Oiless Bearings & Electrolysis.. Oops

Mr Mike

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Just curious if anyone has experience with electrolytic rust removal and oilless bearings..

The backgears in my Logan 1875 headstock are pressed onto a Quill that has oilless bearings, without considering it.. I put the quill through an electrolysis bath with the gears that needed cleaning. They still have that weird oily smooth feel they had before the bath.. I have read that bronze bushing will leach a small amount of tin out during electrolysis and just thought hmm..? wonder if I just leached out what ever component makes my bearings oilless.

Any ideas..?

BackgearElectrolysis.jpg
 
I wouldn't worry about it, if they still seem to fit snugly then probably no real harm done.
Worst case you can always replace them- they are a lot cheaper than the gears!
Mark
 
How badly worn are they? If they're shot that gives you a good excuse to press new ones in. If not you could soak 'em in oil for a while before assembly and see how they work.
 
I wouldn't worry about it, if they still seem to fit snugly then probably no real harm done.
Worst case you can always replace them- they are a lot cheaper than the gears!
Mark
How badly worn are they? If they're shot that gives you a good excuse to press new ones in. If not you could soak 'em in oil for a while before assembly and see how they work.

How "Snug" or how much they are worn is an excellent question.. There is a very small amount of play side to side, the eccentric shaft is .746" and quill is .750" what would be considered excessive wear..?

What oil type would you recommend for the quill oilless bearings, I have 30W none detergent on hand..

If the bearing wear is excessive then Ill have to hope Logan actuator has some in stock, I don't have the skill or a capable lathe to make them.

Thanks for the info, Mike
 
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If you are talking about oilite bronze bearings. You can re-oil them by putting them in a warm oil bath for a couple hours. We had to do the re-oiling on bearings for aircraft after machining. The heat from machining would let some of the oil leach out.
 
A few years ago I was going to try electrolysis on an old forge hand blower. I worried about the reactive zinc in the bushings. After all thats what they put on marine equipment to protect the critical parts from corrosion by letting it corrode, Got no good answers on any posts, but someone suggested molasses to remove rust. Its SLOW but CHEAP and doesn't seam to hurt anything except aluminum which doesn't rust anyway. I've used it on small and big parts, big as in fill a 45 gallon barrel and let it work. Still haven't tried electrolysis but will some day.

Greg
 
A few years ago I was going to try electrolysis on an old forge hand blower. I worried about the reactive zinc in the bushings. After all thats what they put on marine equipment to protect the critical parts from corrosion by letting it corrode, Got no good answers on any posts, but someone suggested molasses to remove rust. Its SLOW but CHEAP and doesn't seam to hurt anything except aluminum which doesn't rust anyway. I've used it on small and big parts, big as in fill a 45 gallon barrel and let it work. Still haven't tried electrolysis but will some day.

Greg

Hello Greg..
I've seen a few videos about molasses, I liked the one video with the old rusted car rim.. did a pretty darn good job, I must say.

Electrolysis is not a magic cure all, its a slow process and you still have to polish the part(s) up after the bath. What its good for is removing oily grime, rust and paint in one single process.

With electrolysis there are questions about what is safe to put through the process, my oilless bearing or your bearings with reactive zinc. we are hobbyist not chemical engineers.

If you want a none destructive, chemical free, safe and easy way to remove oily grime, paint and rust from iron and steel then your safe to use an electrolytic solution of water and sodium carbonate.

Due diligence along with research are required when adding any other components to recipe above, A hazardous example I've found would be using stainless steel as the Sacrificial Anode - Hexavalent chromate is a really toxic chemical that ends up in the electrolyte, and would now requires special handling and disposal.

Be safe.. Mike
 
If you are talking about oilite bronze bearings. You can re-oil them by putting them in a warm oil bath for a couple hours. We had to do the re-oiling on bearings for aircraft after machining. The heat from machining would let some of the oil leach out.

Hello billh50.

The parts manual I have doesn't specify what the makeup of the bearing is, just that its an oil-less bearing. I'll call logan and see.
Thanks for the info.. Mike.
 
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