Fobco 1/2 Cap Drill Restoration

[Vince Martin-Smith]

Hey thanks heaps to everyone who sent info.... really appreciated.
Will send pics once part is ready to go.

Agroshield thanks especially for the detailed description of how to work it out from first principles ... you are of course correct. I started down that path but thought as some folks already had their machines in various states of disassembly that it would be sensible to ask

Being a referb I wanted to stick to the original design rather than going for a plain chamfer design which as you point out would certainly be easier. Although would this not place more stress on a much smaller point of contact when under load ? Just academic curiosity.

Anyhow - back to the shop. Have parts to make

 

[Dieselman 63]

All this talk has got me reinvigorated - mine is now in bits again and getting a proper going over. The head is fully stripped of the dud paint and now the casting can be primed. More updates later.

 

[R-D-R]

@Dieselkid 63 is that the fobco cream under there? I was trying to figure out which colours they came in when selecting mine and came to the conclusion they were all cream to start with

started priming mine this morning, son commented on way to school it looks like a spaceship i'm making

 

[Dieselman 63]

Yes they were all cream except for the Universal which was a sort of turquoise colour. Then there's the 7/8 and 10/8, they are much larger and sophisticated machines and are a similar turquoise. I strongly dislike the cream so I opted for a colour of my own choice. People were keen for me to keep the original paint with all its patina, but really it was so knackered, any time you knocked it it flaked off. Mine is in a similar state, it's in primer now too.

 

[R-D-R]

I like machines with patina but my main casting was like yours the paint was starting to flake off if you touched it. The top looks really good though so i'm going for cream and hoping it all matches otherwise ill end up painting the top which i really don't want to do. I decided not to go mental with the filler i've seen some restoration projects where the casting looks super smooth but i quite like the rough look it is an industrial machine after all.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Time to put some pictures to the words.

The first step was to remove the last of the crap yellow paint. Filler, scraping with chisels and then sanding was my plan of attack. As usual it was a lovely, filthy job.

Once that was done I could sand it all up and fill any more crevices that were particularly bad

The first primer goes on - this layer highlighted more mistakes so more sanding was in order to sort them out

And finally we are here - one casting fully primed and awaiting the topcoat.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Hey thanks heaps to everyone who sent info.... really appreciated.
Will send pics once part is ready to go.

Agroshield thanks especially for the detailed description of how to work it out from first principles ... you are of course correct. I started down that path but thought as some folks already had their machines in various states of disassembly that it would be sensible to ask

Being a referb I wanted to stick to the original design rather than going for a plain chamfer design which as you point out would certainly be easier. Although would this not place more stress on a much smaller point of contact when under load ? Just academic curiosity.

Anyhow - back to the shop. Have parts to make

I've just seen you're from New Plymouth - where did you get your machine from and how much for if I may ask? I've only ever seen three in NZ for sale, a silver one a while back, a cream one in Auckland and my one which I had shipped from Christchurch. It's hard finding old machinery here.

I'd be interested (as would others I'm sure) to see pics. Using a site like Imgur and linking the BB code, or uploading direct to the forum is easy if you're unfamiliar with posting pictures.

 

[Vince Martin-Smith]

I believe it was from a deceased estate in Hamilton - my sister bought a bulk load of stuff so not sure what it was priced at - she was using it for wood work (violin making to be specific) but found it too heavy for the kind of work she was doing so I swapped it for my smaller lighter weight machine (win win . Poor thing has been stuck in storage for the past 9 years and I finally have a workshop back so have been re-acquiring my machinery and tools and pulling stuff out of storage and cleaning it all up.

Workshop is almost back and functional now... sans drill press until I get that cotter replaced.

I wasn't actually going to referb the whole machine - but having seen all the nice new shiny machines people have peen posting - I kind of got the guilts and decided to go the whole hog. It's a lovely machine and has many years of use still in it.

 

[500e]

I like green but why are they on their side how do I rotate them they are ok till I load to thread.Has the same rash as @dazzas

MOD - Fixed photos

 

[Farside]

I like green but why are they on their side how do I rotate them they are ok till I load to thread.Has the same rash as @dazzas

As you shot them on a cellphone, there's a bit attached to the image which will tell the 'phone to display them the way they were shot. You could run them through an image editor on your PC which will strip that bit out and save them the way you want.

 

[Windy Miller]

As you shot them on a cellphone, there's a bit attached to the image which will tell the 'phone to display them the way they were shot. You could run them through an image editor on your PC which will strip that bit out and save them the way you want.

Well I never knew that!

 

[Dieselman 63]

Well for the first time in a while it's looking on the road to being good. The base is primed and painted gloss black. The head had some defects on the plate side so these have been rectified and primed. Still waiting on that green paint to fully harden before I put a second coat on, I'll leave it a week. I've kept the inside Fobco cream - I actually like it for the insides and it seems a shame to chip this stuff off as it's good and hard unlike what was on the body. I quite like it when machines have yellow inside so you can see the workings easier. I've gone for yellow paint on the lettering too. Tried white but that came up a bit garish, the yellow softens it. Can't wait to have it all done.

 

[Farside]

Well for the first time in a while it's looking on the road to being good. The base is primed and painted gloss black. The head had some defects on the plate side so these have been rectified and primed. Still waiting on that green paint to fully harden before I put a second coat on, I'll leave it a week. I've kept the inside Fobco cream - I actually like it for the insides and it seems a shame to chip this stuff off as it's good and hard unlike what was on the body. I quite like it when machines have yellow inside so you can see the workings easier. I've gone for yellow paint on the lettering too. Tried white but that came up a bit garish, the yellow softens it. Can't wait to have it all done.

I like the tin of KillerKat for scale. Beats a mug.

 

[Dieselman 63]

I like the tin of KillerKat for scale. Beats a mug.

That's actually a 500ml tin of Wattyl Killrust, and it's a structural element at the moment!

 

[500e]

Sorry to hijack thread Farside not taken with phone, in Picasa they were on their side I rotated & they show correct orientation when viewed in Picasa or my photos, is there a way to rotate in this forum.

 

[Farside]

Sorry to hijack thread Farside not taken with phone, in Picasa they were on their side I rotated & they show correct orientation when viewed in Picasa or my photos, is there a way to rotate in this forum.

Hmm... normally you can open them in a photo editor on your pc and save them in the correct orientation (you might have to be firm with them). That way, they should show up correctly here on upload. I'd jumped to thinking they were 'phone pics because that used to be a common problem with many of them. It might be that Picasa isn't setting the orientation correctly, so try something else, like Irfanview, FastOne or Gimp.

 

[Dieselman 63]

fftopic: upload to PC, upload to Imgur, link BB Codefftopic:

 

[Dieselman 63]

Back to normality, here's some progress for you!

Well a little fore-warning, the picture you're about to see features bright sunshine, concrete that was getting a bit hot to walk on bare footed and out of frame a sprawling cat enjoying the warmth. The perks of living 18,000km from home

It was a really sunny day so I put on a coat of black to the base - the second coat actually. It dried well and that's really good, because now the column and base are done done done so I can leave them well alone and focus on other bits.

Like this. The table holder stripped to bare metal, awaiting primer.

I'm giving them all two coats of primer. These are the final cast iron castings, very happy to be at this point. I decided to do this machine first because in my mind it was 'half done' but I think it was more one-fifth done tbh... There's been a lot of work but I'm steadily moving through it.

I will re-chrome the handles as and when I have the money - do it in bits. I've got a quote from a company that's really not too bad. Cue the people who'll say 'it's meant to work not look pretty'... well yes, that's true, but when it left the factory it would have looked resplendent in gloss yellow, black and chrome, and I want to take my machine back to brand new condition. Plus it's my project, and it makes me happy.

That's all for now - next update should see either the motor stripped for painting, or all the castings painted black. Both are of top priority. No idea what percentage completion I'm at.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

the picture you're about to see features bright sunshine, concrete that was getting a bit hot to walk on bare footed and out of frame a sprawling cat enjoying the warmth.

Well, that's you off the Christmas card list......

 

[Dieselman 63]

Well, that's you off the Christmas card list......

We're still on for secret santa though, right?