• Pourin bearings in Mike's 50 LG

    by
    Larry L
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    Pourin' bearings in Mike's 50lb Little Giant

    Spent yesterday and today pouring new bearings for Mike Neely's 50LG... Seems lots of people have interest in what it takes to do it... Thought I would share some photos..

    Attachment 584

    Attachment 585
    Here is what I started with... caps and frame all cleaned up with all the gook burned out.


    Attachment 586 Set up with the mandrel in place prior to the pour


    Attachment 588 The finished bearings in the caps..

    Attachment 587

    A couple pics of the finished bearings in the frame, you can see the spacers are still in the babbit..
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    Attachment 590

    Not sure what happened to the post with the clutch pics... So here they are again

    Attachment 591 The mandrel and the ring I used to press the mandrel out..


    Attachment 592 The clutch poured with mandrel still in place


    Attachment 593 Turning the clutch bearing


    Attachment 594 Finished bearing ready to work!
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Pourin bearings in Mike's 50 LG started by Larry L View original post
    Comments 3 Comments
    1. Grant's Avatar
      Pretty cool there, Mr. Langdon! Hate to admit it, but it came out better than some I've done. Bet a lotta people find this one interesting.
      Reply
    1. ianinsa's Avatar
      This is incredibly interesting, do you pre-heat before you cast the bronze? Are there any specific precautions that one should take W.R.T. protecting the "mould"? I have always been weary of this method of casting bearigns in case I damage the origional piece, this just seems so much easier that the wax method(lost wax) that I use!
      Brilliant looking job I must add!
      Reply
    1. Lewis's Avatar
      ianinsa,

      These a babbitt bearings, they're a lead alloy, not bronze. Much lower melting point and less risk to the frame. The frame, caps, and shaft are pre-heated before pouring. I've also seen an acetylene flame used to coat the mandrel with soot as a parting compound.

      There's a tutorial on the Little Giant site.

      http://www.littlegianthammer.com/pdf...NSTRUCTION.pdf
      Reply