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  1. #1
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    Default White Metal Bearings

    Just wondering what people do with machines that have white metal bearings... Is it something you pour yourself or is it something that you can still get done at an engineering works... I don't have a need for it yet but I am sure I will come across an old machine that has flogged out bearings somewhere along the track.... Be interested in everyone's ideas on the subject.

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  3. #2
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    Try a google search for poring white metal or babbitt bearing and you will find a few threads. The US site, OWWM has a number of posts on babbitt bearings. There is at least one engineering works in Melbourne that will poor and machine white metal bearings. Cant remember their name but I found it with google.
    Tony
    You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. ~Oscar Wilde

  4. #3
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    Thanks Tony...I did have a look at a few videos on the subject, however, it looked like a daunting process for a beginner I guess it’s one of those lost trades...

  5. #4
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    largely depends on you funds it is a expensive process to have done for you, in most cases you will also have to transport the machine to facility that is doing the job my friend who use to run a now defunct old time saw works had this done at a local engineering firm 5 years ago, two bearings in a buzzer ( jointer ) cutter block all up with transport $2,500 00, in a lot of cases unless you are restoring a machine you can replace the bearing with modern sealed bearings

  6. #5
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    Thanks China...sounds like you would want to avoid a machine that had white metal bearings unless you had the skills and or equipment to do it yourself.

  7. #6
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    Have a colleague who spent his early days travelling outback OZ repairing farm machinery. One of the jobs he did was to pour and scrape white metal bearings on windmill shafts. Not sure if he would still do it but I could check him out if necessary.

  8. #7
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    I have a lathe with Babbit bearings . I did a bit of reading and searching when I was first getting the lathe going . There is some real good video on you tube re pouring Babbit . It looks simple and with $20 worth of white metal you could have it done in 8 to 10 hours would be my guess. Maybe precise scraping after the pour would take longer ? Some I saw though were pouring around the shaft that was to be used and I'm not sure how much if any scraping is needed after that .
    One thing I remember is Babbit / white metal is a superior bearing to roller and ball bearing for the load it can handle. Not superior for the space it takes up or the time taken to renew it though . . Well worth learning how to fix the bearing rather than replace it with modern stuff and ruin the originality of a very cool way of doing things I reckon .

  9. #8
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    Default

    One other thing to consider on an old machine with worn out bearings is to make sure the shaft/mandrel is still round.
    No good fitting a new Babbitt bearing to an oval shaft

    Mark
    What you say & what people hear are not always the same thing.
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  10. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lappa View Post
    Have a colleague who spent his early days travelling outback OZ repairing farm machinery. One of the jobs he did was to pour and scrape white metal bearings on windmill shafts. Not sure if he would still do it but I could check him out if necessary.
    I cut up interlocked river red gum for Comet windmills here in Concord about 20 years ago.
    They used to turn the bearings up in halves and then soaked them in used engine oil for a year before using them.
    They had made the move from Dulwich Hill to Concord a few years earlier, they didn't last long here due to the real estate boom.
    H.
    Last edited by clear out; 26th October 2017 at 07:56 PM. Reason: Typo
    Jimcracks for the rich and/or wealthy. (aka GKB '88)

  11. #10
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    Thanks Everyone for your input...... I don't have a need for it right now but I am sure I will in the future... I think it will be a useful skill to learn Even if it means a series of failures before it is learned...... I have watched a whole heap of videos that make the pouring look reasonably straight forward but the scraping seems to be the area that may require a whole lot of practice.

  12. #11
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    It is really not that difficult I have done it several times

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