A lot of brass

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I thought some might like to see what's a fairly common project for me. I do a lot of brazing to build up and repair bearings mostly pump jack bearings. This set was just barely good enough to save. Any worse and I start from scratch and build them. As you can see in the first pic this is not the first time these have been repaired. Some one in the past has built them up (likely my former employer).   It takes a lot of heat to run brass down a blind hole like that. I started with the worst one and ended up with a 150 cu ft / hr heating tip to get enough heat down in the hole without stuffing my whole torch down there. I've just about quit putting brass that far down a blind hole because it's to hard on the torch and me. But this one needed a little bit of structure in the bottom of the bearing before I used epoxy to finish the build up. The edge where the seal goes has to be brass for strength so most of my work was there. There's a good bit of brass in that first one. I used 2 1/2  1/4" brazing rods and 3   1/8" brazing rods before I was done. I used several tips from my 150 heating tip to my 70 heating tip and 70 welding tip down to my 40 welding tip. I used a Purox torch so all the tip sizes are cu ft / hr of Acetylene.   As stated above I finished the deep part of the build up with epoxy. I've used Devcon in the past but I'd run out so a ended up using PC7 for this job. It's not as strong in compressive strength but we are going to be putting Nylatron in for the bearing material so it should be plenty strong enough.   I'll add some pics when we get the whole bearing finished. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:That's a lot of flamework. City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:Good lookin' job, Irish!! I've wondered why they don't use pillow block brgs for them. Cost or the fact it doesn't make a full rotation, or is the load just too great? I know w/ the sucker rod string, a column of oil and the counter weights it's got to be a tremendous load on those brgs.                          MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:Originally Posted by tanglediverThat's a lot of flamework.
Reply:Hi, im just asking for knowledge, why are you using brazing rod  instead of the original metal of the casting?  thanxs
Reply:Originally Posted by roadkillbobbHi, im just asking for knowledge, why are you using brazing rod  instead of the original metal of the casting?  thanxs
Reply:Nice job.  I can see there being alot of heat shoved into the hole with a casting that large.  Is it just a cutting torch that you use?Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:Originally Posted by BrainfarthNice job.  I can see there being alot of heat shoved into the hole with a casting that large.  Is it just a cutting torch that you use?
Reply:I worked in a shop that built large custom hydraulic componants, big ,odd ,ugly stuff. Some glands and pistons would get brass or bronze applied with MIG using alloy wire. Only place I've seen that process used. By the way quality job on the repair.Ranger 250 GXTSmith Gas Axe
Reply:Originally Posted by MrLeadManI worked in a shop that built large custom hydraulic componants, big ,odd ,ugly stuff. Some glands and pistons would get brass or bronze applied with MIG using alloy wire. Only place I've seen that process used. By the way quality job on the repair.
Reply:Originally Posted by irish fixitI'm not real sure I understand the question correctly. I can think of two different things you could be asking. Here's the answer to each.  If by original metal you mean the pieces of cast iron that are missing then the answer is that there isn't any left. That's all been worn to a powder by the rocking shaft.  If you mean welding with cast iron well the only actual cast iron rod I know of is called rail road rod that you use a torch to weld with. I actually have a good bit of it. I've never used any or seen it used but I believe that some form of flux is needed for it based on things I've heard. But I don't believe the resulting repair would be machinable without some serious heat treatment after words.
Reply:Originally Posted by roadkillbobbok let me try to ask the question better, by original metal I did mean why not weld back with cast iron not the powder that was worn off., I guess the machining could be a problem, How about ss rod? would that give a better service life then soft brass on a bearing surface?
Reply:Whoa, there's a days work Irish!You're right about gas casting with iron rod. It works well enough but if you're going to do any machining it needs some time at 1600°F. It will also pull the base around like arc welding would so the base would need cleaning up. I use "Kasteld 111" rod and Welco 800 flux both from Harris when I use it (got a vid somewhere on the to do list).I suspect I would try to set those on firebrick and run a small air/propane torch underneath to speed things and help with all the firepower needed in that blind hole at the back. It just sucks working back there!  I would also save that shaft and either turn it for needle bearing races or build up with weld and sell it back as a re-man (try it with a customer that likes you).Looks good!Matt
Reply:Originally Posted by irish fixitWell as stated before actual cast iron rod is rare. Now nickel rod is available but very very expensive in the machinable form. SS rod would leave to many carbides on the weld junction to be machinable. Actually brass or actually bronze is what the bearings where that I took out of there. I'll be going back with nylatron which will actually out wear the bronze bearings in this service. I've included a pic of the bronze bearings that came out as well as the shaft that they ran on. As you can see in the pics they ran this bearing way past the actual bearing surface and into the cast iron where it wasn't supposed to be. Unfortunately this is the norm for saddle bearings that I get in here. I'm just building up the housing for the bearing to go into. The brass is as strong as the cast iron in this case (in some ways stronger). As you can see the shaft is pretty worn. But I expect that if I ever see this bearing again that it will be worn twice as much before wearing through the nylatron bushing that we will be installing.
Reply:Originally Posted by Matt_MaguireWhoa, there's a days work Irish!You're right about gas casting with iron rod. It works well enough but if you're going to do any machining it needs some time at 1600°F. It will also pull the base around like arc welding would so the base would need cleaning up. I use "Kasteld 111" rod and Welco 800 flux both from Harris when I use it (got a vid somewhere on the to do list).I suspect I would try to set those on firebrick and run a small air/propane torch underneath to speed things and help with all the firepower needed in that blind hole at the back. It just sucks working back there!  I would also save that shaft and either turn it for needle bearing races or build up with weld and sell it back as a re-man (try it with a customer that likes you).Looks good!Matt
Reply:Originally Posted by roadkillbobbOh I see said the blind man..ok now i understand that theres another replacable bearing that slides into the housing..makes sense now.thankyou..
Reply:Originally Posted by irish fixitWell as stated before actual cast iron rod is rare. Now nickel rod is available but very very expensive in the machinable form. SS rod would leave to many carbides on the weld junction to be machinable. Actually brass or actually bronze is what the bearings where that I took out of there. I'll be going back with nylatron which will actually out wear the bronze bearings in this service. I've included a pic of the bronze bearings that came out as well as the shaft that they ran on. As you can see in the pics they ran this bearing way past the actual bearing surface and into the cast iron where it wasn't supposed to be. Unfortunately this is the norm for saddle bearings that I get in here. I'm just building up the housing for the bearing to go into. The brass is as strong as the cast iron in this case (in some ways stronger). As you can see the shaft is pretty worn. But I expect that if I ever see this bearing again that it will be worn twice as much before wearing through the nylatron bushing that we will be installing.
Reply:Irish, How long do those bearing caps last between rebuilds.  It looks like that shaft has a few days worth of corrosion on it even for the dry of Tx.  You said it looked like the fromer employer had repaired it before, So what 8-10 years between rebuilds?  Either way Dat stuff look good man!!!!!  I like the seal land on the lathe when you got it built back up, are you planning to fill the entire cavity with Nylatron and turn it to spec on the lathe too?  Love to see pics of the pour, and final machining cause you do put out some darn nice work.BobI'm spending my Kids inheritance, I dont like him that much anyway!!!!!!Enuff tools to do the job, enough sense to use em.Anybody got a spare set of kidneys?  Trade?
Reply:Irish, couldn't you build something like a weed burner, but smaller, in conjunction w/ the firebrick to do the back heating for you on these jobs?                                        MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:Originally Posted by duaneb55What the heck irish?  Just flip those bearing and shafts over and run 'em.  After all, a flat tire is only flat on the bottom.Awesome work as usual.
Reply:Well it took a while (been busy and had my helper quit again and the VFD on the lathe blew up) but I finished the bearing today. I promised pics so here they are. Attached ImagesMillermatic 252XMT 304'sDynasty 280DXHypertherm PowerMax 1250Miller Trailblazer 302 EFIOptima PulserXR feeder and XR Edge gun and more athttp://members.dslextreme.com/users/waynecook/index.htm
Reply:Came out nice Irish. Shame about your troubles along the way though.Matt
Reply:Beautiful work there.
Reply:Was it fun in all this heat we've been having?"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Originally Posted by Matt_MaguireCame out nice Irish. Shame about your troubles along the way though.Matt