[SEL] Babbitt pouring question for an Alamo engine.

[Judge Tommy Turner]

Curt,
    I have poured some bearings but I'm sure there are others that have 
a great deal more experience and can give you better advice.  On smaller 
engines (6 HP or less), I've poured both the top and bottom at the same 
time.  I do this by laying the engine base on its side with the shaft 
perpindicular to the ground.  I've used the Babbittrite putty to build 
around the shaft to seal it off on the bottom side and use it to make a 
dam around the top.  I then heat the shaft base a bit (not real hot 
though) and pour it.  I usually make my shims out of asbestos gasket 
material for the pouring purpose.  I've had good luck doing it this way.

    On larger engines, I've cheated a bit.  I make (or purchase if its a 
standard size) brass bushings that fit the shaft perfectly.  I then mill 
out about an 1/8 inch on each side attach them to the shaft with 1/8 
asbestos gasket material between the halves. I use a real fine brass 
wire to hold it all together.  I then place them in the frame of the 
engine and level the base so that the break line of the bushing half is 
parallel with the floor.   I use some jack stands I have with a small 
screw jack on top to position the crank (or shaft)  properly.  I should 
mention that I also tin the brass halves with solder after I split them 
in order for the babbitt to adhere to the brass.  I then dam them up 
with Babbittrite and pour and. I heat the item a bit bit putting a 
little heat on the frame of the engine and the shaft.  However, if I'm 
pouring in a base that has some original paint and don't want to damage 
it, I've poured them cold and haven't noticed a significant issue by 
doing this.  I pull the top half off, scrape or file the babbitt flush 
on the sides of the bushing (between the bushing and the base), place in 
my asbestos shims and pour the top half.  This sounds a lot more 
complicated than it actually is.  If you account for the time you use 
scraping and fitting the crank to the babbitt bearings, the way I've 
done it is actually faster I think.  One good thing about using the 
brass halves, they give you a great bearing surface and are all polished 
up and ready to use not long after pouring the babbitt.  I've been long 
winded here but thought I would share this with you.

Tommy Turner
Magnolia, KY


> Guys,
> So far all the babbitt I have poured is lowers. The Alamo I am working 
> on will need the lowers poured and have melted them out. Looking at 
> the uppers leads me to think they should be redone as well. I haven't 
> melted them out yet.
> Have mostly completed the fixture to pour the lowers, but I have a 
> question for you experts on how to do the uppers. I am planning on 
> pouring the lowers around a dummy piece of 2" TG&P. Preheating the 
> dummy shaft and the engine base/bosses is fairly easy when doing just 
> lowers. But how does one heat the dummy shaft if doing the upper at 
> the same time? I see how the upper could be poured thru the greaser 
> hole. How will the lower cavity be poured at the same time when metal 
> tight dams/shims are in place between the uppers and lowers? I 
> thinking both would be poured at the same time??? Or are the uppers 
> poured first, then the caps removed and the lowers poured later???
> I really need some good advice here!
> Curt Holland
> Gastonia, NC
>
>
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