[TheForge] Sow blocks - turned babbit bearings
Ralph Sproul
brhlbsmt at mcttelecom.com
Mon Jan 16 07:14:57 EST 2006
Opps, that last message left a bit early - sorry.
Tod, This would be another consideration totally. If you were sawing off a
hammer anvil and reaching a somewhat hollow anvil to apply a repair with a
sow block - you'd more than likely want to stay away from removing the sow
for die placement and use.
There is really nothing to babbit bearings. There is an article I did on
the metal web news about repouring them, and I believe the article is also
posted to Dave Mudge's techniques page.
The article runs thru the step by step process, in order of how you'd do
it. The nice thing is if you screw up and a section of babbitrite or a
collar releases and you loose the pour - you just run a torch over the area
to remove the babbit and start over which is the worse that can happen. I
like using a dummy mandrel (in your case it would be a 1 1/2" shaft I
believe for a 25 lber. Then you machine up some collars that fit the shaft
and end up making end caps that will extend the babbit slightly beyond the
bearing area to tune up any areas worn away over the years and give you a
nice end play so the clutch works well again.
I don't know if the article mentions a couple points - but leveling the
machine is important - and squaring the shaft to the guides with a framing
square (then grinding or filing your little support blocks accordingly to
make this happen) will give a real true running hammer that the clutch will
release well with. I think those things were so simple I didn't mention
them - but often find folks that haven't been around machinery aren't aware
of those items.
I actually picked up a 50 lb little giant (with a removable sow block by
the way for just the purpose we've been talking about) and repoured the
bearings last winter and was in hopes of getting the rest of the repining
the toggles, rebushing the pitman arm and clutch this winter - but the Nazel
work has been more of a priority to me lately.
Last winter I hadn't done any babbit pours for about two years - so I
printed out the article and followed the process I'd written up the last
times I'd done them while it was fresh in my mind (another great example of
why you should document your work!).......and did two power hammers in one
Saturday as far as preping, rough shiming, and pouring the babbits. So
your hammer is really only a day away from babbit bearings done - then
scrapping & fitting the bearings is another days work to get the shaft to
clearance for oil and make contact on about 80% plus of the surfaces in the
housing and caps with the proper shims (and scraping). To fit the shaft -
spray the babbit with bearing blue or some folks call it blue dykem. Set
the shaft in(dry), turn it, then scrap away the high spots and try it again.
This is also another case if you go to far........melt it out and try
again - so there is nothing you can really screw up so terrible you can't
fix it with another day or two's work. If you go slow and keep fitting,
blueing, and scraping - you'll find the shaft will spin freely and when you
add oil it's amazing how smooth it will roll for you.
Oh, by the way, remove the dummy mandrel and use the real crank to final
fit the bearings......one guy actually wrote me that following my article
he'd fit the dummy mandrel and the real shaft wouldn't turn......... I
didn't think that was my problem - but I did suggest he go with the shaft
that would run in the bearings for a final fit......politely of course. :-)
I had turned my dummy mandrel to the same size as my main shaft - but he
just used a piece of TGP off the rack so his results did vary quite a bit
from mine.
The only reason you make a dummy mandrel is you save yourself from lifting
in and out the full weight if the shaft, crank, and clutch spider if it's an
old style and after 10-20 fittings - that gets heavy.
Ralph
-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Tod Estes
Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2006 10:01 PM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: RE: [TheForge] Sow blocks. Why?
Hi everyone,
I may be wrong. I often am. I have an older little giant 25# made in 1913
this one did not have a sow block. It was shipped to Kremlin,OK to the
shop My Grandpa worked in. Mostly it sharpend plows. It has a nice chunk
missing on the front of the bottom die. Grandpa remembered the chunk that
was missing said it just popped out when one of the guys at the shop was
sharpening a plow. They still used it till they closed the shop down. I
did talk to Sid about this and he said that it a common problem with the
early design and was changed when the sow block was put on. He did say
that the if someone really was aggressive with driving in a wedge to hold
the bottom die tight then it could bust too. I think this was what
prompted the change to the sow block design. Some folks band and weld the
piece back on. Sid did say that he can take the old hammer that I have and
put a sow block on it by bandsawing off a secton and fitting a sow block
to it. The bottom casting is hollow but a nice amount at the top is solid.
Right now it is in lots of pieces and I am still gathering up courage to
rebabbit it. I will proably use it whith the chunk missing for a bit cause
the bottom die is still solid.
> The sow block from my understanding was added as an easier method to
> machine it than a full housing. Granted the housing would still need to
> be
> machined in the first place - but the removable sow would be easier to set
> up for repairs, clean up, truing if the dovetails got damaged or worn.
>
> Height specific tooling was one of the topics I covered. It was
> difficult
> to do some of the things I demoed in Minnesota on a little giant as
> compared
> to the air hammers I've got in the shop due to a larger open die space. I
> had remade a few of the tools I took to show the "possibilities" - but
> explained if there were more room - things could go smoother and easier
> with
> some of the fixtures and jigs I showed.
>
> Rome Hutchings was sitting there while I explained this then said "SO,
> if
> I've got a little giant with a removable sow block your telling me all
> this
> tooling is a piece of cake to set up under those dies" My reply was "my
> point exactly". He also has a removable sow block unlike the hammer we
> used
> at the demo where I'd made some "shorter" tooling to show what was
> possible.
>
> Removing the sow block isn't going to do anything except maybe give you
> some practice in getting a stuck key out - the rest of the hammer is going
> to respond just as it did - only you've got more open die space - so if
> you
> gain another six inches - you can work on a piece of 4 inch flat bar on
> edge
> with a tool above it.......where you'd get away with a 1 1/2" with a tool
> withoug the block removed. Making your work fall in the striking zone of
> a
> little giant is all you need to do - spacers, different tooling, lowering
> the pivot link, etc.
> My whole point of the demo in Minnesota was that your imagination is the
> limits to the tooling you can build for a power hammer (as well as all the
> other tools, jigs, and fixtures that could be applied to torching,
> railings,
> welding, tool making, fastening to rock, and the other topics I covered).
>
> Expanding your level of use with jigs and fixtures with a removable sow
> is
> a great way to expand hammer use, and I also showed how some of these jigs
> &
> fixtures worked with the low profile tools such as the clamp cages with
> locator pins with a fuller above for making bridge washers, ovaled plates,
> sculpture bases.......or heavy "feet".
>
> Having more open die space lets you expand your horizons a bit more with
> your power hammer.......... or at least that's the way I look at it.
>
> Ralph
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Rick Korinek
> Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 12:27 PM
> To: 'Sponsored by ABANA'
> Subject: [TheForge] Sow blocks. Why?
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> I have been thinking about the height limitations between the dies of
> Little
> Giant power hammers since seeing Ralph Sproul's demo in Minnesota last
> Fall.
> Ralph, and perhaps others have made air hammers with longer throws to
> allow
> for the use of more diverse tooling with flat dies.
>
> Well, I have a 50 lb LG with a removable sow block. The height of the sow
> is 6". It looks like the dovetail slots at the bottom of the sow are the
> same as that of the bottom die.
>
> It seems to me that removing the sow block would give a person an extra 6"
> of height for tooling and stock between the dies. It's not that this
> setup
> would allow one to forge larger stock that the hammer is physically
> capable
> of (about 2" for my 50 pounder). It's that one would simply have more
> room
> for the tooling above the stock. So, for example, a person could forge
> 3-4"
> pipe into round balls or really big cattail fronds...
>
> My question to members of theForge is: Is this kind of work the kind of
> thing the removable sow block was designed? Perhaps the question might
> be:
> What is the purpose or reason for the manufacturer to modify the original
> hammer design to add the removable sow block? Probably would have been a
> good question for Fred Kaylor, alas.
>
> If this approach is possible, there is a whole other level of use for this
> type of hammer than I have been aware of. Until now, I have been thinking
> that the hammer was limited to the use of low-profile tooling between flat
> dies.
>
> Most interested in your thoughts,
>
> -Rick Korinek
>
> Ps. It was great to see you in MN, Ralph.
>
>
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Tod Estes
Oologah Smithy
Oologah,Oklahoma. (Home of Will Rogers.)
Saltfork Craftsmen ABA, ABANA
Time enough for sleep in the grave.
"Prometheus: I took from man expectancy of death.
Chorus: What medicine found'st thou for this
malady?
Prometheus: I planted blind hope in the heart of
him.
Chorus: A mighty boon thou gavest there to man.
Prometheus: Moreover, I conferred the gift of fire
Chorus: And have frail mortals now the flame-
bright fire.
Prometheus: yes, and shall master many arts
thereby."
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