What's new
What's new

Fitting Taper Attachment - Babbitt Source

USNmechanic

Aluminum
Joined
Dec 1, 2016
I’m in the process of moving a taper attachment from a 9” to a 10K South Bend. Since I’m certain that the taper bed height won’t be exactly the same as the last lathe, I’m planning on melting the babbitt out of the tie rod bracket and re-pouring it in place like what would be done with a new attachment. Does anyone know a good source of small quantities of babbitt I can use for this? The cheapest I’ve found so far is a babbitt paperweight on eBay for $20 shipped. Thanks!

-Keith


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I looked there first. The smallest quantity they sell it in is 5 lbs for $50 pre shipping costs. I’m not trying to be cheap on this project, but I don’t want to tie all that money up to use a couple ounces and have the rest sit on my shelf for the next 40 years. I may be able to collect the babbitt that I melt out, but my guess is that it wont all make it back in and I’ll be a little short. I could always make up the difference with something like JB weld, but I’d like to leave it in a state that could be worked on again in the future without any surprises.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I’m in the process of moving a taper attachment from a 9” to a 10K South Bend. Since I’m certain that the taper bed height won’t be exactly the same as the last lathe, I’m planning on melting the babbitt out of the tie rod bracket and re-pouring it in place like what would be done with a new attachment. Does anyone know a good source of small quantities of babbitt I can use for this? The cheapest I’ve found so far is a babbitt paperweight on eBay for $20 shipped. Thanks!

-Keith


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Keith,
I bought my 10K new in 1980 from SB with a TA. When it arrived it was not installed, I had to do it myself. It was a real pain in the ass. In your case you do not have to recast the drag link Babbitt. All you have to do is remelt it in place with the end nut slightly loose. I suspect you will have to drill and tap mounting holes in the bed casting as well. Do not dowel the TA in place. Snug up the mounting bolts lightly. Snug up the carriage clamp and adjust the TA parallel to the bed without the drag link in place. Then tighten the mounting bolts. Attach the drag link rod to the TA casting leaving the bed clamp loose. Lastly, remelt the bed clamp babbit and while melted, tighten the bed clamp. Then test for bind. You may have to do this exercise several times to get it right. Only then drill the bed casting for the TA dowels. The drag link rod bore in the clamp casting is much larger than the rod,so large flat washers are required on both ends of the bed clamp. They act as a Babbitt dam, so that nut must still be snug to prevent the melted Babbitt from leaking.
 
I had a similar problem with my heavy 10. Instead of redoing the babbit, I simply melted out the babbit and used large flat washers and let the clamp float. That way there is no stress on the TA. Works great!

Tom
 
Thanks for all the suggestions! I decided that I didn’t want to melt it in place as it sounds like it was kind of a touchy operation and I only want to do this once. Before melting out the babbitt, I noticed that it looked like there was a sleeve between the tie rod and the babbitt. I figured that the washers pressed against this sleeve on each side to keep the babbitt from spilling out between the washers and shaft/threads. I found as I was melting the babbitt that this sleeve was babbitt as well. It seemed to have a slightly higher melting point than the other babbitt, but I ended up melting it completely and mixing it all together. I think this will actually help me, since I just made a sleeve out of some steel rod to take its place. I’m guessing with the new sleeve, I’ll have plenty of babbitt to fill the cavity now. Hopefully I’ll have time to finish it up tomorrow. I’m in no hurry though since I’m still waiting for the 0.2505 reamer for the dowel holes and a new cross slide nut to arrive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks @SLK001 . I’ve been using this document to help with the fitting, but I’ll save yours too. http://www.wswells.com/data/howto/9_taper_Install.pdf

@Rudd, thanks for the link! I’ll be saving that to my browser if I ever need some more in the future.

@lectrician1, thanks! A PMs on its way.

I figured I would try it with what I had just for the practice. My sleeve idea didn’t work since the 7/16 hole ended up a little undersized and I don’t have a boring bar or reamer that small right now. I don’t have any putty either, but the two lapped washers did a good job keeping it in. I heated the babbit to about 650 F, and the bracket to around 350 F before pouring. It went pretty well, but ended up short. I’ll melt it out and do it again when I have more babbitt.

f201e35b9bf26f52362c34759ae04512.jpg


94a1f2952b3099794d8901754913fd60.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have some Babbitt you can have for postage..I will see if I can find it.{I know I have it just need to find it}
 
Thanks for the generous offer @packrat2, but I’ve already purchased some from @lectrician1.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I always assumed the tire weights were lead. I actually have several large ingots of lead left over from the previous home owner, but I wanted to stay away from using it for this instead of babbitt so the next owner of this attachment would know what they’re working with.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
For small jobs like this go to your local tire dealer and get used tire weights. They will be happy for you to take them.

The older wheel weights were a mix of lead and tin,{pistol shooters delight for casting bullets} but the newer ones have zinc in them which turns your melting pot to mush and makes casting pistol or rifle bullets impossible..
 
You mentioned mixing two sources of babbitt that appeared to have different melting points.There are many varietys of this stuff and some of them are not compatible with one another.Two major varietys exist that are completely un-compatible.They are different alloys.Problems can result from mixing unknown babbits.
 
Thanks for all the advice! I was able to finish fitting the attachment tonight using the babbitt I purchased from lectrician1. It didn’t go too bad, and I’m happy with the fit. The saddle feels very smooth traversing the length of the taper bed. Now all that’s left is to finish assembly and use it!

My phone died from the cold in the shop, so I had to bring the pet in to get a picture.

d3b43b55418525e176c80b8ee3a2facc.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 








 
Back
Top