You have the right attitude here, have a go, if it fails you get experience, if it works you make a note of what you did! I would be very surprised if you were able to tin cast iron! I really cannot see the need to as the babbit will go into and small depressions in the casting and prevent movement of the bush, if you want to make it extra locked you can machine radial grooves in the housing, and providing to casting is heated up before you pour the babbit it will form a mechanical bond, good luck! Chris B.

Hi Dom I have poured leaf for fixing iron work and grandpa showed me how this process was done on steam engines. A acid was used to clean the iron work, I guess like modern flux, then the lead mix would be poured in. I think your on the right track good luck with it.

Really good progress there Dom. Please don't apologise over mistakes or things taking longer; seeing the mistakes & things keeps more real.

It's the "show all"good and bad that makes these videos so interesting and enjoyable. Your inthusiasm is so contagious. Keep the videos coming Dom...

Over filling the Colchester coolant tank is part of the initiation process. You can add an overflow pipe to that finger hole, and run it to a tray at the front to give yourself a bit of a back up.

Keep at it Dom. Who has never tried to do something they are unsure of? It’s essential we follow that inquisitive nature to develop learning. Loved the fixing of the cast part. I’ve often wondered how such a fix was done. Many thanks, Wayne

Your videos are always entertaining and instructional. Thank you for inviting us along on this historic journey!

Ah; my weekly engineering fix completed. Another fascinating and instructive video Dom. An added bonus too; of an insight into some of your future plans for expanding your enterprise. It will be great following progress!

Love your films and the way you explain your processing the challenges you meet. Great work Dom.

Thanks Dom and no need to apologize if something goes wrong, we are all learning through you. Once again great content.

Mask 👍👍👍 Fume extractor system please.! We protect eyes fingers (and jumpers!) - so look after those lungs as well! You're doing a great job - thank you!

Well done as always. Your skills will always win the day.

Well done for showing all the "didn't go quite right" moments, we can all learn from that and it shows that engineering can be fraught with hazards and uncertainties👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Keep up the good work Dom.👍👍

Well done Dom, you got there in the end!!😊👍

Another fantastic video, thank you, really looking forward to the next one.

Great work Dom, love how you give things a bash, all part of learning, thanks for sharing.

I learn something new every time I watch you brilliant cheers

Good man Dom, glad you sorted the tinning issue. As for the crack, looks like you’ve sorted out okay. Great video. See you next time

Keep at it and remember you never stop learning we are sure you will get it working 💪

Thank you Dom for the Ranalah update. Coming along nicely. To bad about the crack, however it looks like the crack may have been repaired. Looking forward to more progress updates!! Cheers

Hi Dom, Lots of little bits, but as always you get over them , don't forget slow and take your time, it's all coming together, stay safe , All the best Brian 😃

I enjoyed watching that Dom. It was interesting watching you solve the problems you encountered. I always enjoyed fixing my problems, it's very satisfying. As for things in the oven, I've lost count of the times I've put my bike/car spark plugs in to warm them or dry them. Have a good week Dom and thanks for filming it all.👍🙂

Keep up the good work great video as always

I felt your pain describing when you found the crack, glad you seem to have managed to fix it OK !

Brilliant job!

Well done Dom, your slowly getting there, if you spill any more coolant , don’t use a mop, use a spade or shovel and pour it into a bowl or something, that’s what we do at work, 👍👍.

Great progress 👍

Enjoyed that well done !

Serious bit of cast welding - very impressive.

I found an old flannel bedsheet that I was going to cut up into rags, was rather handy for mopping up the overflowing coolant. I think most of us have done the same when first setting up a Colchester. The tank sat inside is considerably smaller than would first be expected looking at the size of the lathe. Wrapping cast iron in an old fire blanket helps slow the cooling process down nicely.

Thanks,Dom for an interesting video

Well done Dom trial & error always works .

Wow. I am impressed. Your satisfaction when you were successful with the Babbitt was lovely to see. It seemed like that period was a real learning session. All the best with your enterprise.

Hello Dom, An enjoyable video, thank you... Good to see the tinning got done, well done... I am not sure if you are aware of Keith Ruckers channel as he has done quite a few restorations with babbitt bearings. See you next Sunday... Take care. Paul,,

Keep going , your onto a winner 👍

I think you did well getting that old cast iron to tin. One of the most active fluxes that you can use is Killed Spirits or Bakers Fluid. I also think the old lead solder is a lot better than the new lead free stuff.

Fine work, Experts on tinning cast iron I guess are few , used special fluxes but only tiny areas/ I agree, probably not wetted origionally. fixed the clicky knee on new bridgeport and adjusted x y backlash .

Find some bakers soldering fluid, it will clean the oxidised layer and get a good bond with the tinning compound.

Excellent work, Dom. I remember the solder paste from a brief foray into lead loading. Good stuff. I will watch with interest when you do the babbitt pour. I don't know if you are familiar but Keith Rucker has featured babbitt pours a few times in his videos. I could sense your excitement at the end there, that's just the way it is sometimes. All the best, Mart in Solihull.

Parts in the oven, walnut tumbling media(bagged...) in the washing machine & maggots(fishing bait) in the fridge. There are many advantages to terminating the idea of shared living space. 😁

Hi Dom ive just started watching your channel & i thi k its brilliant all the thinks you get up to in your workshop is right up my street mate 😁 im an engineer by trade & like nothing better than repairing & fixing up things to so we've got a lot in common btw ive just watched your video on the "bridgeport" haven't seen one of those for ages last time i used one was at college as part of my apprenticeship.

Great video Dominic, glad to see you found your welding jacket. Also, you never put Ranalah neon on.

Good work using tig braze bronze on that crack. Thats the best repair choice. 2nd would be nickel 55 rod.

A lot of people call brazing welding, it isn't! Welding is melting the parent metals together, brazing is using a bras or bronze filler which joins the two metals without changing the structure of the metals to be joined. You could try Bakers fluid which is a hydrochloric acid based flux when tinning the cast iron. Cheers, Matthew

Love the Ranalah journey Dom. Don’t forget to turn the Ranalah sign on when talking about it 👌. Don’t know if your into antique cone rollers but there’s one for sale in Crewe on FBM.

Good stuff 😁👍

Great work Dom. Keep showing the mistakes. Nobody believes it when everything works perfectly 😁 Are you going to covered the “Tinned” parts to keep them clean ?

I would suggest that tinning may not achieve much. The rule with electrical soldered joints is that you should never rely on solder for mechanical strength, it's just for good electrical contact. If you can somehow roughen up or groove the inner surface that may be a better way of stopping the insert moving.

Now we just need to get you to take on the T.Norton Fly Press Project.

Great stuff Dom. For the interior face tinning, I was thinking you could try one of those honing tools that look like berries in a stick. It would do a better job of refacing the surface than a wire wheel. Good luck.

I have found lead free solder is difficult to use. Have a good stock of 60/40 solder should out last me. Great what you are doing.

Good show!!! next time, remember to turn on the Ranalah sign... :D

Tinning cast iron is very, very hard, pickling in Sulfuric acid helps. Are you sure it was tinned originally though. Normally if there's knobbles and lumps welded or cast on, it's more a structural bond than a chemical one they depend on. I've done a lot of white metal (Babbit) bearings in my time, working for a firm who specialise in casting and machining vintage car bearings. And when there where knobbles, there was no tinning. Also, is there a reason your using Babbit? I would have assumed the original would have been cheaper lead. Keep up the good work, it's lovely seeing the old tools brought back to life.

Hello Dominic! I have been watching really interesting your videos . I have Ranalah too . I bought at in England couple years ago . It was poor condition.The problem was that it wasn’t lined up with upper and lower wheel (machine was fall down some age ) and the upper wheels axle was bended . We managed straighten the axle without melt and renew the axle. The machinist told me that the axle were not been tinned ,even it looks like so . He mentioned that substance what they been used that time is not shrinking is it spreading . He dosen’t remenber the special substance name but he said that metallurigies use that nowsdays also.

I wonder if a cylinder Hone would work? IDK, just a thought, thanks for sharing, I love watching people saving history like this. EDIT: well i stayed till the end, glad you got it!

Dear Dominic, Perhaps you should be using type metal. It expands very slightly as it solidifies and would ensure a tight fit.

Very inspiring! Couple of questions: What kind of rod did you use to weld the crack? How did you ensure a gradual cool down?

Hi Dom, very interesting, I use cat litter to mop up spilled oil. Will the cast Iron shrink more than the babbit when it cools?

If it hadn't worked I was going to suggest using a rotary burr to gring down a few lines inside to at least tin those areas and provide a key.

Hi Dom,I was wondering if there was a resin that would be tough enough to take the pressure of the pushing and pulling and thrust loads exerted on it?

Thank you.

"Have a cup of tea and a think." Solves any problem.

Interested to know why you chose to TIG weld over bronze brazing? I think that brazing introduces less/ more even heat and I have had good results brazing cast iron.

Nice video and well presented, I was expecting you to demonstrate using cast stick welding rods. Did you use special rods for tig welding cast-iron or was this tig brazing … sorry to be confused … look forward to the next one … i use too enjoy melting lead with dad in the shed when I was a kid … have fun … Nick

I would suggest that metal stitching, a la Metalock is a safer and stronger way to repair cracked castings. .

Well done Dom. I’m looking forward to the next process. Kind regards, Richard.

Beautiful repair on the original! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

Cat litter is good for dealing with spillages.

Dom cast iron is a fairly porous metal, and consequently on a unmachined hole like that will have soaked up year and years of any oil that was put in there to lubricate the steel inserts and the moving parts. I think you need to clean it with solvent again, not to use wire wheel and re heat it again to drive out more oil contamination. If you do that a couple of times you should get it clean enough to get the solder to tin the cast.

Hi Dom, good work on figuring the tinning. I am curious about your comment about Ranalah servicing. How many original Ranalahs are out there still?

Hi Dom, grinding rather than wire brushing might yield more fruitful results. Good luck. Steve, Langdon Hills Essex.

yay well done ....

Great effort. I don't want to be all nanny but with all those fumes and smoke especially if they contain lead some kind of fume extraction/ filtering would be a wise move!

A friend once put his Gunked cylinder head in the dishwasher thinking that his wife was going to be out long enough. She came home and he now has his own dishwasher in his workshop and a new one in the kitchen.

Hi Dom I love your enthusiasm for the subject. In one of my many deep dives through engineering videos here on KZfaq I remember watching one on cold stitching. A technique designed to hold a crack together in cast pieces, stronger and less traumatic than braising/welding. Check it out, it's an old-school technique and it is also a dying art!

Dom, please tell me what did you use as a filler rod for welding the cast iron?

Looks like John and Charles are guiding you on this journey. Either that or the boys from Brown Boggs are getting revenge.

The cast iron repair was tig brazed, not welded, judging by the yellow colour of the finished job?

Hi Dom, what was the filler for the welding? Was it a nickel rod? Good work I hate welding cast!

I was going to suggest one of those drum shaped sanding flap wheel things on a drill but glad the wire wheel on a drill did the trick. Did you do the finish to the crack repair with braze? Looked brassy to me. Top work as ever 👍

Great progress Dom. The mistakes make it all the more interesting. Keep up the good work!

Theres a ranalah the same as yours for sale on Facebook at the moment.

Get your self some fire blankets and wrap the weld up like a present 😂 Makes it cool down slower.

Hi Dom, great crack repair! Out of interest, what filler rod did you use when you were welding it up? Cheers

Dom to of cleaned the cast iron bore and remove embedded dirt using expanding reamer would of helped.

Keith Rucker's KZfaq channel has a LOT Of Babbitt videos and... I've never seen him or anyone else tin prior to pouring Babbitt. Degrease it? Yes. Scrubbed with a wire wheel? Yes. Preheated? Sure has to be preheated. Tinned? Nope, not ever. Might want to contact Mr. Rucker, he knows old tooling and how to repair it.

Ahhh Dom’; that Defender is still there, & summer is coming….?

Dom have you tried some kind of "Active Flux" that will clean the surfaces and protect from oxidation while heating it up ?

Booom we are back!!

Run a carbide burr round inside the hole to clean up the surface and it will take the tinning solution.

There is currently a Ranalah bodied Rolls Royce on eBay - maybe another little side project for the workshop 😂🤫

It's not necessary to tin the parts. It's just more work. Overkill. Not that it's bad. The babbitt will hold just fine. As it cools it expands holding the parts.

Over filling a Colchester Lathe gets everyone and it won't be the last time.

Could you run a small hone inside would clean and polish like a engine cylinder

Save the shavings, good money for scrap metal turnings

The only time I ever did soldering on cast I used Duzall solder flux to get the tinning to work... it is acidic, from memory a zinc based product... zinc chloride usually, and works well, but if you have some hydrochloric acid try that first to clean.degrease.. then the duzall

Absolutely outstanding! Your skills are off the scale, your passion gives me butterflies, your humility is only exceeded by your intelligence. Thank you very much. Regards Gareth Wiltshire UK. Gratitude. Quality. Respect.

Hi Dom I would of thought that the inside wall of the casting would be course enough to hold the babit ok.

i used to be a plumber and one thing i found to my cost at first was not allowing the carbon from the blow torch flame near anything i was soldering , always heat a joint up away from the soldering area and wait untill the flux starts boiling before you put any solder near it , wiping a lead joint is done more subtly and a lot less heat is required , at least your learning and we are learning from your mistakes too ;)