Isaac Babbitt (July 26, 1799 in Taunton, Massachusetts - May 26, 1862 in Somerville, Massachusetts) was an American inventor. In 1839, he invented a bearing made of a low-friction tin-based metal alloy,
I had an uncle in the Oklahoma panhandle that sold and rebuilt Aermotor windmills up until the mid 80's. After Aermotor shifted production to Mexico my uncle did not like the quality of the babbitt bearings, so he would take the new windmill head out of the shipping crate, disassemble it and melt out all the babbitt and then repour them with an alloy he preferred in a manner than he approved of.
@@tonywright8294 And still you couldn't stop reading the whole story. Must be very uninteresting life you have, to have time for borh reading, and belittling, some unknown to you person on the internet. A shame we can't see dislikes any more, so I could do statistics on how many times more likes Alan's comment got than yours did.
I looked up the price of lead based Babbitt metal at McMaster-Carr and it costs about $108.00 for five pounds. Four and one-half pounds of tin based Babbitt is $327.00. I did a Babbitt bearing set when I was younger in the 1980s. I used the tin based metal. It is a shock how much these metals cost today. Nice job Keith.
For many years I have had this long coarse curved cutter file and a big block of 'putty' wrapped in waxed paper that I inherited from my grandfather. Now I know what both are used for.
When I was an apprentice I worked for a company that built machinery for the Flax industry here in Ireland and abroad , all the "drawing" roller journals ran on "white metal" (babbit) bushes. We had to make our own "scrapers" for smoothing the "high spots" from old half round files . This process is still used today due to the very high pressures exerted on the drawing rollers.
@@crowznest438 The drawing rollers draw the Flax fibre at a higher speed than the back feed rollers under high pressure from wooden pressing rollers , up to 1200 lbs, which is why we still use "white metal" bushes to withstand the constant pressure. The Flax is drawn out through a series of six machines in a "system " until it is light enough (ounces/yard) to be bleached and then spun. The bushes are kept lubricated by an oil soaked flannel which sits on top of the journal. If the bushes do become heated then castor oil is the best remedy. Properly maintained these bushes will last for decades. I have refurbished 50 and 60 year old machines built in Belfast with the original bushes like brand new.
@@roberthenderson760 Thank you for the explanation. I know how flax was processed back in the day but the modern process is a mystery. Not as much of a mystery as it was before you explained that haha.
Keith, Get some plastic wrap/sheet and lay down on your mold-pac container to remove air gap before sealing it up after use. Might increase storage life.
For over a century railroad journal bearings were babbitt affairs. The bottom of the journal box held wicking material to bathe the axle with oil as it move to make its revolution through the bearing. The proverbial 'hot box' happened when the oil supply to the axle was disrupted for any of a variety of reasons and the journal would overheat and catch whatever oil remained in the journal box on fire. Axle diameters came in standardized sizes and the bearing 'adapters' with the babbitt material also came in standard sizes. Ball and roller bearings began replacing babbitt bearings with the coming of the Streamlined age. Babbitt journal bearings were outlawed in Interchange Service January 1, 1991
In the UK we call them "white metal bearings". Scraped a few in my time on rail wagon journals, using a graphite oil mix to show the high polished spots. Great video thanks.
Hi, Keith. I'll try not to be too long. Back in 1963 when I started as an auto mechanic on Italian and UK autos, we were specialists. I worked on many Bentley's and did a lot of engine restoration. In the early 1930's on the 3.5 L strait 6 engine the rod bearings were poured Babbitt. Also, between the rod cap an the main rod itself were small spacers on each side between the cap and rod held in place by the rod bolts. These pieces also had Babbitt poured on the edge toward the crankshaft rod journal. As you just demonstrated the shaft has to be strait but not necessarily the same size. Babbitt was poured into the rod cavity then machined to the size of the rod journal. We just had to make sure the rod journals were round and inline with the crankshaft center line. At times, it would take as much as two weeks to finish an engine, as some of the parts had to be made. It was fun !! Have fun in your work!
I've been told that Model T (and perhaps Model A) Fords also had babbit bearings, and repouring them was a fairly common thing that shops, and even individuals that worked on their own cars, did.
@@lwilton I know the Model A engines have Babbitt bearings, both rods and mains. Not sure about the Model T but if I had to guess, I'll bet the same as the Model A.
@@chieft3357 Yes the Model T and Model A had Babbitt bearings. Watch the Davin Hegarty channel to see his Model A pulled around his shop while he throws the clutch and drags the wheels to break the Babbitt bearings loose.
Oh, the days when we converted "Stove Bolt" Chevrolet 6 cylinder engines from Babbit bearing connecting rods to shell bearings. Having connecting rods with shell bearings always increased the value of old vehicles. Change the rods, new Perfect Circle piston rings, grind the valves and you just performed a "Power Tune-Up"
@@larrydewitt And do not forget, one could drop the oil pan, remove shims, put the pan back on while alongside the road. Today being able to find the engine under all of the covers, let alone the oil pan, requires highly technical equipment and a lot of luck.
41 years ago while working for my good friend in his antique car / truck wrecking yard he got a windmill he planned to use on a well on his property. The bearing cap for the fan was missing, so I made a new one. The windmill also used replaceable bearing inserts that were babbit. To make new bearing shells I stuck one piece of pipe the same diameter as the shaft the fan was connected to inside of a larger piece of pipe with them both standing on end. I then melted a bunch of lead wheel weights and poured the lead between the two pieces of pipe. I then cut the pieces of pipe in half lengthwise and with a little fitting they still are doing their job since 1980. My friend is now in his 68th year in business that he started at 11 years old.
When I was 'young' dad was melting old lead pipes. The one that had the drop of water in it was the one he was pointing at me - so yeah, I got shot with molten lead ! No harm done but Mum wasn't too happy having to darn my school jumper ! I also had hole in my school shirt with bits of lead decorating the rough edge.
Babbited of bearings are still pretty common in applications where the shafts being supported are in the tens or hundreds of tons range and spin fairly fast. The big difference in the process being that the Babbitt is centrifugally cast onto the bearing without the shaft in place, ie a backing ring is spun rapidly while the Babbitt solidifies onto the inside surface to ensure a thin and even layer.
Great overview. Takes me back to working on 600 HP, Ingersoll Rand PRE, Air Compressor shaft bearings. They were a three part assembly. Top and back quarter box were Babbitt lined and the bottom was bronze. Thanks for letting us look over your shoulder while doing a almost lost skill.
Almost all the very old gearless elevator machines had babbited bearings. The babbit was Cadtex, a special babbit for long bearing life. We had to be careful not to let sweat drops fall into the hot moltened babbitt. It will explode and fling molten babbitt over the pourer. JoeB
I cast all of my own bullets. That happened to me a few times. The last time was the worst. I was about to let a one lb. lead bar down into my Melting pot. I had to stop what I was doing to look for another tool. It was quite hot & humid that day, by the time I returned to the lead pot, the one lb bar in my hand had my sweat running down to it. When I let it go into the pot with the other molten lead, it exploded. It splattered globs of molten lead all over my garage. Some of it stuck to the left side of my neck near the collarbone. It blistered & left a modest scar there. Luckily, I had my safety glasses ON at the time. This was about 6-7 years ago. One should always have safety glasses on when casting this stuff. 🔍🔎
When I was a kid I was given a big lead ingot and it was way to big to fit in the melting pot so we turned it into crude shot by melting it and just letting it dribble into a bucket of water and it wasn't dry when we were running out of lead in the pot so my father got the brilliant idea to put the wet shot in, I gave him the shot and took off and he chucked a big handful in the pot and it exploded throwing molten lead all over my father who was there with no shirt on, he got covered in lead and so did the garage ceiling 🤣
Babbit! Mentioned in 'The Grapes of Wrath' when the Joad family's Hudson Super Six ran a big end crossing the Mojave Desert, and Tom Joad successfully got her going again.
I'd forgotten that movie scene where the Super Six broke down. My dad owned a 1936 Terraplane sedan during the early forties with the straight six flathead engine. That engine had an oil filter inside the oil pan that could be cleaned by removing a few bolts and dropping the pan. I've heard of a few cases where worn connecting rod inserts were replaced by thin strips of leather to get the motorist going again.
My Grandfather Nighswander had a big panel truck that we called the Black Mariah. It was from the 30' I don't know brand or year. It spun a crank bearing. My Dad told me that he and Gramps replaced the babbit bearing with a section of leather belt. He was still driving it in the early 60's before he lost his leg to diabetes.
is this how old power looms used to work, all units in a shop driven by the same engine, coupled to the machines by a master line shaft in the ceiling?
@@calinguga That's right. Leather flat belts, usually. I've seen ONE treadle powered drill press with a braided leather belt. About an inch in diameter. May have been a repurposed bullwhip?!
Great video. I still have my old bearing scraper in my tool box, it has a triangular blade. Only got to use it during my apprenticeship and once or twice in the 1960's helping to restore a couple of vintage cars. After that I often used it to scrape off the remains of stubborn gaskets.
Same, I found the scraper at an estate sale. Think I probably paid $ 1.00 for it. Didn't know what it was until I got it home, got curious and did some interwebs searching. Works great for getting inside things.
I always like seeing you pour these. It so satifying. I was in Gerorgia from Saturday to Wednesday visiting the grandkids over in Lawrenceville. Would have loved to looked you up and met you. But time was a bit limited. Maybe next time. Thanks for a great video. Buddy
@@EngineeringVignettes Hi man. Doing good here. Yep still working on the tractor when time permits. Waiting for cooler weather to paint the hood and grill. Just got back off vacation. Hope you are fine.
Great video! I did this for a while for my company's large steam and gas turbines. We used large metal forms, dammed with asbestos(??) and used one of several types of babbit materials, depending on where each was used. These bearings were up to 14-18 inches in diameter. Glad that I was on that assignment for only a few months as my co-worker ended up with fatal mesothelioma from the asbestos a couple years after I moved on
That Babbitt bearing likely melted because someone put a motor on the mill. There was another restoration on YT where someone had made modification and they found out that too much speed melts the bearings.
Babbitt bearings used to be used in automotive engines, they're good for pretty high speeds so long as they get enough lubrication. Of course in this thing the bearings probably got little to none.
for 30+ years i worked on sugar cane mill equipment for the Fulton Iron manufacturing company. your mill is quite a bit smaller than what i worked on. try repairing 46 inch rolls with 55degree V teeth cut full length[7 feet] of the roll. 4 rolls to a mill, usually 6 mill to a unit. these cast iron roll shells pressed onto a steel shaft with 18 to 22 inch bearing journals. Tiger bronze bearings fitted to the shafts all mated up in fabricated roll housings. the raw cane fed into the 1st mill to begin squeezing, the 4 rolls meshing together tighter and tighter as each mill tandem sends the cane forward. by the time the bagasse left the last mill it was on average 97% moisture free. Fulton Iron is the oldest continually operating machine shop in the USA and is known world wide for its sugar mill equipment design and manufacturing capabilities.
Poured a 'couple' of babbitt bearings in my previous life. We had a couple of 8' ball mills that ran babbitt main bearings as well as the babbitt bearings on the gears driving the bull gears. All had oil groves, since they were oil bath or continuous pressure flow. Ahhhh, the good 'ol days....
Remember watching my dad do this on a buzz saw. Still have it . The babbit is worn out now. He might have used lead. Or melted some old babbit down. Was thinking of replacing them with pillow block ball bearings but now I think I will try the babbit. What do I have to lose.
As well as preheating the shaft/mould to prevent the Babbitt from cooling/solidifying before the pour is complete it also drys the area and prevents an explosion of the Babbitt material. I was with my brother who was pouring lead into concrete pockets to support fence stantions when the liquid lead exploded. By some miracle he blinked so quickly that the lead sealed his eyelids to his cheeks. The lead just peeled off with no harm done, but a lesson was learned. 1/ wear proper safety gear including goggles. 2/ Always drive of moisture from the pouring zone. The sudden high temperature turns moisture into steam increasing its volume by hundreds of times thereby spitting out the lead, Babbitt or other material being poured.
Done maybe half dozen myself, old Amish sawmill parts to large dia fans. Last time was more of a filler for worn cast iron brush hog gearbox. 99g ni rod to remake some teeth, filed then fitted, used a pop can base tight to spline as a dam. Candle smoked the shaft used mix of babbit and some harder material mixed (memory forgot the mixture.) Still going strong so must have worked. Used it last weekend ad probably tomorrow again!
It’s very interesting to see the ‘old school’ way of pouring and fitting babbitted bearings. I work for a company that manufacturers babbitted bearings. We do all sorts of repairs for anything from vintage motorcycle engines to brand new compressor systems. I’m amazed about how many high tech machines use an arcane bearing technology. Although I have to argue that Babbitt isn’t a precise material. We hold +/-0.0005 or less on a regular basis.
I remember when my dad bought a 1950 1 ton Chevrolet (this was in the 1980's) to haul firewood with. The inline six was pretty well worn and had some rods knocking. He dropped the oil pan, took the babbit rod bearings loose and filed them down.
What an interesting instructional video on babbitt bearings. Keith, since you used a trial shaft for pouring, I wonder if it would have been any benefit to finish the shaft slightly oversized to provide a small running clearance for the roller shafts?
You can get the gap between the shaft and the cap perfectly even by using small wooden spacers cut from Popsicle sticks or similar sticks that are the required thickness, 4 spacers per cap held by a small spot of the sealing putty.
I'd say in some ways Babbitt bearing can't be beat. Just look at every big old drill presses with flat belt drives pull find them used a hundred years and the bearings are still usable and less slop then ball bearings. I remember a big 24" lathe at a job shop I apprenticed in . The rapid traverse one time in many years needed the bearings repoured if I remember it took about two hours stripped cleaned polished and oil grooves cut. We did lots of maintenance for Bethlehem steel in the 70s.
Ok I'm just going to have to add my own comments based on my very short experience in this field. I used to work at a local place called Tuolumne Foundry in Sonora Ca. It had been a machine shop and foundry for the logging industry here in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the logging industry days of yester year. Way before my time. I worked there only as a welder/fabricator in the 1980's. However during my time there the owners dad, his name was Richard (Dick) Holman asked me to join him as he was doing something a bit out of the ordinary (for our time) in pouring some babbit bearings for a customer. It was all very interesting but the term that stuck in my mind from the job was the grease he used to seal the babbit from spilling out from the bearing when we poured it. He called it "Bear Shit". As best I could describe it, it was a very thick grease with some kind of fiber in it, probably asbestos! But I never forgot that term. Has anyone else heard that before?
i remembered my grandfather figuring out how to use molds, he used my playdoh mixed with charred sand to pour in silver-tin babbitt for a 1940 something john deere tractor cam journals. ironically, it was one of first diesels . he told me silver alloy is best babbitt's for diesels.
I found some old babbet in a country store, they thought it was lead it was stamped 38, I think it was 1938 they got around 30lbs in blocks, great video Keith good info.
Thanks Keith I may try and get that Deacon product here in Australia I have been using “Selly’s fire cement”, but can get abit messy and is not reusable.
As you stated; “it’s not that hard.” I was given about twenty five pounds of Babbit that was removed from a trommel at a marble plant during a rebuild. I am looking forward to experimenting with it after taking your TH-cam course. Thanks!
I STILL HAVE ALL THE OLD BABBIT FILES AND SCRAPERS MY DADDY USED A LOT OF IN , SAWMILL WORK, DREDGE SHAFTS, AND MACHINERY AND HE ALSO CALLED THAT SEALING PUTTY "BEAR SHIT".
Take a look at MAN, Wartsila, NSD, or Mitsubishi Slow Speed Diesel Engines. Babbitted bearings are used for the crankshaft, connecting rod, crossheads, and if I remember correctly the pistons. I worked with MAN B&W 7S50 MC-C engines. They are 7 cylinder, 500mm bore, 2.5m stroke, 11,000 kW (15,000 bhp). I think the weight is 300 tons. Slow speed engines go up to 980mm bore, 12 cylinder, 98,000 bhp. The babbitted bearings are pretty high tech.
Some species of wood are naturally very hard and oily and therefore make good bearings. There's a species called lignum vitae that used to be very commonly used to support the propeller shaft in ships and hydroelectric turbines.
Thanks Keith, nice work. I have some tool that I was told,are Babbitt scrappers, I have played around with them but I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong. If you have a video on that that you can point me to or if you have an opportunity to show that, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
I am used to what needs to be done to babbitt early Ford engines. Of course a much harder babbitt is required. Once step I would expect to see for bearing halves is to peen the babbitt down while still warm. The babbitt will shrink and pull away from the cast iron. So you have to peen it down tight. It is much less of an issue for a rotating and not compression ignition type shafts. The interesting part is the critical elements of babbitt pouring. You need to do melting and pouring in ways to ensure the smallest crystals of metal. There are a lot of rules that must be followed to pour engine bearings to ensure small crystals. I will point out that these rotating shaft bearings are a much different pour then the engine bearings.
Used to use a product back in the 60's called Cerametrix . Low melt temp alloy. Came in a 1 lb. Hexagon shape ingot. Melting point was, I think, 248 degrees Celsius.
Lubrication channels? As well as how the pre-casts settle when the mounting locations are not very accurate? The bearings are cast in place so that they come straight along the axis?
How did the babbit stick to the bearing shell, and NOT to the shaft when he was pouring it ? Was the shaft treated with some kind of mold release ? Was the surface of the shaft so smooth that the babbit pops off it easily ?
In this application, Keith was relying on the shaft surface to self-release - normally you'd get a bit of soot on the shaft to act as a "release film". There's usually a bunch of shallow holes or grooves in the blocks to act as a mechanical key to keep the cooled babbitt in place.
Isaac Babbitt (July 26, 1799 in Taunton, Massachusetts - May 26, 1862 in Somerville, Massachusetts) was an American inventor. In 1839, he invented a bearing made of a low-friction tin-based metal alloy,
I had an uncle in the Oklahoma panhandle that sold and rebuilt Aermotor windmills up until the mid 80's. After Aermotor shifted production to Mexico my uncle did not like the quality of the babbitt bearings, so he would take the new windmill head out of the shipping crate, disassemble it and melt out all the babbitt and then repour them with an alloy he preferred in a manner than he approved of.
Wow that’s so interesting !👎
Fuck that Tony shitbag. Your uncle was obviously a man who took pride in his work. Respect.
Very cool story, I love those windmills, in fact I even have one.
@@tonywright8294 And still you couldn't stop reading the whole story. Must be very uninteresting life you have, to have time for borh reading, and belittling, some unknown to you person on the internet. A shame we can't see dislikes any more, so I could do statistics on how many times more likes Alan's comment got than yours did.
Neat, times have surly changed..,.today he would have been arrested I'm sure
I find babbitt pours like this strangely satisfying.
Man..I do not miss melting out and re-pouring bearings. We did it for 6 and 8 inch crusher shafts.
I looked up the price of lead based Babbitt metal at McMaster-Carr and it costs about $108.00 for five pounds. Four and one-half pounds of tin based Babbitt is $327.00. I did a Babbitt bearing set when I was younger in the 1980s. I used the tin based metal. It is a shock how much these metals cost today. Nice job Keith.
For many years I have had this long coarse curved cutter file and a big block of 'putty' wrapped in waxed paper that I inherited from my grandfather. Now I know what both are used for.
The answer to a "whatzit" - cool thing to find out.
When I was an apprentice I worked for a company that built machinery for the Flax industry here in Ireland and abroad , all the "drawing" roller journals ran on "white metal" (babbit) bushes. We had to make our own "scrapers" for smoothing the "high spots" from old half round files . This process is still used today due to the very high pressures exerted on the drawing rollers.
@@roberthenderson760 What do the drawing rollers do?
@@crowznest438 The drawing rollers draw the Flax fibre at a higher speed than the back feed rollers under high pressure from wooden pressing rollers , up to 1200 lbs, which is why we still use "white metal" bushes to withstand the constant pressure. The Flax is drawn out through a series of six machines in a "system " until it is light enough (ounces/yard) to be bleached and then spun. The bushes are kept lubricated by an oil soaked flannel which sits on top of the journal. If the bushes do become heated then castor oil is the best remedy. Properly maintained these bushes will last for decades. I have refurbished 50 and 60 year old machines built in Belfast with the original bushes like brand new.
@@roberthenderson760 Thank you for the explanation. I know how flax was processed back in the day but the modern process is a mystery. Not as much of a mystery as it was before you explained that haha.
Keith,
Get some plastic wrap/sheet and lay down on your mold-pac container to remove air gap before sealing it up after use. Might increase storage life.
For over a century railroad journal bearings were babbitt affairs. The bottom of the journal box held wicking material to bathe the axle with oil as it move to make its revolution through the bearing. The proverbial 'hot box' happened when the oil supply to the axle was disrupted for any of a variety of reasons and the journal would overheat and catch whatever oil remained in the journal box on fire. Axle diameters came in standardized sizes and the bearing 'adapters' with the babbitt material also came in standard sizes. Ball and roller bearings began replacing babbitt bearings with the coming of the Streamlined age. Babbitt journal bearings were outlawed in Interchange Service January 1, 1991
Very cool - I never realized it was that easy to make bearings yourself but I know now for these historical pieces how to do it - thanks!!
Nice to see this. Thought my Dad was the only one still repouring these types of bearings.
In the UK we call them "white metal bearings". Scraped a few in my time on rail wagon journals, using a graphite oil mix to show the high polished spots. Great video thanks.
"Weissmetall Lager" in germany
Hi, Keith. I'll try not to be too long. Back in 1963 when I started as an auto mechanic on Italian and UK autos, we were specialists. I worked on many Bentley's and did a lot of engine restoration. In the early 1930's on the 3.5 L strait 6 engine the rod bearings were poured Babbitt. Also, between the rod cap an the main rod itself were small spacers on each side between the cap and rod held in place by the rod bolts. These pieces also had Babbitt poured on the edge toward the crankshaft rod journal. As you just demonstrated the shaft has to be strait but not necessarily the same size. Babbitt was poured into the rod cavity then machined to the size of the rod journal. We just had to make sure the rod journals were round and inline with the crankshaft center line. At times, it would take as much as two weeks to finish an engine, as some of the parts had to be made. It was fun !! Have fun in your work!
I've been told that Model T (and perhaps Model A) Fords also had babbit bearings, and repouring them was a fairly common thing that shops, and even individuals that worked on their own cars, did.
@@lwilton I know the Model A engines have Babbitt bearings, both rods and mains. Not sure about the Model T but if I had to guess, I'll bet the same as the Model A.
@@chieft3357 Yes the Model T and Model A had Babbitt bearings.
Watch the Davin Hegarty channel to see his Model A pulled around his shop while he throws the clutch and drags the wheels to break the Babbitt bearings loose.
Thank You for Your encouraging words at the end of this video.
I liked this!
Oh, the days when we converted "Stove Bolt" Chevrolet 6 cylinder engines from Babbit bearing connecting rods to shell bearings. Having connecting rods with shell bearings always increased the value of old vehicles. Change the rods, new Perfect Circle piston rings, grind the valves and you just performed a "Power Tune-Up"
My '51 Chevy had the babbit bearings, .005 shims in the rods. When you could 'pop' the rods back and forth you were good to go.
@@larrydewitt And do not forget, one could drop the oil pan, remove shims, put the pan back on while alongside the road. Today being able to find the engine under all of the covers, let alone the oil pan, requires highly technical equipment and a lot of luck.
You've given my ageing memory a jog, haven't heard of Perfect Circle piston rings for decades. We used them here in Australia as well.
Our high school had a farm mechanic program we would rebuild the old stove bolts from scratch and all had babbet bearing 1970
41 years ago while working for my good friend in his antique car / truck wrecking yard he got a windmill he planned to use on a well on his property. The bearing cap for the fan was missing, so I made a new one. The windmill also used replaceable bearing inserts that were babbit. To make new bearing shells I stuck one piece of pipe the same diameter as the shaft the fan was connected to inside of a larger piece of pipe with them both standing on end. I then melted a bunch of lead wheel weights and poured the lead between the two pieces of pipe. I then cut the pieces of pipe in half lengthwise and with a little fitting they still are doing their job since 1980. My friend is now in his 68th year in business that he started at 11 years old.
I love learning about things I never even knew existed! TH-cam recommendations don't always hit the mark, but they did this time lol
Binging with Babbitt, today we make Mold-pac shells for our bearings
I remember my dad doing this when I was young - always fun to watch liquid metal being formed
When I was 'young' dad was melting old lead pipes. The one that had the drop of water in it was the one he was pointing at me - so yeah, I got shot with molten lead ! No harm done but Mum wasn't too happy having to darn my school jumper ! I also had hole in my school shirt with bits of lead decorating the rough edge.
Keith, Brings me back to my Teens watching my uncle do this, Thanks.
Old technology is sometimes the best for certain applications. Thanks for the look.
Babbited of bearings are still pretty common in applications where the shafts being supported are in the tens or hundreds of tons range and spin fairly fast. The big difference in the process being that the Babbitt is centrifugally cast onto the bearing without the shaft in place, ie a backing ring is spun rapidly while the Babbitt solidifies onto the inside surface to ensure a thin and even layer.
Great overview. Takes me back to working on 600 HP, Ingersoll Rand PRE, Air Compressor shaft bearings. They were a three part assembly. Top and back quarter box were Babbitt lined and the bottom was bronze. Thanks for letting us look over your shoulder while doing a almost lost skill.
Always great videos Keith thank you for all your effort
Almost all the very old gearless elevator machines had babbited bearings. The babbit was Cadtex, a special babbit for long bearing life. We had to be careful not to let sweat drops fall into the hot moltened babbitt. It will explode and fling molten babbitt over the pourer.
JoeB
I cast all of my own bullets.
That happened to me a few times.
The last time was the worst.
I was about to let a one lb. lead bar down into my Melting pot.
I had to stop what I was doing to look for another tool.
It was quite hot & humid that day, by the time I returned to the lead pot, the one lb bar in my hand had my sweat running down to it. When I let it go into the pot with the other molten lead, it exploded.
It splattered globs of molten lead all over my garage. Some of it stuck to the left side of my neck near the collarbone.
It blistered & left a modest scar there.
Luckily, I had my safety glasses ON at the time. This was about 6-7 years ago.
One should always have safety glasses on when casting this stuff. 🔍🔎
When I was a kid I was given a big lead ingot and it was way to big to fit in the melting pot so we turned it into crude shot by melting it and just letting it dribble into a bucket of water and it wasn't dry when we were running out of lead in the pot so my father got the brilliant idea to put the wet shot in, I gave him the shot and took off and he chucked a big handful in the pot and it exploded throwing molten lead all over my father who was there with no shirt on, he got covered in lead and so did the garage ceiling 🤣
Babbit! Mentioned in 'The Grapes of Wrath' when the Joad family's Hudson Super Six ran a big end crossing the Mojave Desert, and Tom Joad successfully got her going again.
I rebuilt the engine in my dads ‘37 Terraplane Hudson in 1980. It has babbitts that burnt out in Phx AZ. And yes, it has the straight line six in it.
I'd forgotten that movie scene where the Super Six broke down. My dad owned a 1936 Terraplane sedan during the early forties with the straight six flathead engine. That engine had an oil filter inside the oil pan that could be cleaned by removing a few bolts and dropping the pan. I've heard of a few cases where worn connecting rod inserts were replaced by thin strips of leather to get the motorist going again.
My Grandfather Nighswander had a big panel truck that we called the Black Mariah. It was from the 30' I don't know brand or year. It spun a crank bearing.
My Dad told me that he and Gramps replaced the babbit bearing with a section of leather belt. He was still driving it in the early 60's before he lost his leg to diabetes.
Had the aggravation of pouring my first in the rafters of a turn of the century line driven woodworking shop.
is this how old power looms used to work, all units in a shop driven by the same engine, coupled to the machines by a master line shaft in the ceiling?
@@calinguga
That's right. Leather flat belts, usually. I've seen ONE treadle powered drill press with a braided leather belt. About an inch in diameter. May have been a repurposed bullwhip?!
This was super interesting! Thanks a lot for sharing!
I have an old 36" Cresent bandsaw that needs this very thing done for it. Thank you for the video
If old technology still working, means it’s still not old, thanks for the ride on time.
Thanks for sharing Keith
We're usually asking to see metal chips. Now we're asking for cane syrup !!
(And how about some ice cream too, Keith ?!?)
Do you like peanut flavour ice cream ?
Am I the only one thinking rum‽
@@R.Daneel Moonshine ?
Love the old technology! Nice thing about babbit is it cant shatter like a roller bearing. One more thing that is one huge vice!
I'd bet there is not a half dozen places on Utube where one can watch Babbitt being poured ! Great tutorial thumbsup to you .
Well done, Keith 👍😊👍.
Excellent video. Thanks for posting this.
Excellent info, demo, master class, whatever. Thank you Keith.
Great video. I still have my old bearing scraper in my tool box, it has a triangular blade. Only got to use it during my apprenticeship and once or twice in the 1960's helping to restore a couple of vintage cars. After that I often used it to scrape off the remains of stubborn gaskets.
Same, I found the scraper at an estate sale.
Think I probably paid $ 1.00 for it.
Didn't know what it was until I got it home, got curious and did some interwebs searching.
Works great for getting inside things.
I find babbit videos very satisfying. Good stuff.
Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed.
For the application that calls for it I cannot think of anything more appropriate. Thank you.
Some day I hope to do this for one of my hit and miss engine’s crank shafts…. Thanks for the great video
Love watching you and HTR use these old techniques. Just three easy steps: 1.Melt 2.Pour 3.Pray!!😊
I always like seeing you pour these. It so satifying. I was in Gerorgia from Saturday to Wednesday visiting the grandkids over in Lawrenceville. Would have loved to looked you up and met you. But time was a bit limited. Maybe next time. Thanks for a great video. Buddy
Hey Buddy, how are you doing? Still working on that tractor?
Hope you are keeping well..
Cheers then,
@@EngineeringVignettes Hi man. Doing good here. Yep still working on the tractor when time permits. Waiting for cooler weather to paint the hood and grill. Just got back off vacation. Hope you are fine.
Thanks for sharing!
I am manual machinist. I love watching your videos. Great job
Thanks for great job
Great video!
I did this for a while for my company's large steam and gas turbines. We used large metal forms, dammed with asbestos(??) and used one of several types of babbit materials, depending on where each was used. These bearings were up to 14-18 inches in diameter. Glad that I was on that assignment for only a few months as my co-worker ended up with fatal mesothelioma from the asbestos a couple years after I moved on
👍 nice work as always Kieth!
The operation is very similar to leading cast iron joints. Good to watch the pour, thanks.
Nice work.
nice work and great explanation.
@3:54 "just move that outta the way" made me chuckle.
That Babbitt bearing likely melted because someone put a motor on the mill. There was another restoration on YT where someone had made modification and they found out that too much speed melts the bearings.
Babbitt bearings used to be used in automotive engines, they're good for pretty high speeds so long as they get enough lubrication. Of course in this thing the bearings probably got little to none.
Requires lubrication and clearance
Dry starts kill babbit bearings.
for 30+ years i worked on sugar cane mill equipment for the Fulton Iron manufacturing company. your mill is quite a bit smaller than what i worked on. try repairing 46 inch rolls with 55degree V teeth cut full length[7 feet] of the roll. 4 rolls to a mill, usually 6 mill to a unit. these cast iron roll shells pressed onto a steel shaft with 18 to 22 inch bearing journals. Tiger bronze bearings fitted to the shafts all mated up in fabricated roll housings. the raw cane fed into the 1st mill to begin squeezing, the 4 rolls meshing together tighter and tighter as each mill tandem sends the cane forward. by the time the bagasse left the last mill it was on average 97% moisture free. Fulton Iron is the oldest continually operating machine shop in the USA and is known world wide for its sugar mill equipment design and manufacturing capabilities.
I found these bearings at an old machine years ago But I had no idea what they were, NOW I KNOW, THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION, GREAT VIDEO
Thanks Keith.
3am and im watching you pour babbitt bearings lol
Poured a 'couple' of babbitt bearings in my previous life. We had a couple of 8' ball mills that ran babbitt main bearings as well as the babbitt bearings on the gears driving the bull gears. All had oil groves, since they were oil bath or continuous pressure flow. Ahhhh, the good 'ol days....
Remember watching my dad do this on a buzz saw. Still have it . The babbit is worn out now. He might have used lead. Or melted some old babbit down. Was thinking of replacing them with pillow block ball bearings but now I think I will try the babbit. What do I have to lose.
As well as preheating the shaft/mould to prevent the Babbitt from cooling/solidifying before the pour is complete it also drys the area and prevents an explosion of the Babbitt material.
I was with my brother who was pouring lead into concrete pockets to support fence stantions when the liquid lead exploded. By some miracle he blinked so quickly that the lead sealed his eyelids to his cheeks. The lead just peeled off with no harm done, but a lesson was learned. 1/ wear proper safety gear including goggles. 2/ Always drive of moisture from the pouring zone.
The sudden high temperature turns moisture into steam increasing its volume by hundreds of times thereby spitting out the lead, Babbitt or other material being poured.
Done maybe half dozen myself, old Amish sawmill parts to large dia fans. Last time was more of a filler for worn cast iron brush hog gearbox. 99g ni rod to remake some teeth, filed then fitted, used a pop can base tight to spline as a dam. Candle smoked the shaft used mix of babbit and some harder material mixed (memory forgot the mixture.) Still going strong so must have worked. Used it last weekend ad probably tomorrow again!
It’s very interesting to see the ‘old school’ way of pouring and fitting babbitted bearings. I work for a company that manufacturers babbitted bearings. We do all sorts of repairs for anything from vintage motorcycle engines to brand new compressor systems. I’m amazed about how many high tech machines use an arcane bearing technology.
Although I have to argue that Babbitt isn’t a precise material. We hold +/-0.0005 or less on a regular basis.
Fascinating work sir. If I remember correctly the old Model A’s has Babbitt engine bearings. Way to go.
I remember when my dad bought a 1950 1 ton Chevrolet (this was in the 1980's) to haul firewood with. The inline six was pretty well worn and had some rods knocking. He dropped the oil pan, took the babbit rod bearings loose and filed them down.
Keith must not like that putty. He keeps calling it "damn material" 😂
Putty mouth.
Thanks Keith. Hope to bump into you again at ARNFEST.
Excellent A+
What an interesting instructional video on babbitt bearings. Keith, since you used a trial shaft for pouring, I wonder if it would have been any benefit to finish the shaft slightly oversized to provide a small running clearance for the roller shafts?
That new high heat putty works great for pouring babbets...
One might even say that your demonstration is truly _damning evidence_ indeed.
;D
I've worked on Babbitt bearings over 6 feet in diameter :)
You can get the gap between the shaft and the cap perfectly even by using small wooden spacers cut from Popsicle sticks or similar sticks that are the required thickness,
4 spacers per cap held by a small spot of the sealing putty.
I'd say in some ways Babbitt bearing can't be beat. Just look at every big old drill presses with flat belt drives pull find them used a hundred years and the bearings are still usable and less slop then ball bearings. I remember a big 24" lathe at a job shop I apprenticed in . The rapid traverse one time in many years needed the bearings repoured if I remember it took about two hours stripped cleaned polished and oil grooves cut. We did lots of maintenance for Bethlehem steel in the 70s.
Ok I'm just going to have to add my own comments based on my very short experience in this field. I used to work at a local place called Tuolumne Foundry in Sonora Ca. It had been a machine shop and foundry for the logging industry here in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the logging industry days of yester year. Way before my time. I worked there only as a welder/fabricator in the 1980's. However during my time there the owners dad, his name was Richard (Dick) Holman asked me to join him as he was doing something a bit out of the ordinary (for our time) in pouring some babbit bearings for a customer. It was all very interesting but the term that stuck in my mind from the job was the grease he used to seal the babbit from spilling out from the bearing when we poured it. He called it "Bear Shit". As best I could describe it, it was a very thick grease with some kind of fiber in it, probably asbestos! But I never forgot that term. Has anyone else heard that before?
i remembered my grandfather figuring out how to use molds, he used my playdoh mixed with charred sand to pour in silver-tin babbitt for a 1940 something john deere tractor cam journals. ironically, it was one of first diesels . he told me silver alloy is best babbitt's for diesels.
The ultimate "Close Enough" video!
Hi, interesting video thanks for sharing
Thanks
@ 0:50 There is a reason that Sinclair Lewis named his eponymous protagonist Babbitt in the 1922 novel.
I found some old babbet in a country store, they thought it was lead it was stamped 38, I think it was 1938 they got around 30lbs in blocks, great video Keith good info.
38 denotes the alloy number of the lead-tin mixture.
@@4GSR never thought of that, makes sense , thanks
Thanks Keith
I may try and get that Deacon product here in Australia
I have been using “Selly’s fire cement”, but can get abit messy and is not reusable.
If you can get the Blue stuff, it's more musical ;)
Good video....
As you stated; “it’s not that hard.” I was given about twenty five pounds of Babbit that was removed from a trommel at a marble plant during a rebuild. I am looking forward to experimenting with it after taking your TH-cam course. Thanks!
At Sebewaing Tool we used to soot up the shafts with the torch, but it looks like yours worked fine.
I STILL HAVE ALL THE OLD BABBIT FILES AND SCRAPERS MY DADDY USED A LOT OF IN , SAWMILL WORK, DREDGE SHAFTS, AND MACHINERY AND HE ALSO CALLED THAT SEALING PUTTY "BEAR SHIT".
Take a look at MAN, Wartsila, NSD, or Mitsubishi Slow Speed Diesel Engines. Babbitted bearings are used for the crankshaft, connecting rod, crossheads, and if I remember correctly the pistons. I worked with MAN B&W 7S50 MC-C engines. They are 7 cylinder, 500mm bore, 2.5m stroke, 11,000 kW (15,000 bhp). I think the weight is 300 tons. Slow speed engines go up to 980mm bore, 12 cylinder, 98,000 bhp. The babbitted bearings are pretty high tech.
Subscribed!
I enjoy the babbitt episodes
Used standard play doe & fiber-frac door seal rope as packing. Poured a many of ‘em that way.....
If it could be done 100 years ago it can be done today. :-)
I don't think I've ever seen hammers stored that way. That's pretty cool.
Grate video
Do not "grate" babbit. Very dangerous.
We had some seriously old farm implements that had wooden bearings.
I vaguely remember buying a new part for a combine thresher that was an oily wooden block.
Some species of wood are naturally very hard and oily and therefore make good bearings. There's a species called lignum vitae that used to be very commonly used to support the propeller shaft in ships and hydroelectric turbines.
@@macaroniandtuna That's one of the few if only wood that doesn't float on water !
@@millomweb Brazilian Walnut or IPE' will not float in water either.
@@clydeoyler1760 What about non Brazilian walnut ?
I wasn't aware of these 2 not floating.
Thanks Keith, nice work.
I have some tool that I was told,are Babbitt scrappers, I have played around with them but I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong. If you have a video on that that you can point me to or if you have an opportunity to show that, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Took me a while, but I found the vid you are looking for --> th-cam.com/video/4v2ivoLkxVw/w-d-xo.html
Heyyyyy Babbitt!!
I am used to what needs to be done to babbitt early Ford engines. Of course a much harder babbitt is required. Once step I would expect to see for bearing halves is to peen the babbitt down while still warm. The babbitt will shrink and pull away from the cast iron. So you have to peen it down tight. It is much less of an issue for a rotating and not compression ignition type shafts. The interesting part is the critical elements of babbitt pouring. You need to do melting and pouring in ways to ensure the smallest crystals of metal. There are a lot of rules that must be followed to pour engine bearings to ensure small crystals. I will point out that these rotating shaft bearings are a much different pour then the engine bearings.
Used to use a product back in the 60's called Cerametrix . Low melt temp alloy. Came in a 1 lb. Hexagon shape ingot. Melting point was, I think, 248 degrees Celsius.
So what determines when you have to "smoke" the shaft and when you can skip that step?
I was wondering at the point of removing the fresh mold - what if the Babbitt stuck to the shaft instead of the bearing ;)
When the babbitt cools it is going to contract/shrink a little. That will give you enough room for everything to be "just right" and room for oil
we always use putty and wrap the shaft for lube tracks than well smoked
Lubrication channels? As well as how the pre-casts settle when the mounting locations are not very accurate? The bearings are cast in place so that they come straight along the axis?
Are used to this day in heavy load machinery for longer life as oil is better than grease, all ball bears still run on the oil out of the grease
How did the babbit stick to the bearing shell, and NOT to the shaft when he was pouring it ? Was the shaft treated with some kind of mold release ? Was the surface of the shaft so smooth that the babbit pops off it easily ?
THAT is a very good question.
In this application, Keith was relying on the shaft surface to self-release - normally you'd get a bit of soot on the shaft to act as a "release film". There's usually a bunch of shallow holes or grooves in the blocks to act as a mechanical key to keep the cooled babbitt in place.
An old Steam Thresher trick is to "soot up" the area that you don't want the Babbitt to stick. Use a heavy acetylene flame with a torch.
Simple process, done a lot of it. We deal with old engines steam and gas.