition and it's blue in colour, I understood this to be it's right colour, am I wrong?
regards,

Rich.

 

[Jimbo!]

Hello Rich,

I've just gotten some high-quality scans of original documentation for the Star (and the other two models actually, including cut-away diagrams ) - these are available from here:

http://www.lathes.co.uk/fobco

Anyway the finish is listed as "Cream and Black Oil-Proof Machine Enamel". I suppose you could check with fobco direct, their Telex number is on there too - 341946 !!!

 

[Rich]

Thanks for thr info Jimbo, most helpful, it looks as though my standard 1/2" 4 speed unit has been repainted.
regards,

Rich.

 

[dickm]

anyway my fobco appears to be in it's original condition and it's blue in colour, I understood this to be it's right colour, am I wrong?

Definitely not wrong. I <<think>> they were probably done in several colours. Mine's actually a bluey-grey, possibly the same as your's, which appears to be original, but most of the ones I've seen were that creamy colour. Which, I suspect, may be the same paint as quite a lot of Myford ML8s had. (now how's that for a piece of totally useless information?) :lol:

 

[Jimbo!]

So in general we think a re-paint should be fairly do-able then?

Presumably a good clean, rub back flakey bits, red oxide, then enamel?

Also - is that a taper adapter in mine, or is that just how they are?

Thanks!

 

[dickm]

So in general we think a re-paint should be fairly do-able then?

Presumably a good clean, rub back flakey bits, red oxide, then enamel?

Also - is that a taper adapter in mine, or is that just how they are?

Thanks!

The paint layer on mine is quite thick - dunno if possibly it was originally stove enamelled? I guess a re-paint would certainly be do-able, just depends how much time you want to spend filling and flatting the flakey bits, and how close a match you want to the colour. And given that there is likely to be a lot of grease around, you'll probably need to clean it down with some solvent and key the whole surface. Have to confess, I probably wouldn't (indeed, haven't) bother, but then I'm lazy.
Hadn't noticed the strange extension on which your chuck sits. Just glancing at the pic, I'd assumed it was the quill. My chuck sits directly on the end of the quill, which suggests you have someone's special adaptor. The only problem I can see with it is that having the chuck on that extension will multiply any play dramatically, for no obvious gain. But maybe someone else can think of a reason for it?

 

[Rich]

Hi Dick, thanks for the reply, whatever the colour, what a wonderful machine, table tilt, head rotation, before I reorganised the w/s it was at a lower level than the mitre saw and morticer and I could alter the drill table to support long lengths and it's so easy to change speeds.regards,
Rich.