Machining Split Journal Bearings - Home Workshop

[@ShevillMathers]

Back in the 1960’s, I was building big astronomical telescopes, making my own mountings and optics, living in Leeds back then. One day I saw an article in the Yorkshire Evening Post with picture of a young fellow also building a large telescope. He lived a long bus trip away, no telephones in my house or his, so it was find his address, write to him to arrange a visit. What is interesting in this story is that during my visit he showed me a big working steam locomotive under construction, nothing too unusual you might say, except he only had one arm. His high precision machining was just like Mr Crispin’s. I think these model engineers have all come out of the same mould. I was very impressed to say the least.

[@mrpete222]

You are an amazing craftsman--far beyond your years. Beautiful job on those bearings. I like the way you soldered them. I will plug you in a future video

[@oink079]

Incredible craftsmanship. Think of what they would cost to buy. That's what great about hobby machining, elaborate creations are made without the thought of man hour costs.

[@peterfitzpatrick7032]

Just working my way through the archives ... I really like your use of the slot drills in the tailstock chuck to prevent drift into the soft bronze, I think you were right to be concerned there. Beautiful work ... I like doing 4 jaw work in my own ML7... 😎👍☘️🍺

[@stephanedelrue7088]

what a craftsmanship ! Mr Crispin I'm impressed. Best regards from France

[@metusa666]

Great idea soldering the bronze together thanks

[@DudleyToolwright]

Great lathe fixture design. I have never seen this approach before. Your work was beautiful, the camera work was great, and the explanations clear and concise. Very enjoyable video.

[@EngineersWorkshop]

I love your approach on these journal boxes, with the half round upper shell. These bearings are beautiful miniature versions of large press bearings we used in Reynolds can machinery, with a 15" journal diameter. They could run for 10 years, 24 hours a day, before being reworked.

[@millomweb]

The key is to only wear the oil out, not the actual bearings ;)

[@mack255]

If I was not so far away from you I would sure like to meet you but I live in Ohio -USA and that is quiet a swim. Keep up the Great Work you are one hell of a nice young man.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Mack McCurry Thanks for all the nice comments

[@Abom79]

Great work Crispin!

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Abom79 Thanks

[@not2fast4u2c]

I found these bearing very interesting how the are made You did some Great machinig work on them

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

not2fast4u2c Thank you

[@k5at]

Excellent work Crispin! You are a very talented young man. Look forward to watching all of your videos.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Herb Blair Thank you

[@4SafetyTraining]

Great work and you've gotten better.

[@tom7601]

Mrpete222 posted your channel. What a find! Tom - Vista, California - USA

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

tom7601 Thank you

[@68sweetnovember]

Excellent craftsmanship.

[@Worksengineer]

Excellent work Crispin, next time someone asks me how to make some of these I'll point them to your video, we have a member in our society (NorwichDSME) whose building a Holmeside with boxes like these! Regards from Norfolk, UK

[@onlygazza]

Incredible workmanship and good to watch, keep posting the vids. All the best Gazz

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

onlygazza Thank you

[@andrewfrank6556]

Fantastic work Crispin, very impressive. I have subscribed, and look forward to your next video. I found this one after watching your nomination to Keith Fenner's 'What's in your box?' I too watch him and Mr Pete, along with Adam Booth, Tom Lipton, James Killroy and a few others. Best wishes from Devon, UK.

[@sinkhole40]

Crispin, very clever with all of your fixtures, and jigging.

[@razorworks9942]

Very well done Crispin, I see you have some nice tooling. Your mill and lathe seem to be in excellent shape, very quiet! I am in the process of refurbishing my Bridgeport step pulley mill. Next will be my Heavy10 Southbend lathe. Nice job on your axle housings. The fit and finish look quite nice. Looking forward to the next step! Razor!

[@thornwarbler]

You're some craftsman.................. lovely work

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

thornwarbler Thanks you very much

[@JohnsOrganWorks]

Very impressive craftsmanship. I just wonder about the concept though, as there will surely be significant sideways forces on the bearing when the loco is working, in addition to the weight acting vertically?

[@kevCarrico]

what an interesting order of operations! well done!!

[@robertaugust7425]

I agree. I think my first operation would've been boring both the steel and bronze. Remove the possibility of drill drift all together. He certainly did a great job though.

[@steamsearcher]

Lovely to watch all this being done. I have used solid brass for my keeps and 2 smaller pins.

[@jimmilne19]

Really nice work presented in a nice video. Well done!

[@daveys]

Excellent video, really nice products too.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Thanks

[@BMWDCK75]

Great machining,you are very skilled.

[@ninalli]

I really enjoyed watching that, Please keep up these videos.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

David Leahy Thanks, part one will be ready on monday eve

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

+David Leahy Make that Tuesday eve, Ive re-watched to much machining footage for one night im afraid, not to mention listening to the sound of my voice.

[@aarongarney2118]

Great video, Crispin. I should have subscribed when I watched your nomination video for the toolbox giveaway a few months ago! I really like your videos, and would like to see more of the machining processes. You've got everything else covered! I was looking forward to the facing operation of the bearing blocks, then BAM, to the next segment showing a pretty part. Great work, and again, thanks for sharing your video.

[@FredMiller]

Beautiful work Crispin.

[@sunppaa]

That's a set of perfect and very complicated parts!! Congratulations, I envy your skills :-)! Very fine video work also! Subscribed!

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

sunppaa Thank you very much

[@davedigs]

nicely done ive just got into the hobby and bought a started model of lbsc speedy it needs most of the work redoing and the axle boxes are the first thing that require some work thanks for sharing

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

david sanderson Thank you and good luck!

[@tzkelley]

I just found your videos--very educational and entertaining! Thank you.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

tzkelley Thank you, Im pleased you found them entertaining!

[@twistedhairball]

@@MrCrispinEnterprises Hey MrCrispin, I have recently discovered your channel (I think it's recommended from watching Joe P recent model series) and have watched all your videos in a week. Have you deleted some videos? As this seems to be the first one. I need to feed my addiction so any more hidden away I can find? Great work on everything you seem to do and I look forward to moaning at you like the rest of the comments asking you to hurry up and provide more content. (Sorry for hijacking your comment tzkelley)

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Thanks. I'm afraid I only have the 55 videos that are on my channel, I'm not a very quick producer! Cheers

[@holmes230536]

Excellent video and a real pleasure to watch, take an orange out of the bag as first prize, Edmund.............Alberta

[@andli461]

Amazing! 👌

[@stephendeakin2714]

Wonderful piece of work, puts my efforts (reamed holes in a lump of cast bronze) at making axleboxes to shame.

[@litany99]

Excellent work.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Jason Polensky Thanks

[@ypaulbrown]

Crispin, all I can say is WOW.....one Brilliant job........you are sure on your way to a fantastic career in metal working.......wishing you the best in the What's in your Box drawing.....best wishes from the USA....Paul

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Paul Brown Thank you very much for all your kind comments

[@chadgdry3938]

well done

[@LordPhobos6502]

This info may or may not be of any use to you, but it may also be of historical interest for some :) Where you have the Phosphor bronze in your bearing, the trams I used to work on in the museum had a layer of whitemetal as bearing material, being soft metal. I mostly did electrical, but got to help out cast a set of blocks one time, was heaps of fun :)

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Thanks

[@fpreston9527]

best wishes in your career

[@radbot1]

Fantastic machine work. Would like to have seen more detail on how you made the main housing piece. Did you mill the whole thing mounted in the dividing head?

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

radbot1 I would have liked to put more in but I didn't have much footage worth watching, I bored a hole through with recesses each side, one recess was cut while the work was set up for boring and the other recess was cut in the lathe using that expanding mandrel I showed. Then I sawed and milled the sides.

[@radbot1]

Ah good stuff. Thanks for the informative reply and for the video.

[@CarterWHern]

excellent!

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

Carter W Hern Thanks

[@JTZshokunin]

Those are beautiful! About how long did it take you to make all six?

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

JTZshokunin A long time! As I sent in the video I think I would simplify them next time. I get very limited home workshop time and for some periods I don't do any work, but I realistically these were probably spread over about 2 months. Far longer than Id ever want to spend on one particular set of things again!

[@barrycass2820]

How many lathes do you have Mr Crispin. I like the work you do nice and clean.

[@millomweb]

Just the 2.

[@deemstyle]

I was really curious about how you'd tackle boring the hole. Can I ask- what is a "slot drill?" Would that be the same thing as an end mill?

[@robertaugust7425]

Yes, a two flute end mill.

[@bernienufc3166]

This mentions previous work, is that available to see too?

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

I think this is about my first video ever. It was probably made with only people I knew personally in mind!!

[@bernienufc3166]

@@MrCrispinEnterprises Thank you, that does make sense, its a shame though as the learning quality from these older ones are as valuable today as there were when you made them..

[@tandemcompound2]

what is clearance between the axle journal and the half bronze bearing? 2 or 3 thou?

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

0.0015" nominally

[@gatyair82]

Mrpete222 sent me here. I'm glad he did.

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

gatyair82 Thank you

[@sriracha3049]

why the need for the dividing head on the mill? Why not just set the square block on parallels in the vise and flip it 180?

[@MrCrispinEnterprises]

m hornete A, using the dividing head to index guarantees parallel faces, and 90 degree corners. B, By taking a finishing cut on one side, rotating 180 and cutting the other side with out altering the z height, you guarantee the the bore will end up right in the middle. C, by using an accurate fixture that locates on the bore you guarantee that the faces will be parallel and true to the bore. Having parallel faces, a centered bore and a well aligned bore are all crucial and any errors will cause binding/bad running further down the line.

[@chrisstephens6673]

I reckon you have a faded painting hidden away in your loft, a la Dorian Gray, and in fact you are in your forties or fifties, either that or you are an example of reincarnation.

[@rriquelmy3522]

Audio. See Keith Appelton.