[SEL] RE: Pitted shaft & Babbitt bearings

[Andy Glines]

As usual, I get some great ideas when consulting ATIS lists for ideas.  
There have been several good ideas given.  I'm afraid that leaving the pitts 
alone simply won't work.  The pitted area is actually a strip about 1.5" 
wide for the length of the bearing surface on both ends of the shaft.  I'm 
thinkg that this is where rain water got in through the oil troughs and sat 
on the shaft.  Besides the rusted strip the shaft is pretty smooth.  Leaving 
this area alone will result in a big gap in the bearing surface that I think 
will cut the bearing quickly.  When I first posed this question I thought 
that the bearing castings were permanently attached to the boiler.  Further 
investigation shows that they can easily be taken off where I can put them 
on a table.  Being able to take them off means that the dummy shaft might 
work well.  Of course I've gotten some links to higher temp fillers.  Arnie 
asked what size the shaft is... 3.25" or 3.5" about 54" long.  I had already 
considered his idea that a shaft of sufficient size could act as a heat sink 
and therefore the filler would only see the extreme heat for a short time.  
I'm pretty sure that this shaft is big enough.  As always you folks have 
give me food for thought.  Thank you!
BTW The shaft in question is the countershaft that drives the wheels on my 
Huber steamer.
>Message: 38
>Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:53:21 -0400 (EDT)
>From: Arnie Fero <fero_ah at city-net.com>
>Subject: Re: [SEL] Pitted shaft & Babbitt bearings
>To: The SEL email discussion list <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
>Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.51.0504191740430.48218 at vegeta.city-net.com>
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>
>Hi Andy,
>
>As an alternative to JBWeld, McMaster-Carr lists a couple of high
>temperature epoxy putties.  One for aluminum rated to 1400 deg.F and one
>for cast iron, steel, and stainless rated to 2000 deg.F.  Under $30 for 8
>oz.  Look for 7356A33 (or 7356A32 for the aluminum).
>http://www.mcmaster.com/
>
>They also carry the high temperature titanium Devcon rated to 350 deg.F.
>That's a bit higher at $65 for a pound.
>
>Realistically, you could probably use the JBWeld also.  The worst that
>could happen is that some of it burns out leaving a lesser pit than you
>have now.  You'd still need to scrape that as Larry describes, but it
>would probably be less scraping than if you left the pits unfilled.
>
>What diameter is the shaft?  If it's beefy, the heat sink effect of the
>shaft would probably conduct enough heat away that the JBWeld wouldn't be
>badly damaged.
>
>Or just drop $30 and go for the high temperature stuff.  8-))
>
>See ya,  Arnie