Buffal Forge Co hand crank blower refurbishment

[Sam Salvati]

Found a Buffalo Forge hand crank blower, got it from a new friend in trade. I am working on tearing it apart, and refurbishing it. Here is the blower as I recieved it , chunky oil in some spots, pretty tough to turn but everything all there and no rock tumbler noise:

 

[Sam Salvati]

Got the fan housing, fan blades, and gear case cover all off. Not always, but sometimes you have to take the gears and shafts all apart, not recommended, sometimes they wore specifically so they won't go back together properly ever again. Always good to get a look at the gears, check for missing or very wore teeth and other wear points on the shafts or loose bearings. Clean and degrease the old gears, get all the loose gunk and rust out of the gear case as much as possible, grit dust inside is a bad thing for obvious reasons, sandblasting is a no no on the gear areas. The gears look nice and fit on this one, the small gear on the last shaft (that the fan rides on) is a bit loose side to side, but not all floppy and sloppy, it's the only one that shows almost any wear. Here it is all tore apart and a shot of the gears:

 

[Sam Salvati]

More to come soon......

A little tip, other then the inhuman PB B'Laster, one of the best penetrants for breaking loose rusty bolts is lighter fluid, soaks and seeps like nothing I have ever seen.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Oil of Wintergreen is also superb for rust-busting.
Stacy

 

[indian george]

Cool!!! That thing is built like a tank.:thumbup:

 

[Edro20]

Cool!!! That thing is built like a tank.:thumbup:

Sure is! That was made before manufacturers started cutting every possible corner to make a buck. Very cool!

 

[R. Mark Lee]

That looks great. If your interested here's what I did with mine when I first got it. Soak the entire thing in a bucket of kerosine (or deisel) for a couple of days. This really loosen things up. Drain and wipe down with acetone or denatured alcohol. I put mine back together with valve cover gasket material(tube of liquid stuff you can get at auto parts store) this really helped keep it from leaking oil everywhere. Have fun forging, those things really put out the air.