mofokaye Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 I'm currently building a helve hammer from scratch, and want to cast myself some heavy brass bearings (Or any other material you can recommend) I was thinking of forging up some mild steel bearing blocks, and casting the brass bearings inside around the crank shaft itself... Obviously I'm not at all sure what I'm doing, and any advice is greatly appreciated regarding actually heating the metal, the choice of metal, and the pouring and casting itself. I have a large supply of scrap copper pipe and brass fittings to melt down... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fe-Wood Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Your going to want to use Babbit Bearing material. All the material you mentioned will need to much heat among other things for casting. There may be some videos on utube for casting babbit bearings. Its really not that hard to do. Just need to take you time to be sure the setup is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drq Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 I'm not sure I would try to cast brassabronzacopper around a shaft. That high a temp and that different a coefficient of expansion and you might get the shaft stuck. I would think of either casting them solid and drilling them out or with a smaller tapered steel shaft that you could punch out or drill out if it gets stuck. Fe-wood has a point that babbit is a little easier to deal with. That being said if you have a whole bunch of free material sitting around it doesn't take a weekend to make yourself a nice little foundry capable of what your thinking. Spend some time looking around the interwebs, there's a whole world out there of info on backyard casting. I've used a mongo burner I made from: http://www.ronreil.abana.org/design1.shtml I've melted 80# of alum bronze with one burner and a bunch of good firebricks. Propane will melt brass or bronze just fine. If you need crucibles a jewelery supply shop is a good place to start. What your thinking would not be a simple job if you have no equipment but it is definitely possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Why not sell the scrap copper and brass and use the proceeds to buy yourself a couple big pillow block bearings from Surplus Center? Whole lot easier, and the final product is likely to be significantly better. You'd probably have money left over to by other smithing toys, too. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mofokaye Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Why not sell the scrap copper and brass and use the proceeds to buy yourself a couple big pillow block bearings from Surplus Center? Whole lot easier, and the final product is likely to be significantly better. You'd probably have money left over to by other smithing toys, too. Very good point, but doesn't sound anywhere near as fun I'll look into getting some babbit, I have plenty of other uses for the scrap copper! Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I'm with Matt. Trying to cast brass or bronze is more likely to braze the shaft to the pillow blocks. Babbit can be bought or substituted for with wheel weights. You have to be careful to make sure there isn't any gritty dross before you pour or it'll wear things a bearing is supposed to protect. Wheel weights have a decent percentage of antimony for strength and may be a bit hard so adding a little soft lead solder will adjust. Straight wheel weight lead has worked many times though. Selling the scrap and buying modern bearings would be my choice, that's just me though. Frosty the Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Lot of the places that will buy copper may have scrap babbitt to hand. Sometimes even unused ingot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattBower Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 I love DIY solutions, sometimes even when they don't really make financial sense. But a pair of LARGE pillow block bearings from Surplus Center will cost you about $25 plus shipping. That's $25 total, for two bearings -- not $25 each. Compared to the cost of getting yourself set up to cast brass or bronze, and all the failures you're likely to experience learning to successfully cast decent bearings, $25 is a steal. You'd be hard pressed to buy a decent crucible of sufficient size for $25. (And for brass and bronze you really should be using a proper ceramic crucible, not a homemade steel job. It's possible to make your own ceramic crucibles, but there's an initial cost and learning curve in doing that, too.) Just my $0.02. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Gonna have to browse through that site carefully....Thanks Matt Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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