[SEL] How do I tell Babbitt from Lead?

[Alan Bowen]

Yup, I was given a weird looking tablesaw a few years ago.
It actually was a lead saw  that served for many years at a small town newspaper.  It came with a lot of different spacers and several blades.
I donated it to the Buckley Old Engine Show.
http://www.buckleyoldengineshow.org/

I figured that was better than ripping it apart because it had some parts that I saw another use for.  

I still wonder why this chunk of "lead' has the R stamped into it,,,,,,,

Alan Bowen
Williamsburg, Michigan


"P. Johns" <enginepaul at gmail.com> wrote: This may add to the confusion, or help in some cases.
Type metal, as in printer's type is another lead alloy out there. Metal used for Foundry type is the hardest, monotype metal is next then there is linotype metal and spacing metal. All are mostly lead and melt somewhere between 250 to about 320 degrees depending on exact composition.

Foundry type metal has tin for hardness and antimony to counteract
shrinkage. This used to be expensive, but with computers came obsolescence.
I gave several hundred pounds to a fisherman that used it for sinkers and I suppose much of it is now gone or in scrap ingots out there.

Paul
Typesetter - learned in 1960.

       
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