Buffalo 300 refinish/restoration

[ChiefLittleBair]

I bought this blower and the remnants of a forge a few weeks ago. I've been looking to build a more permanent forge to replace my Champion rivet forge, and found a guy on Facebook selling this blower and forge. The forge is just the remnants of a wooden forge with a Buffalo Vulcan 14 fire pot. Atleast I got a decent firepower to build off of. The blower was in decent shape, no slop in the gears. Someone decided to pack grease in the gear box though. It made everything tight and it felt sticky. I went against everything I've read about not tearing apart gear boxes and tore it apart. Lots of simple green, acetone, and some spray paint later, here we are. 

 

It took a bit to get the gears running smooth. I set the spindle for the fan first and took out all end play but for a few thousandths as it is only adjusted from one end. Then I set the brass gear that drives the fan spindle according to it, and found the sweet spot side to side where it turned like butter. Then the crank gear was last and its easy to set and it just rides up against some washers that act as a thrust bearing. Trying to find that sweet spot for the brass gear was a chore though....

 

Does anyone know if the Buffalo 300 was supposed to have a counter weight on the handle? I've looked but I can't find a bunch of info on the 300. What I have found pictures of, some have counter weights and some don't. Not sure if the ones with were added, or if the ones without were lost.... thinking about forging one for mine to help it coast when I let off the crank. 

[George N. M.]

Very nice job, looks great.  Working on the blowers that have all their gears in a "box" is kind of like building a ship in a bottle, IMO.  Working on one with a split housing is a lot easier.

I'm not sure that a counterweight on the handle really makes that much practical difference.  A turn or two additional windmilling while you are at the anvil wouldn't add much to your efficiency and might burn a bit of extra coal unnecessarily.

Is the green and gold paint scheme historical or did you just like it?  Either way, it looks great.

'By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[ChiefLittleBair]

Thanks George. From what I could tell under all the dirt and grime, the original colors were a nast puke green on all the castings, red on the fan and inside the fan housing, and gold lettering. I didn't want it to look like a Christmas present, so I went with green on all the castings, and black on the fan and crank handle. I used a silver sharpie paint marker on the lettering. This way it would match the green/black on my post drill in the shop. 

[ThomasPowers]

Ahhh there are a number of different ways to remove grease that DON'T involve tearing apart the gearbox.  BTW when you did so did you mark the teeth so you could mesh them back together in the identical way?

[ChiefLittleBair]

I did not mark the teeth to put them back together the exact same. I didn't tear the gearbox apart just to clean the grease, I know a pressure washer with degreaser would have done that just fine with only taking the lid off. I was after a full restoration and painting everything individually, not a quick wash and rattle can it while its all together. I've got a decent mechanical mindset head on my shoulders and growing up on a farm and working in a repair machine shop, I've had a good deal of experience dealing with gearboxes and tinkering with them to get them to feel right. I've only had 3 blowers pass through my hands, but all 3 of which have gotten this same treatment and came out cranking easier and looking way better when I was done.

I enjoy rebuilding and take pride in it to an extent. I'm sure collectors and purists are tearing their hair out seeing what I did to the patina and original paint, but my goal at the end of the day is when a tool or piece of equipment passes through my hands and onto the next owner, it will be as solid and clean as the day it left the factory and ready for another 100 years of service before another nut like me tears it apart for another rebuild. 

Also, I counted 80 some odd teeth on the big gear and 20 on the small gear, so I'm not 100% convinced marking tooth for tooth would have made a huge difference. I believe it was 84 teeth on the big gear, so every 5th turn of the big gear would have "reset" the little gear to the starting point, but little gear would have been offset (and hit every 4th tooth in between?) until that point. The main point was getting each gear set by feel one at a time as I reassembled the gearbox. Nowhere near as many gears as a transmission, and I've played with the gears in many of those for fun. (and they still work lol)