Brazing Oilite bearings

[Bootlegger BlackyParticipant @bootleggerblacky]

Hi,I have a couple of large Oilite bushes,3” & 6” inches.I wish to cut some slices off and braze them to form a frame for a gyroscope. So my question is,,is it possible to braze/weld this unique material? Thanks

[Bootlegger BlackyParticipant @bootleggerblacky]

Brazing

[SteviegtrParticipant @steviegtr]

I would think it is possible but only once you can get it up to a heat to boil the oil out. Assuming they are old used ones.

Steve.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Do it outside and tell the fire brigade first. If you live in a town, you risk being fined for having a fire.

[Paul KempParticipant @paulkemp46892]

Personally I would doubt you will get them clean enough but you never know till you try!

Paul.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

It might be worth reading this brief description of the manufacturing process: **LINK**

https://www.bowman.co.uk/news/a-brief-of-oilite-bearings

If I understand this correctly: Bronze is created in-situ [which is rather clever!]

Provided that you can thoroughly degrease the material [which might be a tedious job], I can see no reason why it could not be brazed.

MichaelG.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I don't know if it would actually help BB – but I think I might first try heating them in water with some detergent for a while – to encourage the oil out. After all, if they are old or 'dry', the advice is to immerse them in warm oil overnight to recharge them…

IanT

[HOWARDTParticipant @howardt]

I doubt you will get them clean enough. Even if you could remove the oil I think there will be other elements left. Base material may also give a problem with the attainable temperature before it melts.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Thanks to the miracle of t’internet: **LINK**

http://www.loganact.com/tips/sleeve_bearings/oilube5.gif

… includes a brief paragraph on de-oiling.

MichaelG.

[gerry maddenParticipant @gerrymadden53711]

40 years ago I suffered an oil pump failure on a VW Polo. I took it apart and discovered that some lugs on the inner gear that engage with the crankshaft had worn off. Since it looked like steel I decided I could easily braze some new lugs on and save myself a pile of cash. I cleaned the ring up nicely and started to heat it but it started smoking. Since I was doing this in the g/friends flat (on the cooker to be precise) I thought I had better stop and give the ring proper clean this time. Started heating again and yet more unpleasant smoke was emitted. Strange I thought, must be some surface residues in those difficult to reach places. Gave it yet another clean and sure enough after a few minutes along came the smoke. It soon dawned on me that the ring was a sintered component. What I thought were machining marks on its surfaces were just replicas of those in the mould from which it was formed. Anyway I decided as I'd got this far I might as well carry on to the bitter end and see what happens. So started to heat the ring again things got quite noxious but I persevered and eventually the smoking stopped. I completed the braze and cooled it under the tap. Of course by this time the ring was an ugly mess from all the carbonised oil and I really wasn't hopeful of even a half decent result. But I cleaned it all up and discovered that the braze actually looked excellent. The pump went back in the car and worked perfectly for all the time I owned it.

The moral of this story is: just give it a try if you haven't much to lose. Sometimes one gets a useful surprise.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

Gerry, have you read how big those oilite bushes are?

[John ReeseParticipant @johnreese12848]

I have successfully soft soldered Oilite. Being a porous material it could continue to absorb solder as long as I kept feeding it. Needless to say, the the soldered material was no longer oil absorbent.

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