Buffalo Forge No. 15 Manual

Turn the chuck collar with a dowel pin or rod. The chuck can be gripped with the chuck key as you turn the collar.
It appears you are missing the quill return spring. I tried to order a couple of them from Buffalo back in the 80's during some major blizzard.
Was told they couldn't process orders so small yet they mailed them to me immediately FOR FREE.
Have always loved that company and currently have a #18 which is runs smooth as silk.
 
Thanks for all the input, I managed to get it broken down and will snap a few pics of that next time I'm in the shop. Ms. Silva at Buffalo Machine Tools is hooking me up with an old-style bell belt guard, too!

I had to 'easy out' the two 1/4-in bolts used to adjust the belt tension and will replace those with stainless versions. First attempt removing broken bolts - nothing but net...

My next quest is to figure out how to remove the metal tag, which appears to be riveted, from the drill head without damaging it and figuring out how to reinstall it after painting.
 
There’s a very good chance that what you’re thinking are rivets are actually drive screws. Kind of a combination of a rivet and a screw with a really shallow helix. See pic
1569196018443.jpeg


There are various methods of extracting them, but I find my best success comes from using a sharp chisel just underneath the head of the screw and gently prying upwards. They release fairly easily once you get them started. And, once you get the head clear of the tag a little, you can sometimes grab the head with a good vise grip and gently twist it out. If you’re careful (and successful) you can reuse them, otherwise you can buy new ones from good hardware suppliers. Search for “drive screw” and you should get some matches.

Alternatively, if you have access to the back side of the casting, you can often find the small hole and drive them out from the back, but that’s not always possible depending on the casting.

-frank
 
francist said:
There’s a very good chance that what you’re thinking are rivets are actually drive screws. Kind of a combination of a rivet and a screw with a really shallow helix. See pic
View attachment 302519

There are various methods of extracting them, but I find my best success comes from using a sharp chisel just underneath the head of the screw and gently prying upwards. They release fairly easily once you get them started. And, once you get the head clear of the tag a little, you can sometimes grab the head with a good vise grip and gently twist it out. If you’re careful (and successful) you can reuse them, otherwise you can buy new ones from good hardware suppliers. Search for “drive screw” and you should get some matches.

Alternatively, if you have access to the back side of the casting, you can often find the small hole and drive them out from the back, but that’s not always possible depending on the casting.

-frank
Click to expand...

Great, thank you Frank. I'll definitely give this try first.
 
I now have this bad boy completely apart and all of the small intricate bits (bolts, nuts, handles, etc...) shining like new. Next is to tackle the cast iron table, base, head, and collars. I bought some 3M Scotch-Brite Radial Discs for my bench grinder and those things are just awesome! I picked up the 80 grit and 1 micron versions, yellow and light green, respectively. The 80 grit removes surface rust pretty quickly without sending wire missiles everywhere or gouging the item I'm trying to clean up. The 1 micron puts a nice shine on the surface after that.

I was thinking about using some aluminum-looking paint on the knurled steel handles, but they look really good as-is. I need to coat them with something to keep from rusting if left bare, suggestions??? Same thing with the table and base tops...

I know it isn't period-accurate, but I really like the look of those restored Wilton vises in the Rustoleum Hammered Verde color. I know the Rustoleum site says you don't need primer, but I've heard good things about POR15 as a base for metal. Anybody used the POR15 and then top-coated with Rustoleum?
 
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