WTD: Oilite Information

[Al_The_Man]

Anyone have any experience obtaining Oilite bearing material and turning same?
I was suprised to find that mass produced bearing of this material are normally pressed out to preserve the integrity of the porous surface.
There also seems to be some conflicting views as to how to reduce or turn the material, some even do not approve of reaming in case porosity is damaged.
I have to make some bronze type bearings and would like to take advantage of Oilite if possible.
If I can find a supplier with some close to the dimensions I am looking for and keep modification to a minimum.
Al.

[pmurray]

Al_The Man,

I too have heard the same stories about machining Oilite.

Anyway, you might be able to find some off-the-shelf Oilite bearings at smallparts.com. Here's a link to the page:http://www.smallparts.com/products/d...bb-sbb-fbb.cfm

Regards,

plm

[mcmmach]

Hey Al,
I have machined quite a few oillite bushings, the od turning is not important, turn the id with a sharp boring tool, carbide works best. Normally the oil will ooze out as you turn then it will receed back into the material quickly.
Dean

[Geof]

I have turned oilite bushings inside and outside many times. They are rough on HSS tools and it is necessary to use very sharp carbide. Reaming them is possible but a nice new sharp reamer is needed and it is not nice and sharp when you have finished. I also have heard the story about sealing off the pores with reaming but I think this is a bit of a fairy tale. These are just sintered bronze; i.e. gazillions of little spheres fused together at theirs points of contact by heat and pressure. Turning or reaming might smear the material so it does not have the mat appearance any more but I do not see how it could effectively stop the oil from permeating.