Buffalo 15 drill press

[Tom Sweeney]

Hey All.

I was just driving behind a small manufacturing wharehouse & saw 2 Bufffalo 15 (15"?) drill presses out back. I stopped & asked them if they were trashing them & they said I could have 1 of them for free. I didn't even get out of the car but they look like very heavy duty bench drill presses with a small 220 motor. There is also some electronic switches on the side, so I doubt they are real old iron. A quick web search found some mention of them but no specifics.

2 questions - does anybody know anything about them - can I get parts? I figure worse case I take off the motor & replace it with a 110 (no 220 in the shop yet) & maybe replace some bearings or something - they look in pretty decent shape.

And how heavy would something like this be? Would one person be able to load it into the back of a pickup? I don't want to get all the way back over there & not be able to load it.

I'm thinking of heading back over now - but it's getting dark so if anyone sees this post I'd appreciate any help on the weight issue.

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

Tom, I would say go get that big dude! There is probably not much, if anything, wrong with them. There is very little that can go wrong with Drill Presses.......they are fairly bulletproof. May have a bum motor, but that can be replaced, as can any bearings that may be bad. Yes, there are parts available for these, and the bearings are mostly standard sizes and can be had at any bearing house. As far as loading it yourself, forget about that. Even free isn't worth hurting yourself over. I have an Older Craftsman pedestal Drill Press....made back when there was NO plastic anywhere on machinery. This is one heavy dude. Took 2 of us to get it in and out of the truck, and a third guy would have been welcome. I say go for it.............there can only be 2 outcomes......it either works or it doesn't!

[Tom Sweeney]

That's exactly what I thought too.

Glad you told me about the weight though - I just filled my trucks flat tire with air & figured I'd check real quick before heading back over. guess I better recruit some help - I've already got a bad back Don't need to throw it out.

[Tom Sweeney]

This thing is wild!
It weighs a ton even though it's a bench top model. Being the stubborn fool that LOML says I am I loaded it by myself. I've got my regular chiropractor appt. tomorrow anyway.

It has a 600V 2 speed motor with adjust. belt for a total of I think 8 or 10 speeds. Don't ask what I'm going to do with a 600V motor?/?:confused:

Now for the wild part. There is a large electronic black box that runs down 1 side. It is a power feeder. It looks like it electronically controls the spindle movement :cool: There are settings for depth, dwell, speed (I think) & a few others. There are some wires coming out of this so I'm not sure if this runs off the 600V or not. Even if this is no good I was able to turn the spindle up & down by hand, I figure if I can swap the motor for something I can use & maybe keep the power feed I could have a really cool drill press / Oscillating sander :D Or worse case a nice heavy duty drill press for the price of a used 110 motor - the drill press was FREE.

I'll wait to get help to unload it from the truck & check it out closer over the weekend. I'll try to post pics of it so you can check out the power feed deal. :cool:

[Jim Baker]

Tom - No drill press is worth ruining your back. For the cost of a back surgery, you could buy several nice new drill presses of any variety you like, not to mention living with the pain.

Just the same, congratulations on the find. I hope it works well for you.

[Bud Duffy]

Tom you lucky dog . sounds like one great deal, please keep us posted on how it works out. congrats..... :D

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I'm envious.

Don't overlook the possibilty of a VFD to drive the existing motor. Check out Dealers electric before you assume that you'll need a whole new motor.

Of course, you may decide it is too much drill press for you and decide to give it to me :)

[Tom Sweeney]

Lynn, - I think it's too heavy to carry all the way down your way. Maybe I'll check out the VFD. I have a new 100 amp service into my garage shop & I need to wire it yet. I was planning on at least 1 220 line so I could just move that up on the time schedule.

Bud - thanks, everything seems to turn & move freely so I think it will be fine. I'll post pics maybe tomorrow - forgot to bring the digital camera home from work today.

Jim - I know you're right - I'm stubborn with this kind of stuff - I need to start realizing that I'm not as young as I used to be. It's just that Murphy's been visiting me a lot & I was worried about someone else picking it up first.

I'll let everyone know how it works out :)