My Buffalo Forge #15 Drill Press Restoration

whale844

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Aug 25, 2020
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Hello everyone, I'm new here and wanted to share the project which brought me to HM. I found a lot of resources and helpful threads here and wanted to post my work as a way of giving back and maybe helping others like me. I hope you'll follow along for updates as this restoration progresses.

I acquired a Buffalo 15 floor model drill press for FREE about 2 years ago. A friend of mine found it as a FORD (found on road dead :laughing:) and we both didn't want a good machine to be put out to pasture unnecessarily. So in the bed of my truck it went, and home with me. It's been sitting in the garage as a round-to-it project, and when I got laid off because of COVID, I decided to drag it out since I had a lot of new found free time.

The plan is a full tear down, refresh, and restoration of all pieces. Upon my first good inspection, the green paint is not original, as there is overspray inside the head pulley. Thank goodness, I'm not digging the John Deere colors. And the rust on the upright tube doesn't appear to have penetrated the metal. Everything turns and spins, no binding or funny noises. The motor has frayed cloth wrapped wires, it should work once those are repaired. From what I've researched, it appears to be 1939 vintage. I've got a lot to do, but it will be worth it and fun bringing this old machine back to life.20200425_161518.jpg
 
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Welcome to HM. Great save and a worthy project.
 
Welcome!
Looks like a great project.
 
My dad used to have one of these in the basement that I grew up using. Unfortunately it was sold off at some point.
One thing I do not miss about it is the lack of a table raising mechanism.
Note that there should be a cast iron guard that goes around the front pulley.
 
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Time to get everything disassembled and cleaned. Please pardon the extremely messy workbench :( The pinion and quill came out very easy and are in very good condition. With the first few layers of dirt and grease removed, I can see some areas where the green has worn away revealing what I assume is the original paint beneath. Gray!! There's also some what appears to be red oxide primer visible. The green is REALLY thick - I'm hoping it isn't covering something up.
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Very cool old drill press. Love the old cast equipment with the manufacturers name cast right into them. The older they are, the more they look like works of art to me.

That motor pulley looks like it is not on the motor properly to me. Either that motor does not go with the unit or the motor mounting plate may be upside down. Not sure if just flipping the motor mount plate will clear everything but would be interesting to see.
 
Very cool old drill press. Love the old cast equipment with the manufacturers name cast right into them. The older they are, the more they look like works of art to me.

That motor pulley looks like it is not on the motor properly to me. Either that motor does not go with the unit or the motor mounting plate may be upside down. Not sure if just flipping the motor mount plate will clear everything but would be interesting to see.
Hi Papa Charlie - that is in fact the correct orientation of the motor plate. The Buffalo 15 manual shows the same configuration, and the belt aligns perfectly straight with the drive pulley on the drill. I am thinking however that the motor is not the original. What I have is a 1/2 HP Walker-Turner Driver Line motor. From what I've read so far, I've gathered that WT motors were only available on WT equipment. Someone likely swapped this motor in at some point, but it's interesting that they appear to be the same vintage.
 
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