Heller Bearing Scraper.

[woody 73]

How a Bearing Scraper is used video in case you ever run across any vintage Scrapers.

So a few General warnings:

The video is super long (don't say I did not warn you); if you suffer like me anything past 60 seconds I tend to walk; but this is a very informative video.

I love old machines but having to pour hot lead, clean, scrape, cut gaskets, and pray it works the first time can be rather a long drawn out affair, that makes ball bearings look like a fantastic new invention!

I was surprised to learn they still make some machines today that still use Babbitt bearings.

Last but not least I think I did a post a long time ago about the Heller Co. if not I will give you a few things to look at.

http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioHellerBros.html

http://americanmadefiles.blogspot.com/2014/03/heller-brothers-and-heller-tool-co-files.html

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the long video.

 

[51cub]

Thanks for these. Keith Rucker does make some great videos. I've seen the Heller story before, but I never get tired of old things

 

[topop101]

Not for babbitt bearings but a very nice set of Heller file's I picked up this year. I done some work in a local leather tannery. Some of the drums they tan the leather in turned on Babbitt bearings. Some on ball bearings. In the ten years I worked around that place we never had to replace or work on any of the Babbitt's. Only the ball bearings...The drums are 4.5 X 4.0 Meters. Weights around 200,000 pounds turning about 12 rpm's They run 24/7/365

 

[Provincial]

Very interesting, Woody! I have a couple of old bearing scrapers that have turned up over the years, but they are in bad shape. I keep them because they are interesting, not because I expect to use them. Thanks for posting this.

 

[DonPowers]

Thanks for the post Woody. Big equipment in power plants use journal bearings, don't know what the composition of the newer bearings are though. I did work in a plant that was built in the early 50s that had babbitt bearings.

On another note, some of the old hydro units still use wooden bearings made of lignum vitae, a tropical hardwood thats denser than water and can last twenty or more years.

 

[Sam'sAutoParts]

Thanks for the post Woody! Next time I see one at a sale I will know what it is.

 

[kleinkaliber]

My old Atlas lathe has babbitt bearings. When my lathe was new, they were offered with babbitt or roller bearings. The roller bearings were sold as easier to service, babbitt was for higher precision. Any truth to that?

 

[Hemi49]

How a Bearing Scraper is used video in case you ever run across any vintage Scrapers.

So a few General warnings:

The video is super long (don't say I did not warn you); if you suffer like me anything past 60 seconds I tend to walk; but this is a very informative video.

I love old machines but having to pour hot lead, clean, scrape, cut gaskets, and pray it works the first time can be rather a long drawn out affair, that makes ball bearings look like a fantastic new invention!

I was surprised to learn they still make some machines today that still use Babbitt bearings.

Last but not least I think I did a post a long time ago about the Heller Co. if not I will give you a few things to look at.

http://www.davistownmuseum.org/bioHellerBros.html

http://americanmadefiles.blogspot.com/2014/03/heller-brothers-and-heller-tool-co-files.html

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the long video.

Woody

I used bearing scrapers for many years as a deburring tool when I ran engine lathes....Quick and easy way to break an edge.....
Hemi

 

[2oolhound]

Not for babbitt bearings but a very nice set of Heller file's I picked up this year. I done some work in a local leather tannery. Some of the drums they tan the leather in turned on Babbitt bearings. Some on ball bearings. In the ten years I worked around that place we never had to replace or work on any of the Babbitt's. Only the ball bearings...The drums are 4.5 X 4.0 Meters. Weights around 200,000 pounds turning about 12 rpm's They run 24/7/365

What are these files used for? They look like they'd be good for scraping hides.

Not to hijack the thread or anything but here's a Heller blacksmith's rounding hammer:



We should start a "Show Your Heller's Tools Thread" I have a nice 4 oz. Heller ball pein hammer too.



Before I get too far off track here is a set of small bearing scrapers, about 12" long.

 

[woody 73]

Wow those three bearing scrapers are over the top in the cool factor! Not that I would ever destroy a tool but that bottom square scraper in my hands and sharpened on my bench grinder would make a killer wood lathe scraping tool...

 

[pancho400cid]

I can't see the vid from work but will check it out from home. I work for a company that makes large electric motors. Rolling element bearings are not an option for a lot of speed / shaft diameter combinations.

Most of our motors have sleeve (babbit-type) bearings, but modern motors (since maybe the 50's) generally have spherical seat shells that self-align to the shaft (within practical limits) and don't require scraping. We occasionally still run across old generators / motors with sleeve bearings that had fixed shells. Those have to be scraped to work right. Hopefully the video will give some info as that is something of a dying art.

 

[OCJohn]

The video is super long (don't say I did not warn you)....

Here's another babbitt video – shorter and better edited, IMO:

 

[topop101]

What are these files used for? They look like they'd be good for scraping hides.

Not to hijack the thread or anything but here's a Heller blacksmith's rounding hammer:



We should start a "Show Your Heller's Tools Thread" I have a nice 4 oz. Heller ball pein hammer too.



Before I get too far off track here is a set of small bearing scrapers, about 12" long.

Those files are for auto body, I just picked up my oldest Heller file two weeks ago. 1865-1899 hoof rasp. By the way, I really like your hammers! With Heller no longer around This stuff will be collectable for a long time to come.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Reviving woody's thread to post this Crescent Mfg Co Babbitt bearing scraper that I picked up at the early bird flea market this morning, as first reported in the 2018 Garage Sale thread. I have a soft spot for bearing scrapers, and I have a small collection going, most professionally and commercially manufactured, some shop made from old files. This is my first Crescent, which is not the more familiar Crescent, in case you didn't realize it. This company was older and, as the marking indicates, located in the city, not Jamestown. Cool logo.

 

[why worry]

Have a couple of old scrappers from my Grandfather along with a brick of babbit. Keep em around for the memories more then anything else.
Dave

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Have a couple of old scrappers from my Grandfather along with a brick of babbit. Keep em around for the memories more then anything else.
Dave

If you can rustle them up for a group shot, I'd love to see them, Dave. Not too much call for them today, only in living history settings and special applications.

Here are some of mine. Even though they are all more or less professionally done, and inserted into a wooden handle with a ferrule, only two (the Crescent I showed above - second from the bottom in this group, and the Kraeuter below it) are even branded. All of them have been machined, finished and smoothly polished except for the one on top, which is crudely finished. You can see every stroke on the blade. It's my favorite piece.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Found another Babbitt scraper today. This one is not branded. But it is marked with symbols - a cross, a star, and another cross, and "U.S."

 

[Ricky Joe]

You are right, Lugz, they aren’t used much today, unless you have an old car from the twenties or thirties that used Babbitt on rods and mains. Those of us who still work on those engines do still use the scrapers. I have a nice selection, most still in their leather sheaths to protect them. Last used on a 1934 Buick straight eight.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I have a nice selection, most still in their leather sheaths to protect them.

And ourselves! They are blades in every sense, they will nip you for sure if touched inadvertently, and some of mine would be quite lethal as a bayonet.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up this smaller scraper at the flea this morning. Moore & Wright in Sheffield, England.

 

[Marvin Hagen]

I have two one Miller Falls and one Buffum with the ********

 

[Private Lugnutz]

This tool started out life as a Kearney & Foot 10" smooth cut flat file and, like many of its kin, ended its life as a babbitt scraper. I have a few in my collection that are far more conspicuous. I like the way this one doesn't bother hiding its metamorphosis one little bit.

 

[d42jeep]

Here is the babbitt scraper I found yesterday. My theory is that it’s an early Plomb that is badly stamped. The mystery to me are the additional markings. I would welcome any thoughts on if my theory is correct.


-Don

 

[3baygarage]

Here is the babbitt scraper I found yesterday. My theory is that it’s an early Plomb that is badly stamped. The mystery to me is the additional markings. I would welcome any thoughts on if my theory is correct.

I think you're correct Don.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...re-thread-show-your-stuff.135342/post-55734511

 

[MShaw]

"The roller bearings were sold as easier to service, babbitt was for higher precision. Any truth to that?"
My father was a lifer at the Pratt & Whitney co in West Hartford Ct. and he always said the same thing. All ball or roller bearings have tolerances which equate to errors. A bearing with a ring lapped journal and a perfectly fitted babbitt bearing has virtually zero errors. The side bar is that a ball or roller bearing will keep what accuracy it has for much longer.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

"The roller bearings were sold as easier to service, babbitt was for higher precision. Any truth to that?"
My father was a lifer at the Pratt & Whitney co in West Hartford Ct. and he always said the same thing. All ball or roller bearings have tolerances which equate to errors. A bearing with a ring lapped journal and a perfectly fitted babbitt bearing has virtually zero errors. The side bar is that a ball or roller bearing will keep what accuracy it has for much longer.

Did he ever mention the tolerances on them?

 

[four.cycle]

I think you're correct Don.

Me too.
I stared at that image for a good while wondering "OMB?" "CMB?"

Occam's Razor here... "PLOMB" "TM" makes sense.

 

[MShaw]

"Did he ever mention the tolerances on them?"
No, but they are available at several web sites and they are very small. For precision bearings used in machine spindles they are less than .0001". The statement was an absolute and the relative accuracy is extremely small, but it is there. A good point to make. Unless you are doing very accurate work the difference is not worth considering. The first place I worked we did grinding to .0001" tolerance and the wheel and work spindle bearings were not babbitt.

 

[Provincial]

Older catalogs from sources like Timken, MRC (Marlin Rockwell), and SKF will show that ball and roller bearings could be made to quite close tolerances fairly early in the 20th Century. This was accomplished by selective fitting components and grading the bearing based on runout and end play. Where the big improvements came was in the accuracy of the average bearing, and that became very accurate toward the end of that Century.

The big advantage of roller and ball bearings was that they allowed much higher spindle speeds to take advantage of cutting tool technology. This allowed for quantum leaps in productivity.

 

[Mike'smeatshop]

Older catalogs from sources like Timken, MRC (Marlin Rockwell), and SKF will show that ball and roller bearings could be made to quite close tolerances fairly early in the 20th Century. This was accomplished by selective fitting components and grading the bearing based on runout and end play. Where the big improvements came was in the accuracy of the average bearing, and that became very accurate toward the end of that Century.

The big advantage of roller and ball bearings was that they allowed much higher spindle speeds to take advantage of cutting tool technology. This allowed for quantum leaps in productivity.

I totally agree and we as a society focused on making machinery top quality during the industrial revolution.