Fobco star bench drill

[Myfordman]

Return springs for older machine tend to be either unobtainable or sold at premium prices.

Hopefully someone with a similar machine could measure the thickness of the spring steel strip used and then you should be able to buy some spring strip from a clock restoration website. To form the ends, all you need to do is heat to red heat and allow to cool slowly and then bend with pliers.

hth

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I can't see why the first gun wouldn't work - I can't speak for the second, but I've only ever seen two different ends, and they both fit the same nipples.

 

[misterfish]

Tony at http://www.lathes.co.uk/fobco/ holds some spares for the drills. A while ago some were listed on Ebay but not at the moment.

If you want I'll take the spring cover off my drill and photograph it and try measuring the cross sectional size of the spring. The parts list that I have seen gives no spring specification.

Misterfish

 

[heatherw]

Mrfish, that would be wonderful, I was wondering how i was going to manage that. I'd also need the length, but I'd draw the line at getting you to uncoil it, something tells me that it would be very hard to get back in again. Anyone got any clever ideas about deducing the length from a photo? Some mysterious engineering solution? But if Mr fish can give me the width and thickness, that would be a start.

It could do with a new belt as well, the old one's got a nick in it. But I can probably get that here in Spain, that sort of spare isn't so hard to get locally. And presuming that the existing one is the correct one, there should be something written on it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's probably a standard "V" belt - just take it off and take it to a motor factors and get one the same length (assuming the existing one is the correct length).

 

[misterfish]

I've got to go up to Kingston today and will sort out pics etc when I get back. I seem to remember the belt on mine is actually marked with its size - I'll check that as well.

You might want to look at http://toolco.co.uk/pages/bakery/fobco- ... gs-204.php - you could see when they expect to get more in stock. Also have a look at http://www.lathes.co.uk/spring/ where he says he can arrange supplies of suitable springs!

Misterfish

 

[misterfish]

The drive belt on mine is branded 'Fenner' and its size is A36

The return spring cross section is about 8 x 0.65 mm - as near as I can measure. Although this is not as wide as the one I've linked to above it does the job fine. I did have to increase the tension on my drill when I first got it.

This is the inside of my spring cover with the cover removed

Misterfish

 

[heatherw]

I've been putting this off for ages, but it really is a hassle using the drill without the return spring, you need about 4 hands. So i went up the local machine shop this morning and asked their opinion. Of course, they wanted to see the broken spring, and I haven't got it. Anyone know the correct length for the Fobco Star return spring? It seems that they can obtain springs for various (Spanish) machines so it would just be a case of getting the nearest size and hoping to adapt it. If noone can help I'll be doing some complicated calculations from mrfishes photos and my drill to see whether I can arrive at an educated guess.

I've just emailed Tony at lathes.co.uk for the third time, no answer as yet so unless he answers this time I'm writing him off as a solution.

 

[misterfish]

Although you are in Spain these may be of interest - http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... n%20spring and http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... g&_sacat=0

From what I can see you ideally need a spring 1.5 inches x 0. 5 inches (further delving into my drill looks like it is that size). The ones that are closest that I've found so far are the 8 inch drill type - they are about the right width but a bit narrower. I'll see if I can find anything elso of use.

Misterfish

 

[heatherw]

Cool, misterfish, it never occurred to me to look on Amazon for springs. I'll get someone to bring one out for me, it's not the end of the world if it doesn't work. The crucial part, I think, is the length. If it isn't long enough then the drill won't drill as deep as it should, the spring will be overextended before it gets to the maximum drilling depth.

 

[misterfish]

I must admit that I didn't think about Amazon directly to tell the truth, but did a search on Google images and then chose the option to look at the original pages of things that looked hopeful and sort of worked backwards!

Misterfish

 

[sjalloq]

I realise this is an old post but it was kind of left hanging...

did you manage to get a replacement return spring and did it do the job?

 

[heatherw]

Hmm, yes, sorry about that. The Amazon spring worked perfectly, though I had to tighten it up a round more than it came with to get the quill to return fully, which was not entirely straightforward.; I can't remember which one I bought as it was so long ago.........but could probably look it up on my Amazon account if necessary. (Getting a bit worried about using Amazon, are they really treating their workers so badly?). I've been in the UK for the last 9 months so haven't been using it much, now back in Spain and raring to go........