I'm planning on doing a 'somewhat strange' babbitt pour soon.

couple of quick questions:

I need to pour the babbitt bearing around a 1.000 diam round cold-rolled
shaft. the shaft'll be dead vertical during the pour. the steel thing
I'm pouring the babbitt INTO is actually the center of this steel reel,
see the last six images on this page

http://machines.awardspace.com/6-4_SO-cord/

this procedure isn't gonna allow me lots of room to 'see down into the
reel core' during the pour, *BUT* I want the babbitt to ONLY go up as
high as a certain level INSIDE the reel core (about one-third up the
'fluted side' of the reel core, to be exact. best illustrated in this pic

http://machines.awardspace.com/6-4_S...os/photo5.html


so, plan is to drill a small hole INTO the side of the reel 'core' where
I want the 'top' of the pour to end, hoping the excess babbitt will just
'run out' through the hole.

question: how small CAN the hole BE? would a sixteenth diameter do the
job? (the whole dealie, reel core and shaft within and all, will be
heated for a solid half-hour with an electric torch immediately before
the pour, to 'help the flow')

and, regarding sooting the shaft: assume I do a nice job of sooting the
shaft with my oxi-acet, will the soot ALONE give me enough clearance to
be able to turn and lift the reel OFF the shaft after the pour? if
neccessary, I'll be honing out the babbitt a tiny bit after the pour
with a brake cyl hone...

anybody know a good source for those hand-pumped gasoline stove "leather
packings" that go in the pump? (the thing that'd be called a 'brake cup'
if you were doing a car brake repair). maybe it's called a leather pump cup?

thanks guys

toolie

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