Help needed on an Ancient Forbes Drill Press

[monkeyrelish]

Hi Everyone,

Recently I bought a quite old Forbes drill from auction.
Model FDB-16mm
Year: 1976
Origin: Taiwan

It was a bit of a rushed decision as I didn't think I was in the market for a DP, until the saw I wanted went for more than my budget allowed :~.

Not wanting to come away empty handed I saw a DP sitting in the corner that looked like a good bit of kit, so I flashed my card a few times and came away the victor :2tsup:.

Then I realised that I know nothing about the bloody thing. I got it home and fired it up and all seems to work quite nicely, even gave it a bit of a work out on the weekend.

So here's what I'm asking. Can anyone Please give me some info on this machine, good or bad. I rang Forbes but they just laughed and said how old?.... "yeah I remember they were a good machine, but can't tell you anything about them, Sorry"

So here I am with a DP that looks the business, with what looks to be adjustment screws here and there and I have no bloody clue. I have established that it has a morse taper and it drills holes, but that's about it.

So I would be very grateful if somebody could tell me more, and if someone may just happen to have a manual (unlikely, i know) that I could get a copy of.

[Woodlee]

Hi Everyone,

Recently I bought a quite old Forbes drill from auction.
Model FDB-16mm
Year: 1976
Origin: Taiwan

It was a bit of a rushed decision as I didn't think I was in the market for a DP, until the saw I wanted went for more than my budget allowed :~.

Not wanting to come away empty handed I saw a DP sitting in the corner that looked like a good bit of kit, so I flashed my card a few times and came away the victor :2tsup:.

Then I realised that I know nothing about the bloody thing. I got it home and fired it up and all seems to work quite nicely, even gave it a bit of a work out on the weekend.

So here's what I'm asking. Can anyone Please give me some info on this machine, good or bad. I rang Forbes but they just laughed and said how old?.... "yeah I remember they were a good machine, but can't tell you anything about them, Sorry"

So here I am with a DP that looks the business, with what looks to be adjustment screws here and there and I have no bloody clue. I have established that it has a morse taper and it drills holes, but that's about it.

So I would be very grateful if somebody could tell me more, and if someone may just happen to have a manual (unlikely, i know) that I could get a copy of.

Looks pretty much like the one I have ,except mine has the stop start switch on the head under the top guard at the front ,and a Rexxon sticker on it .
There's not much that ishard about using them .
Probably has a no 2 morse taper in the spindle .To remove the drill chuck you need a tapered drift that goes in the slot in the spindle ,turn the chuck by hand until you see the two slots line up and insert the drift and tap with a hammer.You can get drills with tapered shanks that will fit straight into the spindle ,bit on the exxxy side though .
Table winds up and down using the handle ,and has a locking lever to lock it in place.
Table will tilt either way ,and also will swivel around main post .
Speeds are changed by moving the drive belts from one pulley to the other ,should be a speed chart inside the top of the belt guard.
The motor is mounted on two round bars ,there should be two small locking screws that can be loosened and the tension on the belt is adjusted with a lever on the right side of the main body of the drill.
There is a depth stop on the collar of the handles which can be set for drilling multiple holes the same depth.

Manuals with these machines are not really that good , usually three or four sheets of toilet paper with some marks on them .Ill look to see if I still have mine and work some thing out .

Kev

Went looking in my shed library for the manual , sorry I couldn't find it .
I think it was only an assembly instruction sheet anyway ,probably why I didn't keep it.

[joe greiner]

I have a Craftsman 351-226250, possibly older than yours, which is almost its twin sister, including the red balls on the handles (which I've replaced with golf balls). Yours has a newer switch construction, but the same location. Also a rounded back to the foot plate whereas mine is square at the back.

I haven't found a lever for tensioning the belt. The locking screws are just bent bolts. Press on the ends of both round bars with your thumbs, and tighten both locking screws with index or middle fingers. This should be tight enough.

The depth stop can be locked at either end of its travel, to set either the starting or stopping depth.

These things aren't space ships. A manual is useful mostly for replacement part numbers. And such parts likely are no longer available anyway.

Joe

[monkeyrelish]

Thanks for the input Woodlee & Joe, your descriptions are very helpful,

I know these machines are pretty straight forward, I guess the main reason for getting as much info as possible and maybe an exploded diagram, is so that when I start stripping it down I don't bugger anything.

There are a few noises here and there that tell me that some grease is needed, particularily when winding down. Rather than just whack a bit of grease on the shaft I would prefer to pull it down and check everything and grease it properly.

Had a look on the name plate and it was built by Yeong Shing Machine Works, so it seems that Taiwan was definately the China of the 70's & 80's with generic machines re badged as what ever you like.

So the big question.... Is the general consensus that these are decent DP's?

Thanks again

[joe greiner]

Yes, monkey', they're decent. I've used mine intermittently for the past several years (also bought used) without incident. On just about any Jacobs chuck, the wrench holes get ovalled with use and the wrench is harder to use. The chuck itself doesn't have many variations and a replacement shouldn't be too hard to find. Shop around with the old one in hand to make sure you get a compatible one.

I have a manual around here someplace, but dashed if I can find it now; otherwise I'd photograph the exploded view. IIRC, there aren't too many surprises. One trick to avoid leftover parts is to photograph each step of disassembly; takes a bit more time, but viewing the sequence in reverse for re-assembly is almost foolproof.

Joe

[Meanderland]

G'day monkey,
I have a similar drill press that served me well in my business about 20 years ago. It was second hand then and it's the only one I have now. It was for engineering purposes more than woodwork.
I have used many DPs in various workshops that I've worked and there isn't much between them except for the cheap and nasty ones you can buy these days. (Seldom seen in workshops though.) The cheapies are poor in the bearing department and spindle tolerances (sloppy) and like most cheap powered items, crap motors.
The best tips I can give is: don't bother pulling apart. Just make sure it is oiled. Keep the mast clean and rust free for ease of table adjustment. Learn what speeds you need to operate for drilling efficiently and safely.
To change belt for speed control, it's not always easy to loosen and tighten the adjustments for pulleys. Most cases it's the motor that moves back and forth. I've usually found it easier to leave set and just move the belt. Rotate the large pulley and prise (with fingers) the belt off the smaller pulley to a lower diameter. Once the whole belt is free, place the belt onto the desired size of the SMALL pulley and wind the belt/pulley to drag the belt onto the required larger pulley ( one step at a time). It can be done like this a lot quicker than undoing adjusting clamps!
It's rare that you ever need the really high speeds of these machines but they are very handy for holding shorter metal rod / wooden dowl for polishing and burnishing jobs.
I can't imagine a workshop without s DP myself. Have fun.

[joe greiner]

I used Meanderland's method of changing belt grooves until I discovered the ease of adjustment. Moving the motor is somewhat gentler on the belt and will extend its life. But for most operations, I find the lowest speed perfectly suitable, and seldom adjust it anymore. Just because drills are labelled "high speed" doesn't imply they work best at the higher speeds; I suspect "high speed" was originally defined in contrast to hand drilling with egg-beater drills. For some metal-drilling operations, there are optimum speeds for different metals and sizes. There's a recent chart in the Metal Work forum.

Joe

[monkeyrelish]

Thanks Joe & Meanderland,

I'll certainly take on board the advice, I have been using it mostly for timber lately, but have a few metal projects coming up. I found the speed chart which is very helpful, and intend on trying to oil & grease things first and see how that goes before I start pulling it apart. Luckily it doesn't have any rust so should be pretty easy to maintain if I keep up with things.

Cheers