Vintage Windmill and Wind Generator Forum

Thanks Bob. I like the fact the force is applied directly over the plug and not off to the side. Prevents galling the holes. OK, your turn to to show me your jig tool to pour the long snoot babbitt bearing (#730) on Aermotor 702's.
Got quite a few empty steel shells for 6 and 8 ft. 702's collecting dust. Sounds like old windy one got it removed without our tools and used Bryon"s technique which also works a lot of the time on stubborn fasteners.
Tom

Tom, honestly, I don't have that jig, my helper does at his house. I've not seen it yet, he pours them there. Let me see if I cant get a few pics of it and post. I thought for a lot of years how to do it, but he managed to come up with it in a few weeks. Took him a while to get the bearing made up for the pinions, but we talked about it, and between my jig, and his improvements, he pours those also. Now we do them all.

Just got done pouring a 6 ft 602 last week. I did NOT know after all these years, that the mainshaft was a screwy size. I have always used the hub and shaft to pour those, this was a first for a plain mandrel. Imagine my surprise when I found that a 3/4 shaft was too small, and a 7/8 was too big.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Those alien eye plugs are mostly rusty and very tight. I suppose a purist would re-use them, but I never do. Always replaced with a regular plug.

I wish that would be my only surprise when restoring a windmill. First thing that comes to mind is reverse thread on main shafts!