Drilling and tapping a hole

[Mo]

If I feel like it!

Drilling and tapping is fine if you have the gear. That said, there are times when I just don't feel like doing it. If there is another aspect of the job to be done I might drop it off at a machine shop and have them do it. Can I do it.. yes, I have the gear, but I might not always feel like it. I usually fix my own vehicles also but there are times I don't feel like it and drop it off...same idea.

[roadnsky]

Well, as some of you know, I learned the hard way how to do it the right way.

[Dave Neptune]

Yep

I've been drilling and tapping since I was a wee nipper. My Dad & Grandfather didn't believe in child labor laws. I started workig in a "garage~car lot" that my Grandfather ran when I was 8, mostly sweeping and washing cars. By the time I was 10 I was cleaning parts (including carbs) and doing some minor disassembly. I was doing tuneups and adjusting valves by 12 and running machines for brakes and valve grinding. With the afore mentioned experience came drilling and tapping for repair and fabrication, not sure exactly when.
I pretty much have no fear tackling anything mechanical, due to the experience they gave me.

Here's a question~~How many can pour babbit and scrape a bearing? I still have the tools but it's been probably 25 years since I have done so.

Dave Neptune

[ILikeRust]

Here's a question~~How many can pour babbit and scrape a bearing?

Having an avid interest in antique machinery, and owning a 1700-pound, 36" bandsaw dating from about 1910, and a few other pieces of old machines, I am familiar with what babbitt bearings are and how one pours them and scrapes them. I have read all about it and have seen it done close up, but never have actually done it myself.

Yet.

That bandsaw I mentioned is awaiting a full restoration. I have not yet closely inspected the babbitt bearings. When I disassembled the machine to transport it home, I gave them a quick a look, and they looked pretty good overall, so I might not have to melt them out and re-pour. But the bottom one might need a little attention. If so, I have a buddy who has built himself a very cool lineshaft-driven blacksmith shop, with his newest machine dating from probably some time in the early 1930s. They're all babbitt bearings, and he knows how to pour them, so I would enlist his assistance if it turns out to be necessary.

[Al Schober]

Ah yes, scraping bearings - two stories.
First was a bearing (16+ inch shaft) that I dispositioned to be scraped. Someone misread my disposition and the bearing was scrapped. Took us a while to track down the 'scrap' and have it 'scraped'.
Second was a giant lathe that had been refurbished with new poured babbit bearings. The guy doing the scraping of the headstock bearings used the actual headstock rather than an oversize mandrel to do the scraping. Lathe ran about 20 minutes before seizing up tight.

[jpian0923]

Yes..........

[Administrator]

owning a 1700-pound, 36" bandsaw dating from about 1910

I'm embarrassed to say that my engineering education is so dated that one of the ways we were taught to measure the "value" of machinery was by its weight. Heavier=better.

Of course, we were looking up logs, carrying around slide rules (a badge of honor), etc. at the time. Ours was the first class not required to do drawings in ink.

Bill

[ndutton]

Oooh, that brings back memories. I still have my bamboo Pickett.

I also believe learning CAD is much easier if you've come from a T-square background. In fact, up until maybe the late 70's I had a cabled straightedge drafting table after which I graduated to a mechanical drafting arm. Now they're museum pieces as am I.

Scum bags, triangles, compass, circle and ellipse guides, eraser shield, slide rule, I had experience with all of that stuff but I swear NO POCKET PROTECTOR! NEVER!!

The first electric calculator I ever saw was in a physics class in my second year of college. It was the size of a phone book and cost $800 (over $2K in today's money). Where's my Geritol? Any of you whippersnappers even know what Geritol is?

[roadnsky]

Where's my Geritol? Any of you whippersnappers even know what Geritol is?

And did you watch Jack LaLanne every morning on KCOP?

[ndutton]

Don't forget Lawrence Welk and Mitch Miller!

[Laker]

I really liked my eraser shield.
The shapes were so interesting.
It was a drafting version of the "get out of jail free" card.

All those different leads to choose from ...

[hanleyclifford]

Don't forget Lawrence Welk and Mitch Miller!

Gimme another slug on that Geritol bottle.

[ILikeRust]

I'm embarrassed to say that my engineering education is so dated that one of the ways we were taught to measure the "value" of machinery was by its weight. Heavier=better.

Well 1,700 lbs. actually is on the light side for a 36" bandsaw. Some of the really high-end 36" saws (Tannewitz, Crescent), typically weigh more like 2,000 or more. I figure 1,700 is heavy enough.

I also have a late 1930's Walker-Turner 16" saw that is just under 500 lbs. It's all cast iron, whereas today's modern 16" saws are all stamped steel and aluminum.

[Jkeevy]

Drilling and tapping

Not a problem. Incan do any thing..

[Ball Racing]

Yeah, not too bad to tap & thread.
I turned the front main bearing on the crank shaft down to .020 under on my A4 with a file, and sandpaper in the lathe...
Now that was not a half hour project!