Buffalo No. 15 Drill Press acquisition

[sparkness]

Just picked up a Buffalo No. 15 drill press for $150 in great original shape. The guy I bought it from, bought it from a machine shop going out of business years ago. Based on catalogs from vintage machinery age is ~1950 - 1956
original paint, original chuck and key, table is impeccable looks as if only the cord had been replaced. Runs smooth and quiet. Sweet deal!
VFD will be installed, new precision keyless chuck , bearings, some paint

 

[tool_scrounge]

Nice pre 1957 version

 

[35Ford]

Nice machine. I like old iron.

 

[sparkness]

started tearing it down, never been so easy, used a heat gun and very light taps with rubber mallet to separate pulleys and such , every part has a great fit , brass plug under quill stop , all set screws not over tightened , bearings only need new grease, I think it will be easier to replace with new sealed bearings. Checking the spinlde taper and it is machined , not a great fit. I will put it in the lathe and grind it into tolerance.

 

[sparkness]

Disassembled and cleaned the chuck, reground the spindle taper rotating in the new bearings, took off 1-2 thousands , spindle runout 1.5-2 tenths, the chuck with a 3/8 bit less than .0015" amazed at that old chuck. This machine was not abused, seen light use, only 1 tiny dimple in the table. my thought was to install a new chuck, forget that, this chuck is good to go. Jaws are like new.

 

[sparkness]

mounting VFD , made some brackets and a simple wire support attached to the bottom of the VFD. Control for the VFD, aluminum enclosure - cut on cnc router, speed potentiometer, analog style tach, fwd-rev switch

 

[sparkness]

here is the stand that came with the drill press, vintage craftsman stand

 

[Roberts210]

Impressive job!!

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

here is the stand that came with the drill press, vintage craftsman stand

That is cool. Where did you find the rev switch? I doesn't look analog anymore.

 

[Zeus36]

Love that RPM indicator!

 

[paulsomlo]

You're holding the quill stationary in the chuck and using the cordless drill to turn the spindle while grinding the taper?

The control box for the VFD - beautiful job on that; I take it the power button to the VFD is momentary?

 

[sparkness]

You're holding the quill stationary in the chuck and using the cordless drill to turn the spindle while grinding the taper?

The control box for the VFD - beautiful job on that; I take it the power button to the VFD is momentary?

power button is an on - off push button

That is cool. Where did you find the rev switch? I doesn't look analog anymore.

22mm switch from ebay

 

[sparkness]

You're holding the quill stationary in the chuck and using the cordless drill to turn the spindle while grinding the taper?

The control box for the VFD - beautiful job on that; I take it the power button to the VFD is momentary?

grinding turned out great as the original taper was not correct pattern, used the lathe chuck to hold the quill and set the compound to the correct taper ,

 

[sparkness]

Love that RPM indicator!

2.5 inch tach 5000 rpm, I could program the tach for no. of cylinders ,printed a new face and use a photo reflective sensor pointing to bottom of pulley

 

[sparkness]

on the back of the control I mounted a MR11 led and the sensor is a rpr220