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Buffalo No 18 rebuild

L Webb

Titanium
Joined
Jul 28, 2001
Location
Fullerton, CA USA
Here is a shot of the Buffalo No 18 I just finished rebuilding. It was totally disassembled, paint stripped, new bearings and repainted. The color is actually a darker burgandy than the picture shows. First shot with the new camera. Still playing with it.
The buffalo script and block letters are highlighted with grey.
It runs very nice now.
Les
buffalo1.jpg
 
Cool, nice job. Just don't let any bulls in your shop...
 
Mr. Webb, Just looking at the photo of your reburbished Buffalo drill press - very nice!! I'm wondering - how did you paint the lettering on the side? I assume that these letters are fairly rough cast into the side, but you appear to have done a very neat job with the letter painting. What's your secret?? I have an old 20" Champion drill press with cast in letters, but I've been afraid to try and paint them a separate color as I'm afraid I'll screw up the paint job!! Thanks, John
 
Hi John
I hadn't checked this section for a while and just saw your post.

The script and block letters were painted just on the very top of the letters.
The other half did it with a small fine brush.
I just laid it on her desk when it was disassembled and she was able to work with it no problem.

It would have looked like crap if I had tried to do the job, but the other half is an artist with a very steady hand.

Les
 
Good tip - Doing the work on the bench before assembling.

I know that painting the lettering on rough and uneven castings can be a real pain. In addition to a reeeealy fine artists' brush and steadying your hand with an outstretched finger or two touching the part, one trick that sometimes helps me is filling the casting. I sometimes build up the lettering with bondo or some such filler then sand, shape with dental tools and files, etc. before painting.

I just finished the restoration of a W.F.& J.Barnes 20" drill with raised lettering all over the castings. There were a number of parts that were too large to put on a bench, some with only partial letters, and I ran out of filler before finishing to boot. Perfect? No. Some might disagree, but I think it looks acceptable anyway.

With a steady brush you can still make it look half decent. You can see the results at http://andy.sargent.net/boring

One other tip - Overcoat with clear when you're done. Otherwise the lettering will wipe off the first time you clean it.

Practice. Keep a rag and thinner handy and do it over if you goof up too badly.

If it makes you feel any better, the letters weren't originally painted on most machines, so you're doing more than the manufacturer ever tried to do.

- Andy
 
An easy, simple way to paint the tops of cast letters is to use a cork.....

A local hardware store in this area sells mixed size bags of small (varying from 1/4 to 1/2" dia at the small end) stopper corks, and for surprisingly cheaply.

I've used these corks for years and years as masking plugs for the bolt or other holes when painting machinery, as they are cheap and convenient for the purpose.

A small, clean new cork works well for applying paint to letter tops. I use a good quality enamel for the paint, and, after stirring the paint well, put a teaspoonful of paint on a clean surface, like the bottom of a small tin.....a tunafish tin is about right.

By just touching the cork to the paint, enough paint will adhere to the cork that the paint will transfer to the cast letter by "patting" the letter with the cork.

Depending on the size of the letters, the paint on the cork will do from one to three or four letters before it "runs dry", so to speak.

Let the paint dry for a few hours time, and repeat the process....the second coat brings up the "depth" of paint on the letters.

A good way to repair damaged or mis-cast letters, particularly if the part can be glass-blasted clean, is to use "Devcon Plastic Steel" epoxy, or equivalent. This material has to be left overnight to cure sufficiently to work. Running over the lettering with a file held "lengthwise" of the lettering brings the built-up letter tops flush with the existing letters, and a tiny tapered rotary file in a die grinder will correct the outline. A careful touch here and there with a little triangular scraper tip will blend in the radii where needed.

Refinishing machine lettering this way is really quick and easy, once you've gotten in some practise, and the finished job will look nice, if you are careful.

cheers

Carla
 








 
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