what is babbit #10

[mike in co]

have a source fro some babbit number 10.
whaT IS THE ALLOY, and what use might i have with it as a caster ?

thanks
mike

[3006guns]

I've poured a lot of babbit into engine and machinery bearings over the years, but never heard it referred to by a number. Usually you specify the percentige of tin or copper required to suit the anticipated bearing load. It sounds like a manufacturer's numbering system, so without a reference sheet of some kind you're "shooting in the dark" (pun intended). A hardness tester would be of some help in comparison to lead. In any case, most babbits are high quality and usually harder/tougher than plain lead so it should make good boolits. If the price is right, grab it!:coffee:

[felix]

Grade Sb Sn Lead Copper Iron (max) Arsenic (max)
10 14.5-17.5 0.75-1.25 78.0-83.0 0.60 .10 3

This would be an excellent augmentation for the antimony. Typical low speed babbit. The
additional amount of arsenic is a definite PLUS. Should add a significant slush time to WW,
and make an extremely hard quenched boolit. Just enough copper to not cause trouble,
and add some toughness to the final boolit. By all means, get it.

To use, melt up a 20 pound pot of WW. Add one pound of babbit by melting it off of the
bar. If in doubt, have scale ready. Measure weight of bar first, and continually measure
until one pound has been taken off via melt.

DO NOT PRE-MELT THIS BABBIT TYPE....

Just thought of something else. This babbit will have a high melting point. So, you might
want to fill the pot half way to conserve heat so the babbit will melt quicker. But, do fill
the pot after doing so with WW.

Add just barely enough tin to make consistent boolits.


... felix

[grumpy one]

As an unnecessary amplification of felix's post, the alloy number is from ASTM B-23 and alloys 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 16 and 19 were discontinued from the standard in 1959. Seems like you have some pretty old alloy there.

Well done felix - I couldn't find an ASTM reference old enough to find out what its composition was.

[John Boy]

http://www.grantmfg.com/Data%20Sheets/babbitt_alloys.html