Has anyone here experimented with making up their own "Babbit" type bearing alloys? Babbit is made up of mostly tin, with various percentages of lead, copper, and antimony added, depending on the intended use of the bearing it forms. Replaceable Babbit bearings are usually made with a steel or bronze backing, with a thin layer of Babbit bonded to the backing by pouring the molten alloy around a shaft or a mandrel that has been blackened with soot to facilitate removing the mandrel after the alloy has cooled and hardened. Then the alloy is scraped to a perfect fit to the shaft where it runs, using Prussian Blue indicator dye and a 3-cornered file with the teeth ground down to form a razor sharp scraping tool. Once the fit is correct, then shims are added to establish the correct oil clearance. It's a slow, tedious process, but it's a good skill to acquire if someone is going to tinker with antique engines, elderly machine tools, and other 100+ year old "big boys' toys"!
Jerry
