Metal spraying

What you want for that application is submerged arc welding. Hillthorne Engineering in Hayes used to do it. I'm sure there are others.

Greetings Dave, I used to read your posts on rcm before it became a wasteland of political crap, insults, and whining children. But I'm sure you can answer a question for me that I have wondered about. In the above post a fellow wants to have a crankshaft built up because it is now too small to be re-ground and still fit available bearings. It seems to me that putting all that heat into a crankshaft must change it. Wouldn't it be better to make custom smaller bearings? Thanks, Eric

Making shell bearings is more or less impossible without the full resources of a bearing manufacturer and they'll only tool up to make thousands at a time so no it's a non starter. The heat from sub arc welding is very controlled by the design of the process which keeps the arc constantly submerged in a flow of inert grit that prevents atmospheric gases getting into the weld and affecting the material quality. It's a very tried and tested process, not that expensive, and with the appropriate welding wire which will be different for iron cranks and steel ones produces an excellent finished journal without crank distortion. There's no other sensible alternative IMO.

Thanks for that Dave. I know what sub-arc welding is and have seen it done. I didn't know it could be used on cranks without causing significan distortion. I have made shell bearings, using the the old steel backings, for old electric motors, but they were not the multi layer type that is used in modern engines. Just babbit. Eric

What ever happened to white-metal dipping? Or was that before your time (and mine)?

e current knowledge of metal spraying and its effectiveness? I've looked on the web but personal experience and recommendation would be useful. Many y ears ago I knew of it being done to a motorcycle crankshaft. In this case i t is for the crankshaft of a high performance car where the big end bearing s are undersize, below regrind tolerance. Thanks. John H

hello many years ago l went for job at Ristes car restorerers they speciali zed in Rolls Royce , but they aquired white metal and cast blank shells and then machined new ones in batches of about 20, l don't know if this wood p roduce the same results ? best of luck colin