Reprint of 1942 edition revealing everything from set up to operation to sharpening cutters and more. Must have for any lathe owner. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 128 pages 
No. 21150

Collection of eight different booklets in one cover: grinding valves, sharpen reamers, true brake drums, test differentials, bore rebabbitted rods, make bushings and more... Great ideas. Great how-to. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 96 pages 
No. 21583

Comparable to "How to Run a Lathe". Everything you need to know to start machining metal. 1942. Great book. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 112 page 
No 21052 

In this series of articles reprinted from Machinery Magazine about 1921 you get details on how precision bench lathes were quickly and accurately built with ordinary rather than custom built machine tools. You'll walk through the Potter and TLM factories in England and see beds being milled, headstocks being bored and aligned, bearing cones being ground, dovetails being milled and much more.
 

These articles were written for other manufacturers and reveal jigs, fixtures, and procedures that circumvent problems, improve accuracy, and increase production rates. You get tips, innovations, and industrial "secrets." You get page after page of photos of components being machined and the set-ups used.
 

You also get a short but beautifully illustrated article on handscraping, used not only for fit but for decorative effect as well. These eight pages are worth the price of the booklet alone.

If you build or rebuild machine tools, you're sure to learn something here that will help you. And even if you never use the material learned, you can be assured of fascinating reading. Get a copy! 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 booklet 48 pages. No. 22164 

by Fred "Mr Machine Shop" Colvin
"Practical suggestions which will give the young machinist or apprentice the foundation principles of engine lathe work." Great book. Well illustrated. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 117 page 
No. 4708 

How To Run a Lathe 1942
South Bend Lathe Booklets
The Care And operation Of A Lathe 1942
Bench Lathe Manufacture And Handscraping 1921
Running An Engine Lathe

If you love lathes, this is for you. Save Five Bucks!

Machinery's Industrial Secrets 
articles for Machinery Magazine 

More articles published after WWI. First is an article on designing change gears. You get the simple calculations involved in designing change gear mechanisms for machine tools so that speeds will vary in geometrical progression. Examples include calculations for rotational speed of a lathe headstock with and without back gear, calculations for feed mechanisms for lathes and other machine tools, and calculations for a speed-changing mechanism for a horizontal boring machine. Great info for designers, restorers, and the mechanically curious (that's you isn't it?). 

You get an interesting article on various types of gibs and gibbing, including info on a double-taper compensating gib. You get detailed discussion on the pro's and con's of each type of gib. Another article reveals some unusual chucks used for the production of coffee pots, kettles and the like. If you spin metal, you'll probably acquire a few useful ideas here. 

An interesting article is a study of how a complex lathe feed gear box was simplified to make it easier to manufacture without sacrificing end performance. The largest article is entitled "Checking Lathes for Accuracy". You'll learn how the pro's test beds for straightness and parallelism, inspect lead screws, check the headstock spindle, truing the face plate, and more. 

And you get a short article on a radius turning attachment, and three short articles on attachments and fixtures for elliptical turning and boring. All articles are well illustrated. 

If you get one good idea from this booklet, you'll have gotten your money's worth. Take these proven solutions and push them to the next stage. Fun, useful reading. Get a copy. 
No. 22229 

articles from Machinery Magazine
reprinted by Lindsay Publications 

Yeah, I know. You can't bring yourself to admit it. But it's true. The Brits have been the leaders at model building in the home machine shop, what they call "model engineering". One reason is that small, reasonably priced, yet accurate lathes appeared in England in the early 1900's. It took us a while longer to get started. 

The first two articles are heavily illustrated articles revealing design features of small lathes being manufactured in 1924. These include the classic Drummond round bed, the Wade, those by Exe, ETA, Cheltenham, and others. You see how they were designed from the headstock to the tailstock. Some used roller bearings in the headstock, but some used simple Babbitt bearings with incredible results. 

You'll see details on power cross feeds, how the Brittannia bed could be set at an angle, and other unusual design features not often seen these days. You'll also see a vertical milling attachment the bolted to the lathe bed (and you thought that was something modern?). 

The second half of this collection covers "Work of the Bench Lathe" showing how simple lathes could be used to turn out quantities of accurate work. You'll see facing and counterboring with a rack & pinion slide rest, accurate shoulder turning, a lever operated tool slide, broaching with a rack & pinion tailstock !!, drilling small holes, turret attachments, grinding operations, thread cutting and milling, milling slots in bench lathe collet chuck, and more. 

Fascinating reading for collectors, lathe builders, restorers (if you can find a British lathe), and those who enjoy the history of the lathe. After reading this, I dream of building a Stewart Marshall cupola so that I could pour the cast iron castings needed to build one of these early lathes. Maybe through correspondence you could locate an old one in England. Perhaps you could build an eight inch long model of one! Interesting ideas here. 

Interesting reading. Heavily illustrated. Worth having. 
5 1/2 x 8 1/2 booklet 48 pages
No. 22288 

Articles from Machinery Magazine
Reprinted by Lindsay Publications 

Devour a couple of lengthy articles written during WWI. It's a detailed comparison of British and American lathe design: bed types and shapes, saddle dimensions, headstock types and drives, and so on. Quite educational and very entertaining. 

Then you get an offset tail stock attachment for turning tapers, a ball turning attachment, a quick indexing attachment for simple production work, a dividing attachment, and a milling attachment "originally designed for milling the flutes or grooves in taps and reamers, but many uses will be found for it...". 

Visit the American Tool Works and watch them chase a 20 foot long 2" dia. lead screw to great accuracy - better than a thousandth per foot. You'll see the set up and get the details. 

Unusual lathe practices IS unusual, to say the least. 

Discover a set up used to a grind a triple thread worm with a 1 inch pitch (3 inch lead). Then watch machinists make over 300 throttling rods for 240mm French howitzers. The contoured rod is 61" long, it's diameter must be turned to within two thousands of an inch accuracy. They'll tell you how they did it. More than 300 without error! 

See a lathe being used to broach slots in a series of bracket castings. Check out the rest devised for turning long slender work. And check out the set ups and sequences for creating a large boiler stay-bolt tap. You'll get tips on using the lathe for production work, and learn how one machinist cut his own chain sprockets in the lathe back when sprockets were expensive. 

And last, you get another design for a wiggler that is used for centering work on the face plate prior to drilling and boring. 

All this of this is history. It was done. By master machinists with simple tools. Good reading. Very reasonable price. Get a copy! 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 booklet 48 pages 
No. 22350 

When Model Craftsman magazine appeared in March 1933, the world was in a frightening depression. On the surface it would seem to be the wrong time to launch a new magazine. But this publication was dedicated to having fun on the cheap, and America needed that. 

Projects described in those first issues covered everything from building a candelabra and cedar chest to printing with linoleum and building an ugly grandfather's clock. The plans were sketchy and best forgotten. Over time the magazine evolved into a pure model railroading magazine. 

Here, reproduced in a single volume are the unusual plans that have value even today for a small number of people who enjoy building engines and powered boats. You get articles with numerous pages of dimensioned plans for building two- and four-cycle gas engines, steam engines, boilers, speed boat hulls, a compressed air engine, a working model steam tug boat, a model high speed marine engine, a small "blast" furnace, and even a fireplace bellows that you could use in your home foundry. 

The original magazines are yellow and disintegrating. Some plans were reduced to save paper, no doubt, and were not well printed, so they're difficult to read. Most plans have been enlarged to make them easier on the eyes, but a few pages will need some imagination. 

Some of the plans explain only the unusual details of construction. You're expected to have a reasonable level of skill in metalworking. In other words, you don't commonly find plans like this published anymore because so few people have the interest or the necessary skills. 

Lot's of unusual info at a very reasonable price. Heavily illustrated. Great ideas. Get a copy. 8 1/2 x 11 softcover 64 pages
No. 22377

by Joshua Rose ME
reprinted by Lindsay Publications Inc 

"Embracing lathe work, vise work, drills and drilling, taps and dies, hardening and tempering, the making and use of tools, tool grinding, marking out work, machine tools, etc..." 

In the late 1800's Joshua Rose was THE machinist. He seemed to know everything and better yet, wrote about everything. In 1887 he produced "Modern Machine Shop Practice" - a gigantic pair of books with amazing engravings of amazing machines similar to "Modern Steam Engines" that we have reprinted. If you can find a pair of originals, you'll pay many hundreds of dollars. 

Here we have the 19th edition of "Complete Practical" from 1894. While this might not be an impressive coffee-table style book like "Modern", it IS how-to. Wall-to-wall. And it IS 19th century which means some of it is considered obsolete today. But before you thumb your nose at it, a customer told me that one of the expert machinists or expert blacksmiths (I forget which) working at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn highly recommended this volume as an invaluable source of early techniques. And I have to agree. 

Chapters include: cutting tools for lathes and planing machines, cutting speed and feed, boring tools for lathe work, screw-cutting tools, lathe dogs and drivers, turning eccentrics, hand-turning, drilling in the lathe, boring bars, slotting machine tools, twist drills, tool steel, taps and dies, vise-work tools, fitting connecting rods, milling machines and milling tools, grindstone and tool grinding, lining or marking out work, machine tools, to calculate speed of wheels and pulleys, how to set a slide valve, and pumps. 

You get page after page of practical how-to with 395 engravings to illustrate the lessons to be learned. I have a number of editions before and after this 19th. I chose this because it retains some early material deleted from later editions, but adds a new section describing AND showing the machine tools available and in use in 1894. Good stuff. 

I reprinted one of the chapters a few years ago on vise work covering the use of chisels, files and scrapers to work metal to high precision. It's amazing what those guys could do with nothing more than a vise and file followed by some hand scraping. 

Great material for machinist, collector, restorer, historian and highly accomplished metal butcherers like us. Rose was God back then. Let him educate you in lost techniques. Those machinists didn't have the materials we have today, but they compensated by using their brains and hands in ways that you and I haven't learned yet. 

Classic book. Simply a classic. And one that will teach skills you need to qualify as a craftsman. Good stuff. Get a copy. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 softcover 504 pages 

No. 22466

by Robert H. Smith ... 
reprinted by Lindsay Publications

Here's the best general machine shop book I've ever seen old or new. Smith brought out this book in 1915, updating it in 1925. That makes it new enough to still be of great value, but old enough to contain a many techniques that are no longer taught.

You get easy-to-read text, step-by-step instructions, and great illustrations. Modern books are prettier, but they cannot possibly do a better job of teaching.
 
 

"Advanced" covers everything you can imagine from basic operation of a micrometer and vernier caliper, to the testing of machine tools for accuracy. You'll learn the different methods of turning tapers and their fitting, detailed instructions on cutting threads, making bolts and nuts, face plates and chucks, mounting work, turning flanges and pulleys, boring, threading, cutting square threads bolts and nuts, cutting multiple threads, knurling, and much more.

You'll learn about drilling jigs, eccentric turning, facing large cylinders, use of steadies and followers, external and internal grinding, and the grinding of piston rings, milling cutters, reamers, and more.

Chapter nine covers planers and their use. Learn to plane keyways, lathe beds, vises, and more.

In learning to use a milling machine you'll groove taps, flute reamers, mill T-slots in a circular table and more.

And there's so much more on everything from gear cutting to making mandrels, taps, twist drills, using indicators, sine bars and more. You'll learn how to make expensive tools that you now buy. You'll even learn how to check the accuracy of lathes, milling machines, drill presses, and lead screws, and even use of optical flats to measure to millionths of an inch!

Just about everything you can imagine in amazing detail. This baby delivers! A bargain! Worth twice the price. I recommend it highly. People rave about it! Order yourself a copy today! 800 pages heavily illustrated 

No. 4236

by Goodrich and Stanley 

If you're building a solid walnut cabinet to store your hairpiece and your girlie magazines, you don't have to be much more accurate than 1/32" with the table saw. But if you want to build a steam engine or a tool grinder, that kind of tolerance won't hack it. 

You'll need precision. And you can learn about precision from turn-of-the-century machinists right here. You get well-illustrated how-to. Check out the table of contents, and you'll see what I mean. Besides learning to measure dovetail slides and V-ways, or making index dials for your dividing head, you'll build a stand for a microscope and use it to examine, among other things, cutters for that engraving machine you're building. 

Within each section are numerious paragraphs such as stops for setting the miller table, making a pair of plates from a master, an accurate grooving operation, boring small deep holes, correcting the hardened master, and more. 

Most of this book was taken from articles that appeared in American Machinist Magazine. Excellent book with unusual information written by people who knew what they were talking about. Good stuff. Get a copy. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 217 pages 

INTRODUCTION

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...Where formerly but few men in the shops were directly interested in... the methods by which the holes in a jig could be accurately located and bored, today there are thousands of toolmakers who are employing refined processes, precision tools and appliances for executing this class of work. Many methods and devices originating in watch factories and similar establishments for accomplishing very accurate results were for a considerable period confined almost exclusively to such institutions... 
The master plate, disk, button and refined test indicator processes have been extended from watch-tool to other classes of accurate tool work... Closely allied with these devices... is the compound microscope, which with cross hairs and conveniently arranged micrometer screws constitutes a testing and measuring appliance having an innumerable number of practical applications in connection with the work of the toolmaker. 

We have endeavored in the following pages to present, in convenient form, information on various phases of tool work contained in articles published in the past few months in the American Machinist... 

There is no branch of tool work more important or more interesting than... these methods, including the use of master plates, buttons, disks, size blocks, etc., have therefore been treated at length, together with processes of making master plates for various purposes, the use of test indicators, accurate gages, the microscope and other appliances...
CONTENTS

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Locating And Boring Holes In Drill Jigs; Locating And Boring Oblique Holes In Jigs; Economical Jig Work On The Milling Machine; Boring Holes On The Miller And Checking With Verniers; A Precision Drilling And Reaming Machine; Master Plates And How They Are Made; Master Plates And Their Uses In Die Making; Master Plates Used In Making Watch Tools; Trigonometry In The Tool Room; A Tool For Laying Out Angles; Measuring Dovetail Slides, Gibs And V's; A Gage For Producing Accurate Tapers; The Microscope In The Tool Room; The Microscope In The Manufacturing Plant; Making. A Set Of Accurate Index Dials; Inspecting Tools With The Test Indicator; A Universal Indicator And Some Of Its Applications; A New Swedish Combination Gaging. System; Setting, Laying Out And Testing Work With The Swedish Gages 
 

No. 4821 

articles from Machinery Magazine
reprinted by Lindsay Publications Inc

Another collection of short but sweet articles from post-WWI era issues of Machinery magazine on machine tools and their testing and adjustment. 

First you get an interesting article on new Drummond lathes. You are not only told what the design features are that makes them unique, but you get the logic behind the size and shape of the saddle, tailstock, and gibs to maximum strength and rigidity. You get some valuable ideas in lathe design. Then come photographs of the variety of tests being performed on the lathe before it can leave the factory. 

Next from July 1919 is a fascinating article that told British machinists how they could take their lathes that had been almost worn out by turning WWI artillery shells twenty four hours a day and restore them to factory accuracy and get years more life from them. Here you will learn how to make test measurements, and how to calculate how much metal should scraped from what portion of the headstock and saddle to swing the spindle around into alignment, or lower it to make the tailstock line up, or whatever else might be needed. You get sample calculations and incredible nuts-and-bolts tips on restoring a lathe to accuracy. This one article is worth the price of the whole booklet. 

Then you get a lengthy two part article on lathe bearings. Now this is not about ball or roller bearings. This is about older bronze, brass and even steel bushings and sleeves. These simple but precise bearings ran on a film of oil sandwiched between the bush and the spindle. Very simple devices, but incredible performance was possible. The Gingery lathe uses bronze bearings, and you may have an old lathe which uses them. You get dozens of drawings of various types of bearings used in lathe headstocks, milling machines, grinders, etc and why they were designed the way they were. You get valuable tips on why one type of bearing was better than another. They can deliver years of precise work so long as they are lubricated and adjusted properly. 

Finally a short article takes you to the Pratt & Whitney factory to see lathe lead screws being tested. These are great articles. If you plan to build a lathe, or restore one, then you certainly will need these skills. Even if you never use the info presented here, you'll learn a great deal about practical machine tool design. Great reading! Lot's of fun for the machinery nut. Get one! 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 booklet 47 pages
No. 22180

by Lorus J. Milne
reprinted by Lindsay Publications 

If you're just starting out in the world of metal working, you have to have this. If you know some aspects of machining metal, but realize that there are big holes in your knowledge, then, again, this is for you. 

Chapters include shop machinery, drawings and specifications, handwork related to machining, the lathe, turning work between centers, work supported chiefly by the headstock, outside machining, inside machining, threads and thread cutting, drills and drilling, the drill press, the shaper, the miller, the grinder, holding the workpiece: a summary, other shop machines, useful tools and fixtures, gears and gear cutting, cutting speeds and finish, accuracy in machining assembling machined parts, processing and finishing metal, materials, and more. 

You get brief descriptions of tools and how they work. I've never used a taper attachment for the lathe, but now I have a general idea how it functions. The explanation is clearly written, easy to read and understand, and provides sufficient detail. It sounds a lot like Dave Gingery teachings. Most of this you will read once or twice. Once you have an idea of what the topic is all about you dig into more-complex texts. When you do, you'll find the "heavier" books are easier to understand. 

What's really grabbed my eye in this volume is chapter 17 with it's complete dimensioned plans for tools and fixtures. You can build a cleaner for chuck threads, faceplate clamp, faceplate angle bracket, draw-in collet attachment, spindle-nose cap, collet closer, collet, micrometer carriage stop, external-internal threading tool, heavy-duty boring bar, heavy-duty boring-tool holder centering indicator, dividing fixture, lathe boring table, cross-feed chuck and collet holder, spherical turning attachment, cutaway tailstock center, drill-countersink holder, tailstock die holder, tailstock stover attachment, taper-shank drill driver, perforating die set, simple forming die set, drill-angle tester, fly cutter for the drill press, and auxiliary table for the drill press. 

Now think of it this way: When you buy the book, you get each plan for less than a dollar a piece, and the rest of the book is thrown in for free! But the rest of the book is great too. Both plans and a book for the price of just one. Not a bad deal, I'd say. A book certainly worth having. A must-have adjunct to the Gingery series of metal shop books. A book that has been an essential part of the Gingery library. Get your own copy! 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 376 pages 
No. 22237

articles from Machinery Magazine
reprinted by Lindsay Publications 

Knuckleheads insist you must have a lathe in order to build a lathe. If that's true, then how was the first one made? Similarly, you don't need a precision master screw to cut another screw thread. Someone must have made the first precision screws from scratch. How was it done? Holtzapfel reveals some techniques. Maudsley made his own two hundred years ago. 

You'll learn the secrets of making precision screws for scientific instruments including preparation, cutting, recutting, and especially the lapping that removes residual errors. This is the same technique documented in a classic Amateur Scientist article in the 1950's. And the lap is similar to the 1000 threads per inch Merton nut mentioned in the 1930's in an article in the Review of Scientific Instruments. Great stuff for the precision fanatic. Oh! Be prepared to make measurements with an interferometer! 

Another article will show you how a 4 foot lathe leadscrew was cut having only 40 millionths of an inch error across the entire length! 

Also learn how small gears and pinions for clocks, watermeters, etc were mass produced just after WWI. You may not want to make hundreds of gears, but the basic techniques are interesting, and the ideas useful. 

And if you've ever considering building a pantograph engraving machine, you'll like this article from the early 1920's. You'll see many different machines, each with its own application and benefits. You'll see drawings of bearings, cutters, sharpeners, layouts and more. You also get a photo and a brief mention of a pantograph capable of die milling and making three dimensional copies. Best material I've found so far for getting your idea generator going. 

Heavily illustrated. Same fascinating quality. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 booklet 48 pages
No. 22326

One of the finest tool catalogs you'll ever to hope to find in any condition at any price is the classic century-old Strelinger catalog. The originals are not in the best of condition because in the 1890's cheap, poorly manufactured paper was beginning to flood the market. Over time pages became very brittle. Here you get a quality reprint of an original loaned to me by a retired curator who maintained machine tools at the Smithsonian. In the years since I originally brought this out, I managed to find my own copy - the only copy I've seen, and it's not in great condition. 

You'll discover over five hundred pages of tools with wall-to-wall engravings illustrating everything from pliers to telephones. It's all here: 30" Fifield Lathe, stationary blast forges, Snyders 28-inch drill press, bolt threading and tapping machine, power punch shear, drop hammer with automatic lifter, Reed engine lathes, 6" B&P shaper, Whiton gear cutting machine, 

B&S Universal Milling Machine, the 45 hp Tangye Red automatic cut-off steam engine, watchman's clocks, hook and ladder trucks, table presses, hydraulic pumps, and all the usual hand tools, c-clamps, drill bits, cables, brushes, pulleys, and on and on. 

This is a comic book for tool fanatics. Use it as a reference for tool collecting, for ideas in building your own machines, or just read it for the fun of it. (And as usual, I'm sure some knucklehead will try ordering the 10 inch treadle lathe for $85 from this ancient catalog, and wonder why the post office returned his letter. It always happens. Don't know why.) Pitchers. Lots of pitchers. Neat tools. Fun reading. Nauseating low prices. A lot of book for the money. If you didn't get one a couple of years ago, then get one now. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 523+ pages 
No. 20692

articles from Machinery Magazine
reprinted by Lindsay Publications Inc 

Check out these unusual, informative, and interesting articles that don't easily fit into any one convenient category. 

Parsons developed the first practical steam turbine. Go back to 1913 and see how 60,000 new blades were installed in a rebuilding operation! It was done with relatively simple tools. 

Learn about how watch escapements were gauged - that is, measured to maintain quality control. You'll see how it was done before WWI. 

Then you get a lengthy heavily illustrated article on the history of the micrometer caliper from 1848 until 1915. It's followed by an article by JT Slocomb whose ego was obviously bruised. Feeling left out, he had to detail the history of the Slocomb Shop Micrometer. Great reading for collectors. 

Next, you get short articles on building a cheap and effective trammel, details on gutta-percha, memories of metal cutting lathes of the early 1800's that in the hands of skilled mechanics could turn out rifles known for their accuracy! 

Next a machinist moves from building huge machines to detailing how he built a simple but highly accurate clock. Next, a detailed article reveals the design theory behind the Geneva motion: a mechanism that smoothly turns rotary motion in reciprocating motion with minimal shock and wear. 

Learn the secrets of a French firm that made diamond wire drawing dies including how they were bored and mounted. 

You'll find recommendations for machining early plastics, fibre and other insulating materials common in 1922. 

And finally you get two articles that had been presented before the ASME in 1927 about the new process of chrome plating. Buick had been plating radiators and bumpers for only a year, when it was recommended here for industrial use to reduce wear. Interesting technical details! 

More great reading. Secrets of how industry accomplished amazing feats in the simple days before CNC and miracle alloys! Fascinating stuff for guys with grease under their nails. Get a copy. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 64 pages
No. 22415

by Franklin D Jones 
reprinted by Lindsay Publications Inc 

Actually this is another great collection of articles from Machinery magazine from 1915 and earlier. We first reprinted this book more than ten years ago but did not print more when we ran out. Now it's back. 

Learn how to use buttons to precisely located holes, use disks, accurately divide a circle, generate a large index plate and more. Learn secrets of lapping which is a form of hand grinding so as to create ultra finished metal surfaces. Learn about taps for internal and external work, method of using a flat lap, charging laps, rotary diamond lap, and more. If you want to duplicate parts on a wood lathe a simple way is to make a forming tool that has ground into it a contour of the part you're making. You push the tool into the wood and the part appears quickly and exactly the same as all the others. 

Chapter three will teach you how to make and use forming tools for metal. Then you learn to make accurate threading tools, grind threads on taps, test the lead of a thread, and solve problems with thread chasers. Chapter six will show you how to make a precise straightedge, surface plate, season cast iron and steel, flute angular cutters, sharpen end mills, make reamers and taps and much more. 

Another chapter covers the use of a bench lathe for precise work while another chapter goes into micrometers, gages, sine-bars, depth gages and other precision measurement techniques. These are all short articles, straight-to-the-point, easy to read, and most are well illustrated. The photos are somewhat "muddy". The lousy early photographs didn't reproduce as well as I would like, but they're acceptable. 

Good book. Loaded with hints and tips. Plenty to learn. If you didn't get copy years ago, now's your chance. In another three of four years, it may be gone again. Get one while you can. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 softcover 309 pages 

No. 4724

These days we use bronze bushings, ball bearings, and roller bearings. At one time, though, bearings were cast from Babbitt metal, an alloy of tin, antimony and lead. It was very similar to type metal used in Linotype machines or solder. It was also called soft metal or white metal. 

Modern knuckleheads laugh at Babbitt. It "couldn't possibly" be any good because it is so soft. "Only modern bearings" are any good. Bull! It was excellent bearing material, but the main reason we don't use it these days is because modern bearings can be much smaller to carry a given load, need essentially no maintenance, and they're now mass-produced making them cheap. A hundred years ago, Babbitt was king. 

Many people are not familiar with the technique. For instance you might have a cast iron shell for a pillow block. You place the drive shaft through the shell and center it with a simple jig. You melt Babbitt with a torch (propane will do) and pour it into the space between the shaft and the shell. In a couple of minutes the metal has frozen, and you can remove the shaft and check the result. To use your homemade pillow block just put the shaft back into the bearing being sure to supply adequate lubrication. It will run and run and run. It's cheap, fast, and inexpensive. And it performs. Some of the finest lathes ever made had Babbitt headstock bearings. 

These articles from early issues of Machinery Magazine reveal discussions among WWI era machinists about their techniques, secrets, and discoveries. Topics include: Making Babbitted Bearings in Halves, numerous Babbitting mandrels, centering jigs, special jigs for special jobs, Babbitting and Planing Cross Head Gibs, a variety of Babbitt Bearing Molds, Use of Soft Metals in Machinery Construction, Anchoring White Metal, Lining Bearings with Babbitt Metal, Babbitted Machinery Construction, Alignment Babbitting, Babbitting Cross-Heads, Lining Cast-Iron Bearings with Babbitt Metal, Standard Babbitt Specifications, Babbitting Fixture for Small Bearings, Oil Channels in Babbitt Bearings, and more. 

These articles are full of drawings, how-to, arguments among machinists, experiments, discoveries, and experience. Babbitting is something to learn about and use. Afterall, most early 1900's engines - marine, airplane, steam, automobile - used Babbitt in their bearings for good reason. 

Interesting booklet loaded with old-timer's secrets. Great ideas. Get a copy. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 booklet 48 pages
No. 22440