Linstrum
09-29-2007, 11:46 PM
I have some historical type information about Patmarlin’s excellent product that some may find interesting. :D I am fortunately both old enough to have worked as an engine mechanic when cast babbit bearings were still used, and to have been taught how to cast the babbit bearings by men who were born well before cars were an everyday sight, one mechanic who taught me a lot was born in 1872! Railroad locomotives and steamboats used cast babbit bearings going back to about 1845 when Mr. Babbit invented his alloy for the United States Navy’s steam ships. So that technology itself is not recent and by the time I came along getting myself greasy and dirty from head to foot lying on my back under a car on a creeper on a cold garage floor, the techniques of babbit casting to make engine bearings had been perfected to the point that even the really good shade tree mechanics knew how. :redneck:
Some time around 1948 was when the last of the major engine manufacturers stopped using cast babbit bearings and switched to inserts, General Motors being the last one to use them that I am aware of. I seem to recall that the 1948 Chevy 216.5 cid six-cylinder engine was the last one in production that had cast rod bearings. The last rod bearings I cast were in 1969 and I remember the job well. The three best auto repair manuals available back in the 1930s to the 1950s were Chilton’s Manuals, Motor’s Manuals, and Floyd Clymer’s Manuals. They all gave instructions on how to cast bearings but Floyd Clymer’s books had the most detailed instructions. Machinery’s Handbook also had a brief section on casting babbit bearings as well. The main things covered in babbit bearing casting are to have the cavity well ventilated so air can escape to prevent voids, use an adequate sized sprue, smoke parts with soot to keep metal from sticking where it is not wanted, remove all oil and grease from the cavity, have the cavity pre-heated up to about 450°F to get good fill-out, flux the babbit pot with SAWDUST, and stir it with a WOODEN STICK to help flux the bottom as well as CHECK THE TEMPERATURE since at the correct babbit casting temperature of around 800°F the wood chars and smokes heavily.
Beginning to sound familiar?
It has been approximately 75 years since babbit casting was still necesssary knowledge among all auto mechanics and practiced in all major full service auto shops. The Model T and A Fords, Chevys, Dodge Brothers, Packards, Hudsons, Studebakers, etc, all used cast babbit bearings until sometime around the early 1930s when they all changed over to insert bearings, with Chevy holding out until after World War Two. The consequences of this were that it had been common knowledge that sawdust and wooden stirring sticks were the best things to use for casting babbit but with the change in technology this knowledge was for the most part lost for somewhere around 60 years! I started casting babbit bearings before I started casting boolits, but not by much, and since the two processes are virtually identical the knowledge of how to do one was directly useful for the other. Since sawdust and wooden sticks were the best materials ever discovered for casting babbit as well as boolits, I think that history itself is the ultimate as well as best endorsement for Patmarlin’s product.
:cbpour:
Some time around 1948 was when the last of the major engine manufacturers stopped using cast babbit bearings and switched to inserts, General Motors being the last one to use them that I am aware of. I seem to recall that the 1948 Chevy 216.5 cid six-cylinder engine was the last one in production that had cast rod bearings. The last rod bearings I cast were in 1969 and I remember the job well. The three best auto repair manuals available back in the 1930s to the 1950s were Chilton’s Manuals, Motor’s Manuals, and Floyd Clymer’s Manuals. They all gave instructions on how to cast bearings but Floyd Clymer’s books had the most detailed instructions. Machinery’s Handbook also had a brief section on casting babbit bearings as well. The main things covered in babbit bearing casting are to have the cavity well ventilated so air can escape to prevent voids, use an adequate sized sprue, smoke parts with soot to keep metal from sticking where it is not wanted, remove all oil and grease from the cavity, have the cavity pre-heated up to about 450°F to get good fill-out, flux the babbit pot with SAWDUST, and stir it with a WOODEN STICK to help flux the bottom as well as CHECK THE TEMPERATURE since at the correct babbit casting temperature of around 800°F the wood chars and smokes heavily.
Beginning to sound familiar?
It has been approximately 75 years since babbit casting was still necesssary knowledge among all auto mechanics and practiced in all major full service auto shops. The Model T and A Fords, Chevys, Dodge Brothers, Packards, Hudsons, Studebakers, etc, all used cast babbit bearings until sometime around the early 1930s when they all changed over to insert bearings, with Chevy holding out until after World War Two. The consequences of this were that it had been common knowledge that sawdust and wooden stirring sticks were the best things to use for casting babbit but with the change in technology this knowledge was for the most part lost for somewhere around 60 years! I started casting babbit bearings before I started casting boolits, but not by much, and since the two processes are virtually identical the knowledge of how to do one was directly useful for the other. Since sawdust and wooden sticks were the best materials ever discovered for casting babbit as well as boolits, I think that history itself is the ultimate as well as best endorsement for Patmarlin’s product.
:cbpour: