Photo Index - Buffalo Forge Co. - Buffalo No. 18

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Buffalo Forge Co.
Buffalo, NY

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery & Metal Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Drill Press
Machine Size:	18"
Submitted By:	Larry Hampton

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Buffalo No. 18
Date of Manufacturer:	1950s ?
Serial Number:	none
Last Updated	8/4/2023 8:28:38 PM

Comments:

I bought this through CraigsList. The PO had used it for years on the job, and the company retired it recently. He wanted a lot more than I wanted to pay, so I told him to call me if he couldn't get his price. (I thought his price was pretty fair, actually, but I had waaay too many drill presses already.) A few weeks later he called, asking if I would still pay the $150 that I had offered before. He needed to get the machine out of his truck so he could sell the truck. Of course, I bought it.

Then I understood why he didn't just put it in his garage and wait for a better price; the crazy thing is too heavy! The catalog says it is 376 lbs, and I believe it.

It stands 78" high, has a 3.9" diameter column, and has a 3/4 hp Leland 3ph motor. The chuck, depth guage, and quill advance knobs were missing. (The crank handles may not be original, as they appear longer than the images in the catalogs.) There is a nicely done shop-made belt guard, which I chose to keep, even though it doesn't fit quite like a factory item would. There is moderate drill hole damage to the table, and both the table and the base are dinged up as if they have been used as an anvil. The biggest selling point was the nifty table-elevation mechanism, and the fact that the whole thing was so covered by lubricant/coolant that no rust could grow anywhere. That made it fairly easy to disassemble as well.
The upper bearing and shaft had slipped half an inch down in its sleeve. The shaft was lathed with a larger diameter at the ends where the bearings are pressed on, and a smaller diameter along the rest of its length. The slippage meant that the smaller diameter was wallowing around in the lower bearing, causing a good deal of wobble. I nudged it back into position and drilled and tapped for a setsecrew right below the top bearing so that the shaft wouldn't slip any more. I didn't ask the PO, but I suspect that the run-out was the reason that his employer got rid of the machine.

Overall I feel that I got a splendid machine. I replaced the chuck with a 3/4" Jacobs (fitting into a MT3), and it spins along very happily using a VFD that is actually attached to another machine. I painted it with Hammerite Hammered Bronze and Rustoleum Hammered Verde Green, and built a wheeled platform from a 2" thick maple countertop which still looks like a countertop.

Photo 1:

Comments:
Source: my shop

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Photo 2:

Comments: Very nifty table-raising mechanism.
Source: my shop

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Photo 3:

Comments: The crank handles are longer than the catalog illustration, and the threading is "too long", so I think they are not original.
Source: my shop

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Photo 4:

Comments: Couldn't restore the tag. Note the solid copper rings.
Source: my shop

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Photo 5:

Comments: With the lid up
Source: my shop

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Photo 6:

Comments: I took it apart in the truck since it is so heavy.
Source: my shop

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