Restoring 1940's Buffalo #15 Deluxe

Hi all, I'm restoring a late 40's Buffalo Forge Number 15 Deluxe drill press and could use a little help. I'm not sure what it original and what isn't, but would like to return everything to stock condition. does anyone have, or know where to find, photos of a correctly set up press? I have located a 1948 manual which appears correct for this unit but there is only one photo and it's in black and white.

I do know the motor is not original. It's a GE 1/6HP unit, perhaps from the 50's. Are original motors available anywhere, or should I upgrade from the stock 1/3HP to a 1/2HP model? I believe this was an option on the industrial units but I'm not sure if it's safe for the standard model.

I also have a few "oops marks" in the table. What is the best way to repair these? Perhaps weld them up and grind / sand smooth?

Here are a few photos of the unit as I found it. I have disassembled everything and plan to powder coat everything before reassembly.

Any comments or advise would be greatly appreciated!

Probably will be hard to find an original motor, but you might get lucky at a motor rebuilder. I would think the 1/2HP motor would work fine, as long as you don't get carried away with drill bit size.

Table repairs are probably best done with something like Devcon, or other grey colored filler. You can weld them up, but the table will no doubt warp to some degree and might need to be resurfaced, which would only add to the expense.

Mill table repairs has been discussed several times and a search should find some extensive discussion over in the general section.

Hello Steve;

These Buffalos are nice sturdy drill presses, worth fixing up and keeping. I think that Buffalo made this model for about 25 years. I recently bought one like yours, but the floor model, in similar condition. Mine has a 3 phase motor and a drum switch on a makeshift bracket, but is otherwise in good shape.

If you want really accurate detailed info, you can buy a copy of the manual from Mike Kandu for $20. It's always on ebay at: http://cgi.ebay.com/Buffalo-No-15-D...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

In general, most of what I see on your machine looks to be original. The wiring may have been redone, although the routing is correct. The switch on the front may have originally been one of the two button push-on push-off types. The original motor was probably a Century 1/2 hp, 1725 rpm. The three feed handles should be 4 1/2" long with 1 1/8" dia black plastic ball knobs. I believe that the factory color was a medium grey, a little darker than yours is now.

Thank you for the info! I will search for the threads on repairing mill tables. I don't mind spending a bit extra to make it nice, so if welding and surfacing are the way to go then I will look into that as well.

I do have various manuals from the 40's, which is the vintage I believe this model to be. The manual on Ebay looks to be for a slightly later model than the one I have, mainly because of the "hand knob" opposite the handle assembly (where the spring is housed). The 1948 manual I have does give reference to what appears to be the exact model, but it's only a single photo, and the press is set up as a tapping machine.

The power switch is a GE product, no doubt installed when the motor was replaced. I'm not sure what the original motor or switch look like. Any ideas on where to look for a replacement motor? I would be willing to use an incorrect motor as long as it's period-correct or at least looks the part.

I would love to find images from different angles of an original, or restored to original press like mine, should anyone come across some.

Thanks again!

Steve, on a thread a few months ago one of the members of had to make a similar repair. If my foggy memory is correct he used cast iron filler rod instead of nirod/stainless so that it all looked the same, no shiny filler showing after resurfacing and it did look very nice and original. A search would likely turn up the thread fairly easily. A lot of school shops started with Buffalo drill presses and are still giving good service years later despite the abuse from students. Nice looking drill press. Dave

Thank you! I will talk to a welder about this tomorrow.

Buffalo manuals

A number of manuals for the Buffalo drills are on the OWWM website.

That's actually where I found the ones I have. There is one for '45-'46 and one for '48.

By the way, I love the ratings on this site, even if I am only plastic!

IMO, I would not be too picky about trying to get a "period" motor for that drill press. By the late 1940's and into the 50's, motors used on small drill presses such as that Buffalo would have likely been capacitor start. The capacitor looked like a "can" mounted on the outside of the stator (motor casing) at about 12:00. I'd also suggest trying to get a motor with ball bearings. Since the motor will be mounted vertically, a sleeve bearing motor might have issues with maintaining oil to the bearings. Some sleeve bearing motors werre made for mounting in any position and used felt wicks to lubricate the bearings, but the "Gits" cups to oil the bearings were still oriented for a horizontal mounting. An older ball bearing motor would be the thing to find.

As for the table repairs, IMO, I would leave well enough alone. The table is cast iron. It has seen years of oil on it. If you go to fill the "oops" holes with weld, you have to get the cast iron cleaned to virgin metal and cook the oil out of it so it can take weld. We are talking diging out each hole with a die grinder and burring tool or possibly abrasive blasting to get to virgin iron free of any oil residue. Once you get things cleaned out, most welders who make a habit out of cast iron repair will liekly want to "cook" the table to bake out any remaining oil and to preheat the casting for the weld. Assuming that was done, you then put heat into the table to weld it. Then, some welders may opt to peen the welds with a needle scaler. Generally, once the welding is done, depending on the welder and his experiences and 'druthers, the table may be post-heated. In any case, the table is slow cooled after welding by covering with some kind of insulation. After welding, you now have a table that is going to need yet another cleaning to get off the oxidation and effects of the heating. It is extremely probable that the table is no longer be flat when you get done with the welded repairs. If you use a nickel-alloy cast iron repair electrode (ni Rod), you will likely get a good weld, but there will most likely be a difference in color between the weld deposited metal and the original table.

I take the belief that welders are welders and machinists are machinists. As an professional engineer, sometime machinist and certified welding inspector, over the last 38 years I have developed this perspective. Some people posess great amounts of skills in both areas, but typically a welder "thinks like a welder". As such, the welder thinks in terms of getting a sound weld and minimizing post weld distortion. However, what is flat and true enough for a welder after they get done is not going to be flat and true enough for a machinist. SO it may well be with your drill press table. You ask the local weld shop if they can fill int he holes and I am sure they will tell you they can. How flat and square to the column your table is when the welding is done is not somethng the local weld shop is likely to be thinking about. You bring in a drill press table and tell them to weld up the holes, and that is exactly what they will do. If you don;t watch out, they may well take a hand-held angle grinder to the table to flush off the welds and tell you they ground things flat for you. Flat to a welder is what he gets with a hand held angle grinder and a straightedge- and the straightedge may well be the edge of a piece of flat bar off the rack. 1/32" in about 12" would be about as good as you could expect with these methods. Flat to a person rebuilding a machine tool is a few orders of accuracy better, on the order of maybe 0.002" in 12" for a drill press table with a planed finish.

If you are looking to repair a chain of "oops holes" drilled on an arc, you will be putting a lot of weld onto the table. After each weld is done, a light peening with a needle scaler might be a good idea to try to minimize post weld stress. Either way, if you are looking to weld up a chain of holes in the table, IMO, this will likely pull the table out of flat and out of square to the column.

Some people have repaired "oops holes" using a combination of epoxy resin and iron filings. call it the "bondo repair". They get things cleaned up well, perhaps rooting out the holes with a die grinder and burring tool. Then, the mixture of epoxy resin and iron filings is worke dinto each hole. One person who posted on this 'Board used something like "JB Weld" and iron filings to patch holes and pits in machine tool tables and ways. You could check the "Devcon" website as they offer a variety of ready-made epoxy resin/powdered metal repair compounds. Either way, this is a way to at least fill the holes in the table. You then have to file the resin off flush and then "slick off" the table with something like 600 grit automotive body paper and some thing oil (like kerosene), followed by an oil stoning. This method gives a good repair that is a reasonable color match to the original table casting. It is also a durable repair and the drill press is not a production machine subject to constant use and hot chips and cutting oil. The "bondo repair" will not cause any further distortion of the table.

Another alternative is to open some of the holes that are the worst of the lot and tap them with a fine-thread tap. If you have a lathe, turn some stock and cut a thread that is a real tight fit in the hole(s) you tapped in the table. Screw in a threaded stud using Loctite. Cut the stud off nearly flush with the surface of the table and drawfile to bring it flush. Complete by oil-stoning.

You will never have a table on that drill press that looked like it came fresh fromt he factory. Old drill presses have those extra "oops holes". Other than a drill press owned by a finicky toolmaker who kept it in his personal shop, I do not think you will ever find a used older drill press that does not have a few extraneous holes in the table. Ubnless the table is totally cratered with extraneous holes, the drill press is usable as-is. Trying to make too good a repair can give you a cosmetically pretty drill press but result in a loss of flatness and square of the table.


Joe Michaels

Joe, thank you so much for that wealth of information. I assume I could have the table machined flat again after welding, but perhaps it's more risk than it's worth. I love your idea about drilling out the larger holes and inserting a plug. There is one fairly large hole I could do this to. I don't own a lathe but I know someone who does. Perhaps he can machine a piece of iron rod into a plug, if there is such a thing?

Here is a photo of the table. It isn't too bad, but I'd like it to be better. I wish I could get the old stains out but without machining I don't think that's possible.

Excersize caution when tightening the table/column clamp. It's a weak area and I've a seen a number of Buffalo DP's with broken or cracked castings as mine was. I was able to get the cracks in mine TIG welded without any distortion.

No disrespect, but that table you pictured is in great condition for a drill press that old. I've seen youinger drill presses used in schools or production shops that had a chain of "oops holes" in a radius made as the table swung about the column. It was a wonder the table didn;t break off due to the close chain-drilling of "opps holes". Your Buffalo drillpress table is in greatr shape- machine marks still visible, no deep digs or gouges, and only a few "Oops holes".

IMO, I would simply take some Scotchbrite pads and safety solvent or similar and try to clean up the table to get off the old oil staining. You might try "Hoppe's Number 9" gun cleaning solvent as crazy as it sounds. Once you got done with the Scotcbrite, you might take a fine oil stone such as a "hard India medium" stone and lightly stone the table surface. Wet the table down with more of the safety solvent or penetrating oil (PB blaster or WD 40, somethng without any teflon or graphite in it), and then stone the table. Finish with an Arkansas Hard stone if you have one.

The center hole in the table may actually prove handy to have if you are thru drilling jobs right ont he table surface.

OTH- if you want to plug that hole: See if you can find a piece of cast iron "durabar". This is cast iron that is sold in pre-cast bars of varying cross sections. It will liekly be a good deal bigger than you need. MSC sells 40,000 psi cast iron round bar. the minimum diameter is 1", and minimum length is 12". Price was $ 11.21. This is grey cast iron, so maybe a bit brittle if turned to a smaller diameter rod. MSC has ductile iron round, but minimum diameter is 1 1/4". For a 1 1/4" dia x 12" piece of 45,000 psi ductile iron round, the price is $16.07.
(Cat alog number 63380752).

To plug the hole, I would suggest the following:
1. measure table casting thickness. I am guessing it is likely about 3/8" or 7/17", so your plug cannot be any too big in diameter in relation to this thickness.
2. Position the table so the big hole int he center is centered with the spindle. A countersink or centerdrill chucked in the spindle can be used to line up the spindle with this holein the table.
3. Lock the table with enough drop under the spindle so you can get a drill and reamer chucked without breaking the table loose.
4. measure the hole you want to plug and select the nearest fractional size in 1/16ths larger than the hole. Get a twist drill 1/64" less than this diameter and a reamer at this diameter. Example: The hole int he table is about 7/16" diameter. You will open this hole to 1/2". To do this, you need to drill the hole thru with a 31/64" drill. Then, you run a 1/2" machine reamer (I'd suggest a spiral flute chucking reamer) thru the hole.
5. Using a "ball gauge" and mike, measure the actual finished bore of the hole you just reamed.
6. take the mike reading and the iron bar stock to the guy with the lathe. Have him turn you a plug. This plug should be maybe 0.0002" to 0.0005" larger than the diameter of the hole you have reamed in the table. Chances are the plug will be turned and polished with emery cloth to get this diameter since we are dealing with tenths of thousandths.
Have the guy who macines the plug put a slight chamfer on the bottom end of the plug. A chamfer of 1/64" witha fine file or even an oilstone is all that is needed. Mark this end with a couple of center punch marks, and you can even polish it a little more with emery cloth to give it a leader to start it into the hole in the table.
7. Get a "tempil stick" (temperature indicating crayon from the local welding supply house) or an infrared thermometer, or be ready to spit. Get a steel parallel block or even a big toolbit ready and have them near to the drill press. Also have a hunk of bronze or copper as a driving bar and a piece of hardwood blocking.
8. Place the plug in your freezer for a few hours in a container of ice cubes.
9. Bring the plug in it's container of ice to the drill press. If you have a helper, they can run the plug to you while you get the table hot. Take a torch such as a hand-held propane torch and warm the table around the reamed hole to about 200 degrees F. the tempil stick will tell this as will the infra-red thermometer. Your spit should sizzle and dance in a bead if you spit on the heated table to get it's temperature.
10. Wipe any frost off the plug using a paper towel and some alcohol. Insert the plug in the reamed hole in the table with the camfered end down to lead it in. Set the plug flush with the table top using a steel parallel or toolbit. HOld the steel parallel or toolbit in place with the plug against it, and hold the wood block against the bottom of the plug so you do not get your own hand hot. Make sure the plug stays flush with the table top, or even a little above it as the table and plug normalize in temperature. Use the brass or copper driver to bump the plug a little to move it up or down if required as things cool down.
11. When things have cooled to ambient (room) temp, the plug should be locked in solidly with the shrink fit. Using a fine flat file with no handle on it and some shim stock or paper to keep the file from cutting the table, you may then be able to file the flug nearly flush with the table top if it stands proud. Stone things to a flush and uniform surface.

Alternative: check the Loctite products and they have a "cylindrical Parts Setting Compound" which can lock fits like this together without reasorting to a shrink fit.

I'd still use that drill press table as is, just clean it up with the Scotchbrite and stone it off. For an old drill press table, it has gotten off relatively unscathed. It's got character but not heavy abuse.
Joe Michaels

Wow, again thank you for the wealth of info! This press was owned by a machinist, and it was last kept in his personal garage. It sounds like I should just clean it up and use it as it, which is what I will likely do. I may consider plugging the larger hole to the side with the method you described. I think welding it is out.

That's not a bad looking table at all. I too would considering patching the larger hole on the side. I'd leave the larger one in the center. My drill has huge hole in it (like 2.5") and I use it as Joe suggests for through drilling; very convenient.

I looked again at the photo of the table you posted. IMO, I would not drill and plug the hole that is just inboard of the RH edge of the table (as you look at the picture). My reasons for not recommending this are structural. Chances are there is a rib running under the location of that hole. That portion of the table forms what amounts to a "Tee" beam section- the top and rib are integral. If you consider the table as being cantilevered off the column, and apply a concentrated downwards load onto the table out at the centerline of the spindle, you will find the top of the table is in tension and the ribs are in compression. Cast iron is not strong in tension. The hole in the phot (if we are talking of the samehole) is a blind hole, not realy deep intot he table. It is already a discontinuity. Go to drilling/reaming that hole to plug it and you will drill thru the top and into the rib. You will have weakend the table structuraly to a large extent. At best, you will drill a relatively shallow blind hole- not easy to ream and not easy to plug given the diameter/depth ratio.

My own advice: Play dentist. Refer back to the earlier posts and go with the "bondo fix"- iron filings and JB Weld or some "Devcon" repair resin with iron filings in it. Simply take a die grinder with a burring tool (do not use a grinding point) and play dentist- like a dentist openign up a cavity in a molar, you cannot take any more material than you have to. Carefully clean out the hole to sound, clean iron. Continue playing dentist, and pack the resin/filing mix into the cavity. It's no different than a dentist fixing a cavity nowadays with resin containing ground porcelain. Like a dentist, as soon as the resin sets, you slick it off flush. Once cured hard, like maybe a few days later, you can take some 600 grit paper on a piece of steel stock and carefulyl blend the resin patch flush. Finish with an oil stone.

Old machinists usually took care of their tools in their home shops. Chances are the machinist who had that drill press bought it used from shop he worked in, or at an auction sale or similar. I'd bet he got it with those holes predating his ownership of it and I'd bet he never put another extraneous hole into the table of that little drill press. Used shop tools are what the name says, and a few holes in the table over the past 60 -odd years are minimal damage, especially if the rest of the machine is nice and tight.

Not to sound sarcastic, but my own take on shop tools (and motorcycles) is: "They are meant to be used, not pickled". I use my old shop equipment and machinist tools and I ride my motorcycles even when it is raining. No sense "pickling" either of these things, no enjoyment to having some polished up icon in the shop or garage and not wanting to use it for fear of ruining that cherry finish. I'll pull into the powerplant parking lot on my Hog or old BMW bike and there will be gravel patches on the back roads and fog and dew in the mornings. So, the motorcycles look like they need a "detailing", but I rode in. The other guys who own Hogs wait until there are no clouds in the sky and hope they do not meet any birds or bugs when they ride in. At lunch, they are out there with the detailing cloths. I am eating my lunch. I ride my motorcycles to work or anywhere else I can, and do not think about the road dust and stone bruising. My BMW is now 30 yrs old, and people look at it and tell me: "It's all original.... don't see many like that.... it's got character." It's no cherry bike- it's got fine scratches where our old cat used to lay on the tank, and it's got stone bruises in the paint, and the pinstriping is worn on the tank from 30 years of my gripping that tank with my knees as I'd run her hard over the backroads. But... she's a good old horse, and I think she'd look more like a tarted up hooker with fresh paint.

Tools like your drill press were well built in an era when that kind of quality was commonplace. They withstood normal use, some abuse, and lasted longer than most of us thus far have (I am 57 yrs old, so your drill press is older than I am), and have a little character for the years. Look at an old machinist's hands and you will see scars or worse, so little wonder the drill press has a few extraneous holes. Just use the drill press and take reasonable care and it will do fine work for you for as long as you care to use it.

Joe Michaels

Points well taken, Joe. I share your sentiments on using vehicles rather than locking them in a garage. Owning a car and not driving it is like owning the Mona Lisa and not looking at it. I own six old British cars from 1949 through 1969 and every one of them gets driven. In fact, I don't even own a modern vehicle any longer. I just drive the old cars whether it's commuting to work or a Sunday drive. One is in show condition, one is original 60-year old paint and interior and the others are all somewhere in between. But the one thing they all have in common is that they are used as they were designed to be. The upside of this is not only my enjoyment of operating these great machines but the smiles on the faces of people as I travel down the road. There is a book with a title that all classic car owners should live by... "Drive them 'till the Roads Wear Out".

As for the drill press, I do very light machining in my garage, mostly due to lack of equipment and knowledge in such matters. But I would rather have a great old tool than the latest modern computerized gizmo. The drill press is older than me by a long shot as are all my cars, but that's the way I like it. Since the press will only see light duty and I am meticulous in the cleanliness and presentation of my garage, I prefer even the old tools to look nice. If it still had its original paint then I would preserve it that way but since it's nowhere near original I do plan to restore it fully. I'm off to the powdercoater today to have it blasted and painted in the original gray, which I have found under an old machine supply sticker.

Question: will the powder coat oven warp the iron? I believe they "cook" the parts at 400-degrees F for 10 minutes.

In addition to my powder coating question I have one more. The powder coater wants to sand blast the work surfaces. He's concerned about the amount of oil that could be in there. Would I lose the machining marks if he blasted these surfaces? What about polishing it back to a shiny surface?

He also mentioned that he wants to pre-heat the parts quite a bit before painting to make sure no gases escape and bubble the finish. Would "cooking" the parts for so long plus the 400-degree powder coating oven warp them?

Abrasive blasting to prep parts for powder coating will remove the machining marks, and likely take some of the accuracy and flatness with it. Abrasive blasting to prep "substrates" (as the surfaces to get coated are known) is done to achieve what is known as a "white metal frosted finish". Aside from cleanliness of the surface, the other reason for the abrasive blasting is to get a rough enough surface to get a mechanical interlock between the coating and the substrate.

I know that I have sent parts like brake calipers out for powder coating, and the powder coater simply masks off the machined surfaces. They have a high temperature tape that they apply to the machined surfaces of parts prior to abrasive blasting. The powder coaters tend to use a fairly aggressive abrasive blast to get a good "frosted" finish, meaning they want a surface that is uniformly rough and pitted for the bonding of the coating.

Af for warping of parts at 400 degrees F, this is probably something that will be OK. Remember- powder coating is done on automitve engine parts, motorcycle engine cases, and similar. These have machined fits and some intricacy to them yet they come thru the powder coating processes without loss of dimensional accuracy.

The entire head will have to be gutted and stripped of all bearings, springs, fasteners, and anything else. Once it is a bare casting, it gets washed in degreasing solvent (maybe a vapor degreasing tank). After that, the machined areas and bored fits all have to be masked off. If there is a split in the casting (as for a pinch bolt), or a "window"(as for reading quill depth), masking these and keeping the blasting process and coating process out of the machined fits gets tricky.

IMO, I'd think twice about the powder coateing shop you want to use. If they do not want to mask off the machined areas of the table, then who knows what they will do with the head casting of the drill press. It has seen years of lubricants, so using their logic they may well say it has to get entirely blasted. I'd either question that powder coating shop or find another one. Powder coating makes a nice job, no question about it. However, for a machine tool that never had it in the first place, and is a small machine, maybe conventional refinishing may be preferable.

Joe Michaels

Thanks Joe. They are perfectly willing to mask the machined areas and I did instruct them to do so. This is a very good shop which I have used for ten years, and they are quite familiar with restoring old machinery including cars. In fact they were able to safely remove the tags from the head which I had forgotten about and even saved three of the four pins. I've given them the go-ahead. Wish me luck!

After a lengthy stall, I'm back to work on the #15. I decided to replace all the bearings but there is one that I cannot figure out how to remove. I tried simply pulling it with a set of locking slip joint pliers but it hasn't budged. there is no clearance for my puller's jaws. Any ideas here? I'd rather not drill through the pulley to gain access to the rear.