RR babbit info

[Hackleback]

I may have a line on some rail car babbit. This was used before ball bearings were in common use. The blocks were cast and were lubircated in a packing box filled with fiber and a heavy oil. Does anyone know what the content is? High in tin I hope.

[Ben]

Antifriction alloy of copper, antimony, and tin used as bearing material for axles and crankshafts, occasionally in dentistry for dies and counterdies in swaging dental plates. In present-day usage the term is applied to a whole class of silver-white bearing metals, or “white metals.” These alloys usually consist of relatively hard crystals embedded in a softer matrix, a structure important for machine bearings. They are composed primarily of tin, copper, and antimony, with traces of other metals added in some cases and lead substituted for tin in others.

[Hackleback]

I think that the materal that I have my sights on is quite old (if that is of any insight). I was thinking that this stuff might be good for mixing with scrap (soft lead) or adding a bit of tin to WW.

[Tom W.]

It is, and it makes pretty good boolits on it's own, but they're a bit light, and hard as the dickens.

[Freightman]

I have a stach of materal like that and it makes very hard boolits, they are almost to hard to size. I only use it if I am going to push a boolit a little hard.

[Lloyd Smale]

I would say that your babbit is probably low speed babbit which is primarily lead. It would probably cast fine just as is but your bullets wont be very hard.

[felix]

Lloyd, it's the other way around. Lead babbit is low speed stuff allright, but is extremely tough because of the unusual amount of copper included; therefore, it is very hard to keep mixed without tremendous (comparatively speaking) heat all the way down into the mold. Use lead babbit to boost antimony with the added benefit of copper; use tin babbit to boost tin only. Antimony is not a tough material, and the copper is included to compensate. Only antimony will make a boolit grow in size. ... felix

[Lloyd Smale]

you taught me something tonight felix i allways thought that low speed babbit was mostly pure lead with very little tin or antimony in it.

[Ben]

http://hgmould.gunloads.com/casting/babbitt.htm

[Lloyd Smale]

thanks felix and ben. Like i said im never to old to learn. I have to kick myself in the but for passing on some of the babbit i did pass on now. I remember the scap yard i frequent one had thousands of pds of low speed babbit in igots stacked on pallets that i said no to for 25 cents a lb because i allways thought low speed babbit was just lead and tin. If i would have know the antimony content was there i would have stock piled alot of it..

[Hackleback]

Thanks for the info. As usual, one thinks he asks a rather simple question and ends up with a wealth of information.