# My Buffalo Forge #15 Drill Press Restoration



## whale844 (Aug 26, 2020)

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 ) 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.


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## mikey (Aug 26, 2020)

Welcome to HM. Great save and a worthy project.


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## DavidR8 (Aug 26, 2020)

Welcome!
Looks like a great project.


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## whale844 (Aug 26, 2020)

First task, separate the motor from the drill. The table is in really good shape except for the smile of shame. As I learned in another thread, I'll leave the divots as they are so as to say "not mine!"


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## benmychree (Aug 26, 2020)

That table is practically virginal!


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## whale844 (Aug 26, 2020)

The head and table came off the post next, and I got my first look at the actual surface underneath all the rust. Yikes! Better buy stock in 3M!


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## machPete99 (Aug 27, 2020)

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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## whale844 (Aug 28, 2020)

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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## Papa Charlie (Aug 28, 2020)

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.


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## whale844 (Aug 31, 2020)

Papa Charlie said:


> 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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## whale844 (Aug 31, 2020)

Here's a better look at the motor:


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## Papa Charlie (Aug 31, 2020)

whale844 said:


> 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.



I saw how far out on the motor shaft that pulley was sitting and it appeared from the pictures that it might line up better with the plate reversed. But then it would also put more pressure on the plate that way. 

Sounds like someone had salvaged a motor for a backup at some point and the drill press was its recipient. I have done that myself. When we moved I think I had collected 4 or 5 motors of different size and configs form various sources with the idea "you never know". Hate to pass these up as it has helped me and others when a motor goes bad and I saw no reason for the scrap man to get them.

I have been working on removing the rust from my lathe that I am restoring. I used WD-40 with 3M pads, which worked very well. The WD softened the surface rust up and made removal much easier.

That should be a real nice unit when you get it done.


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## whale844 (Aug 31, 2020)

Paint removal - tried the wire wheel on my bench grinder and it wouldn't even scar the green. So I resorted to more drastic measures. A couple cans of aerosol paint remover from the auto parts store, and now I'm getting somewhere!


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## Janderso (Aug 31, 2020)

Oh this is fun.....
Beautiful old machine tool


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