[SEL] White metal to bronze question

[Russell Gilbert]

Thanks Elden, sounds pretty easy if you say it quick. Also seems 
similar to an off list reply I got also. Many thanks; I will endevour 
to do it over the next couple of weeks - to busy with work again at 
the minute. I will report my experience when it's done. regards Russell

At 03:26 AM 21/03/2007, you wrote:
>Russell:
>
>If you can get the big end into a lathe or mill, most of the 
>critical work is easy.  Beings I've never rebabbitted a bearing 
>(scraped in a set of mains on my American LaFrance a few years ago), 
>I might give some wrong advice.
>
>To make the babbitt stick to the bronze, first clean up the surfaces 
>with sandpaper, etc. and use a good solder flux and tin the bearings 
>with babbitt until the surfaces are completely covered.
>
>To keep the babbitt from sticking to the mandrel, one way is to use 
>an acetylene torch with no oxygen to smoke the mandrel.  Babbitt 
>won't stick to the carbon.
>
>Before pouring the bearing, make up several shims so you can take-up 
>wear in the bearing in the future.  I suppose you'd be good to go 
>with about 0.030" or so of shims.  Then, assemble the bearing with the shims.
>
>If you can easily machine the new babbitt to fit the journal, you 
>can leave a gap of 1/8 inch or so between the mandrel and the 
>bearing.  This will allow the white metal to flow to all parts of 
>the bearing.  Also, you need to heat the bearing to very near the 
>melting temperature of the babbitt so the poured metal will fuse to 
>the tin coating.
>
>After the whole works has cooled, machine to fit.
>
>Take care - Elden
>edurand at mchsi.com
>http://www.oldengine.org/members/durand
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
> > [mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com]On
> >  Behalf Of Russell
> > Gilbert
> > Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 06:09 AM
> > To: The SEL email discussion list
> > Subject: [SEL] White metal to bronze question
> >
> >
> > Howdy ya all.
> > I want to have a go of fixing the bearing gap (if
> > you like) in the
> > big Graham engine I have. It runs fine but has a
> > little jump in the
> > crank shaft in the bearings itself on the
> > compression stroke. So yes
> > they are warn, but not major or it does look like
> > a major problem
> > anyway. Some of my past engines have actually had
> > a very thin layer
> > of white metal placed on the original bronze
> > bearings so I thought I
> > could do the same thing. I have plenty of white
> > metal. Just have
> > never used it before. How would I go about
> > melting the white metal
> > and attaching it to the bronze bearings. I
> > imagine I would clamp the
> > bearings together and put something similar in
> > size to my crank shaft
> > inside. Melt the white metal and pour! But I need
> > to prep the bronze
> > surface area first ... Yes? How would that be
> > done? second when I
> > pour the metal ...... should the bronze be
> > preheated at all? and what
> > should I use to on the shaft bit so the metal
> > doesn't stick to it
> > when I remove it from the set casting?
> > I have never done this stuff before so I will
> > probably stuff
> > something up but one will not learn if one does
> > not have a go.  In
> > case some of you are wondering how big the gap I
> > trying to fill is
> > .... I would have a guess to say about the
> > thickness of 2 to 3 playing cards.
> > regards Russell
> >
> >
> >
> > Russell Gilbert
> > Sunny Sunraysia
> > russell at ncable.com.au
> > http://community.webshots.com/user/russellsrelics
> >
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>
>
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Russell Gilbert
Sunny Sunraysia
russell at ncable.com.au
http://community.webshots.com/user/russellsrelics