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using lead in taper attachment clamp ?

gadget73

Hot Rolled
Joined
Mar 8, 2016
This may be a dumb question but is there any reason I can't melt some lead sinkers as the fill for my taper attachment clamp? Mine has nothing in there currently and I'm expecting to need to use it for a project soon.
 
Yep, lead shrinks when it cools. The correct material is non-shrinking Babbit alloy. There are many but only the non-shrinking will do.

Pete
 
Or....if you have access to a milling machine you could just make a new clamp bracket for the taper attachment. You need a bed clamp which has a little bit of adjustment capability so you can hold that taper attachment bar with no lateral or vertical loading. If you don't bind the taper attachment, it will work just fine and may be easier to accomplish than trying to figure out how to melt babbit and get it poured into the cavity on the original clamp bracket.
 
Don't have a mill. Its on the "things to buy" list.

I have the clamp bracket, but the hole through it is about 3/4" and the shaft on the end of the taper attachment is maybe 7/16". It originally had babbitt in there to fill the gap and make up for any off-center fitmet, but mine was melted out or perhaps never filled. Either way its a hot dog in a hallway and I need to make it fit better than it currently does.

Basically I was trying to avoid buying a lump of babbitt for the small amount I need. I've got sinkers. I guess I'll just buy the right stuff.
 
fair chance Ted might have some.

as a get-me-by, just using a couple washers to capture the rod in the bracket will work, ugly and crude but will work.
 
I had babbit in my heavy ten taper clamp and removed it because the taper attachment holding rod was not aligned with the center of the clamp. I found that a nut and a washer on each side of the clamp worked just fine and did not put a side load on the taper attachment.

Tom
 








 
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