Thank you for a great video. I am 71 years old and I remember as a youth my dad bought an old 24" wood planer with a square head that needed new babbitt bearings. An 'old timer' came and did it for my dad. After the bearings were poured he 'ran in' the bearings with a mixture of oil. graphite, and other stuff which I can't remember. When he was done the shaft spun effortlessly with NO perceivable run-out. The stuff he used to 'run in' the bearings had to be completely cleaned out for final use. Making sure the shims between the top and bottom bearings was a time consuming process to get them "just right". You could run that planer all day and the bearings never got hot. He also said to never use detergent oil on those bearings.

Keith, what you're doing here is very valuable! A video as well-made as this will serve as a trustworthy reference for decades if not centuries to come. I'm glad somebody is documenting crafts like this, you never know when you need it! Well done and I'm sure you're doing an excellent job of bringing up your apprentice.

When I started my apprenticeship at the tender age of 15 I learnt to remetal conrods and main bearings, and we always tinned the rods and caps prior to pouring, without this the bearing material can possibly come loose from the casting and rotate. Now at 83 I still have clear memories of all those great times learning. Just sayin!!!

WOW , as a old millwright I have done babbitt bearing work. Steam trubins have them to handle the rotor shaft load for one. I have scraped and "fit" many of these. Thanks for the memories. GOD BLESS YOU SIR.

I have never seen this done before and always wonder how it was accomplished.Thanks for the opportunity to observe.

I worked at a saw mill being built in Oregon in the late 70's. The owners dad who started the company was in his 90 's, he rebuilt an old log deck with babbitt bearings and insisted that deck be part of the new mill. I watched him like a hawk and ask lots of questions. Never miss an opportunity to learn from the old people.

It's interesting to note that Babbit alloy is actually a metal-matrix composite material with hard crystals in a softer matrix. It may be made up of various combinations of tin, lead, copper, antimony and arsenic. Steel shell bearings as used for main bearings and rod bearings in internal combustion engines have a thin coating of Babbit metal on a bronze layer over the steel. Babbit was named after a 19th century mechanic and inventor who did a lot of "metallurgy experiments" to find useful bearing and bushing materials.

I grew up in my grandfather's machine shop during the late '50s and early '60s. You are doing a great service in memorializing your vast wealth of knowledge and skill. Thanks for sharing.

Your knowledge of the old ways is so impressive.

I loved this video. I work on elevators, and sometimes have to repair babbitt bearings, and haven't found anything on KZfaq showing the process, so ty. One trick for that first top pour, use your babbitrite to make a funnel for pouring, if you have any left. Again, great video!!

Babbitt pouring vids are always my favorite. Well done, sir.

I have been mesmerized by a lot of your content for awhile now, personally restoring a 1940’s Darra James 12” Table saw and not knowing enough about it then finding your channel and being inspired again. I should be finished with my restoration in about three weeks or so and am tickled pink to get to use a piece of history. My Grandfather introduced me at a young age into woodworking and I have loved it ever since. Thanks for the content although I don’t think I will ever have to pour Babbit Bearings but then again you never know. Thank you for doing what you do.

I have a 36” Crescent that was under a tree for 6 years and I have had it over 20 years. I got it going and it works fine but it needs new Babbitt. I have found the bandsaw is more forgiving than my jointer since I can adjust out some of the worn Babbitt by the tilt of the upper wheel. I don’t put many hours on it and I have so many projects ahead of a bandsaw rebuild. The 12 inch jointer is more sensitive to worn Babbitt because of cutterhead flutter. It still has some shims so I can adjust it better when I start using it more, too. This was such a good presentation and he gave us some great tips. I will subscribe.

Those are the guys who put real tlc into old machines ...I love that ! Nicely done Keith !!!!

FANTASTIC video! I never get tired of watching you restore these glorious antique machines.

Hey Keith, I had to pause the video at 23 min cause I ain't gett'n nuth'n dun down here and I suspect this video has has a bit more to go before we're treated to a live test run. Before I get these old bones mov'n I gotta tell ya .... If you lived within daily driving distance of me I would be stick'n so close to you you'd swear you had flees!! You are beyond a shadow of a doubt the "Keeper Of The Flame" , Master of the arts, (tried & true) practices of generations of skilled craftsmen. 178,000 subscribers says more than I ever could. Bravo!!!! Chris Strazzeri S. Florida

Thank you for keeping a Lost art alive.

Excellent video. I love the basic common sense of the "old ways" They worked and worked well for a long time.

I would like to say that I just absolutely love this channel. I find your videos stimulating enough to want to just sit there and relax by watching multiple videos. The variety is magnificent. Although the channels genre is very static the variety comes from the massive collection of different Machines, Tools, Mechanisms and Equipment that is both worked on and repaired. I just love it. Its a Mechanical Fitters dream channel.

I know my father told me he used to do it to an old truck his father had( around 1930) , and if I'm not mistaken him and his brother redone the bearings in one of his first cars in the garage of our house when I was very small, I'm 75 now.

Very nice craftsmanship and machine work. Thanks for sharing.

Watching do that took me right back to the early 60's I had the opportunity to do a brief apprenticeship in a Marine engine rebuilding shop and the Babbitt bearing section is where I learnt all about meticulously scraping Crank and Camshaft bearings. Thank you Keith for that nostalgic journey.

We had a couple of tractor implements when I was much younger (1950s) that required babbitt bearings. Though when I think of babbitt now I am reminded of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and pouring babbitt bearings on the roadside to get to California.

Learnt about babbit bearings in theory when I did my engineering around 10 years ago. Never saw them though. Great work!

I was a machinist for years and always appreciated the old way of doing things because my grandfather was a class a tool and die maker at adjustagraph maltigraph back in the fifties. Ive poured babbit bearings before and glad to c it still being done keep up the great work!!!

Hello Keith. You make a small bowl around the small pour hole with furnace cement to help it pour into the small hole with no cup as long as your not in a rush to give it time to dry then just knock it off once done. Love the videos. Keep up the good work. =)

I've got a band saw about that size sitting at my Dad's house (he was an old-school Tool & Die Maker, and passed in 2014 at age 96) that I'd like to restore. I was cleaning out his home shop (Bridgeport mill and big Clausing lathe) and found a case of Babbitt ingots. I remember him pouring Babbitt when I was a kid, but of course didn't pay close attention. Thanks for the lesson, Keith! Great video!

Very interesting, thank you for sharing. I love old machines and the fact that one repairs them and not just fit new parts. The old guys were mechanics today they are just fitters.

Flash back to when I poured 6" shafts into big bearing blocks..we'd pour both halfs at the same time..and made a big babbitrite funnel around the pour hole. Didnt know babbitrite wasnt available any more...thanks for the flash back!..(hated melting the old babbit out!)👍🏻👍🏻 if I find and boxes at wirk..I'll send you some..still have pallets of babbit there that isnt used.

Thanks for sharing the details of the replacement. I really enjoying learning about the process.

I usually read the comments and today was no exception, and I believe all was said one way or another,but I love it when a plan comes together as it did today,thanks for the good content.

VERY interesting. Born in 1932 when it was pretty much ALL babbitt bearings. But I never saw it done. Thank you Keith for teaching us things like this. May Jesus bless you for sharing it with us.

I was able to do this when I was in MILLWRIGHT Apprentice school 30 some years ago. I worked 4 years in an oil refinery mostly on small steam turbines ,we would just through out the old bearings and replaced them. The time it would take to pour new bearings wouldn't be cost effective at all, they were made to be throw aways.

Very neat watching you do this. I've heard of Babbitt bearings for years.

Very interesting. Always wondered how this was done. Thank you for the excellent presentation

Don't think I will ever need to pour any babbitt bearings, but learning how it's done was well worth the time. Increased knowledge is always a good thing.

I love how you show the world babbits are really not that challenging to recast. its such a smart and simple system. I have seen so many youtubers who restore stuff and they will redo everything yet wont touch the babbits like they are black magic. hell you get most of your melt metal back when you melt the old bearing out

Hello Keith....l have done some of this kind of thing back in the...1950's and 1960's going thru High School in my dads machine shop......You did a excellent job by the way...Thanks so very much my friend....!

Thanks for the video. A good, useful result is a success. Whatching babbitcing bearings for the axles of steam locomotives I see some differences. Making the bearing a little bit oversize, boaring the ruff surface, blueing the axle and scraping the bearing has been normal. Also a new bearing should only make contact on a rather small part of the circumference, wore in and being adjusted during the first runnings etc.

Keith...I worked for Otis Elevator for about 30 years. Not being a union field mechanic, I witnessed many bearings being poured on huge gear less machines down to much smaller geared machines. The gearless bearings would be maybe 8 inches in diameter and the geared bearings maybe 3 to 5 inches in dia. The babbit was commercially called cadtex if I remember correctly. The machine rooms were not air conditioned. Imagine Richmond, Va in August, and my service crew working, pouring, geared bearings at Hygrade meat packing plant. The temperature at about 95 degrees outside, the Babbitt pot going full blast and the plant waste system starting to blow the remains of the slaughter of hogs across the roofs of the plant to the holding tanks a hundred yards away. The probably 50 year old piping and blowing system leaking like a sieve and blood and fat being blown over you and your repair team of mechanic and helper. The mechanic is yelling at me to not let sweat fall up into the babbitt pot because it will explode with hot Babbitt. Now, all that equipment had to be carried to the roof up grease and fat coated stairs by hand, even from the service truck because the elevator is out of service for the bearing job. The elevator is on full Otis Maintenance so the customer will not be charged a cent of the cost. Then there is a new Otis Service Manager standing there giving moral support on a repair that he knows absolutely nothing about but wants to see a babbitted bearings replacement job. Like the kid who picked up the almost red hot horse shoe the blacksmith had just taken out of the forge, dropping it instantly, commenting......”DOn’t take long to look at a hot horseshoe”. It don’t take long to took at a pot of hot Babbitt, in a slaughter house in Richmond in July or August. The mechanic and helper laugh as the Service Manager slips and slides to the stair tower hoping to find a nice spot to throw up at before he gets to his car. sorry to take so long to tell of my vast experience with babbitted bearings. The lesson is burned in my memory. Charlie C was the mechanic, I can’t recall the helper’s name. I’m sure Charlie is retired and the helper (noe the mechanic) is pouring the Babbitt. That was about 1966. That geared machine should be needing new bearings about now. It is probably about the age of that bandsaw you are restoring. And it will probably run another 50 or 60 years. If the motor goes, the same motor shops that rewound our old motors can rewind it, good for another 50 years. Great video....Thank you. JoeB .

Thanks for sharing the work with us Yours Frank

Kieth Fenner's Babbit video from 2012(about) got me looking up steam engines, and now I work on them.

I had a friend that worked in a babbit shop, he would come home from work, BLACK with soot and smoke, every day !!!, he applied for a job with AAA insurance company, he became an adjuster, and loves his new job 😆😆😆 Great Video thanks William Orange county, ca.

Thanks for sharing this! I love old school stuff! Even today some old school methods can't be beat. :)

you are one incredible machinist and wonderfully kind. thank you for sharing yourself with us!

THANK YOU...for sharing. This is something that I wanted to see done. Enjoyed it very much.

Really great condensed instructional Babbitt video. I’ve watched your other one made a while back. But that was a multi part video I think. As usual ... just great and complete instructions. Thanks for posting.

Good video Keith,not many people know about pouring bearing,good to see it being done

I had a strong feeling of deja vu when watching this, and had to go search YT. Turns out it's because I watched your video on pouring babbitt bearings for a J. A. Vance Planer which was 6 years ago! Amusingly you mentioned your damming material was getting a bit old and needed replacing in that video! :D

I remember pouring bearings for a ball mill in the 80's. Journals were about 4 or 5 feet diameter....lol. It took some time blueing and scraping the half-shells for each end.

The babbit gods are sending me a message about the headstock on my Atlas lathe. :)

Fascinating stuff! The closest I've come to this has been using white metal (in my case 60/40 lead/tin solder) & a beefy soldering iron to build up worn bronze bearings.Thanks for the great video, Keith!

Makes you appreciate the old time guys that made it work with what they had.

I thinks it’s great having a younger guy getting into machinery. Whether or not it’s something he loves doing like we do , the fact that he seems to be doing his best and wants to get better is something that is really hard to find. I’ve been trying and failing to find employees with the same mindset.

You got that kid to help you with the bandsaw and now you're Miles ahead.

I always forget time when I watch this channel, that of Abom and the other . Thank you for sharing.

Nice Job ! I watched Fenner do this years ago. Its nice to watch a different type of pour.

Fascinating process & thanks for the video.

Great job Keith, I really like the way you tackle issues...

That’s was great. Always learning from your vids. Looking forward to more of the bandsaw

Another great video thanks Keith your quiet skilled work is a pleasure to watch.

Keith, Awesome video & content enjoyed watching and anxious to see more videos on your band saw, thanks for sharing your video.!.!.!.

During the depression up to the Second World War my father-in-law drove trucks. Each truck was equipped with a kit for making big end and main bearings for the engines. The kit contained bearing moulds, bearing material, a reamer and sizing shaft , melting ladle blowtorch etc. . There were next to no spare parts available in NZ in those days as trucks and the like we’re imported and parts were made locally. Drivers were expected to make bearings in their down time. Times have certainly changed

Wow, for a piece of equipment that saw looks fantastic. Great tutorial on babbitt bearings.

babbitt = (high speed ) copper + tin + antimony (pewter) low speed includes lead We always use mortite caulking for the dams the shafts are blacked with a acetylene torch and wrapped with string for oil tracks and of course spacers made from Beer wrappers

Nice good job Keith love watching you go thru and show the work ! you make it look easy thanks !!!

i have a Hendy lathe with babitt half nuts. you solved my dilemma! Thanks great job!

Great video. Iv got to do this for the crank on my steam engine, and this is very helpful to see. Thank you.

Very nice Keith. Not familiar enough with Babbitt. Nice to be able to learn thru someone who is doing it. Thank you sir.

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL BANDSAW‼️👍👍 PLEASE SHOW MORE VIDEOS ABOUT THAT MACHINE, THANK YOU,. Vinny 🇺🇸

That was awesome to watch and thanks for the video, and thank god for new barrings.

Hi Keith, greetings from the UK - What a brilliant video - you certainly made it look easy when we all know that it's anything but!

Another quick thought. I am a little disappointed that you didn't teach the young fella how to do this. He would have loved it. Now I spent years working for the Brisbane City Council in the Water Department. Both water and sewer. When I started I only knew that water came out of the tap and down the drain. But learnt so much in such a short period of time compared to the blokes that had spent 30, 40 or 50 years there did. But I made it a point of working with the older fellas. But learning to cast lead bearings got me thebmost overtime. As I learnt from an old Italian bloke who was 1 of the only 2 blokes that knew how to do it. The other had been an office jockey for the previous 10+ years. So I ended up after the bloke I worked with retired the only bloke there that knew how to cast them as the office bloke that knew how it was done retired about a year or 2 before the bloke I was working with that showed me how it was done. It is so important that the older blokes MUST pass on there knowledge. They just have to. But 90% take it to the grave with them which is so disappointing. And is one of the major reasons why alot of trades die out. Amd why there is such a skill shortage. Well that and the fact that the young fellas these days are lazy and afraid of hard work. And alot of them say when you ask them what do you want to be for a living when your older KZfaqr. I want to be a youtuber when I'm older. And never prepare for anything else. Anywho love your channel. But would like to see you passing your knowledge onto younger people. And do it on video so other young blokes can see that young people are interested in it. Take Care

Very informative video. I think I saw the video when you brought this saw home. You painted it a nice grey made from a quart of black paint snd half a pint of white. I got a 24” Crescent bandsaw this year and used the same paint mixture on mine. Now yours looks black-I can’t keep up with you! Thanks for all your videos-good information.

Thank you for a simple, concise tutorial!

Nice video. All large engine main shaft bearings are like this. Serviced every 20,000 running hours, there is a special engine mechanic who does the scrapping and verify clearances with lead wire. A tedious job with many half bearings.

watching drilling done on a lathe is so weird when you have been watching the drill bit spin for years not the other way around

I often watched my dad pour babbitt bearings when we both worked at a cedar sawmill (way back in the 60s). He was a planerman.

Wonderful Video! Showing people how to do it is probably for the best... Miles included.

Fantastic love the babbitt stuff

this is so fascinating, seeing someone who knows soo much.

Nice work, it's been a while since I've seen this type of work I'm an old school machinist who graduated to full cnc and it is sad to see our trade die. Keep up the good work.

Wonderful work

Just a small peek at the bandsaw but from that peek it looks like a rotating bandsaw used for making taylor made curved ribs(both directions at the same time, sort of a compound curve) in wood shipbuilding. cannot wait to see.

Great video. Looking forward to seeing the old bandsaw running.

Hello from Holland... You are so inspiring to watch....

For that first pour for the top, use some clay to form a funnel of sorts to retain the babbit. Works great ! Oh my that saw is a real beauty !

Great skill sir...I fully enjoy video! I was one of this ancien workers 👍😉

I've never seen a band saw like that and have never heard of the Crescent Machine Company. It's an interesting looking machine. I certainly do enjoy your videos.

I have done this, adding to the reclaimed babbitt a pound of 60/40 solder (back when it was both available and cheap). It took several tries to get everything right, but it was awesome when finished (old lathe).

For many years it was accepted practice to use cardboard as a substitute for actual gaskets. Kellog's Cornflakes stock was the preferred choice

I'd love to have a go at Babbitt bearings! Need to find a suitable project. Thanks for an interesting video.

very good video..thanks for your time

Thanks Keith, a good video!

how much skill, how much knowledge. let's keep them for future generations

Very cool Keith.....Good pour!!!

Keith - Try using TIMESAVER yellow lapping compound on your next babbitt bearing project. Used it on my Model T engine & my Buda engine. Works great - little or no scrapping. Lap the bearing in and wash the compound out. It leaves a nearly perfect precision full contact surface. The oiled shaft will spin effortlessly.

Never scene how a Babbitt is made, thank you.

Never heard of babbit bearings. Don't have a machine shop. I will never need to refurbish a babbit bearing. And yet, I watched the whole video with fascination.

In the UK we call these 'white metal bearings'. Most pre-war (and some postwar) cars have them in the main and even big end bearings. Due to the extremely tight working conditions, most such surviving vehicles have been modified to accept replaceable shell bearings.