[rubino2112]

Looking for information on inserting graphite plugs into bronze bearing material and machining it.

[NC Cams]

Why?

Having been and applications engineer for both a ball bearng as well as a sleeve bearing/bushing bearing maker, I can say for certain that a careful load analysis is needed to properly use/apply a sleeve type bearing. Simply throwing materials at it may seem like a good idea but, from my experience, such an approach generates anything but good results.

Having said that:

Appropriately selected and maintained, bronze bushings provide a good compromise between load carrying properties, wear resistance and "surface action" (ability of a material to resist siezure under marginal lubrication).

If you're geting to the point where the bronze being used is unable to carry the applied load, you may need to change something else in the mix.

There are/were some "graph/oil" bushings made at one time - bronze busings that were embossed with graphite "dots" and then fused into one. There were also some where graphite and nylon and/or other materials were molded into the overlay to enhance siezure resistance but at the expense of ultimately load carrying capability.

Having also machined leaded bronze, I can also assure you that what you want to use to machine the bronze will suck for the graphite and vice versa. Hence, you'll probably be in a no win situation or a compromise at least. Finally, in machining bronze alone, it all depends on which alloy you're trying to machine as to how you do it and what you use for speeds, feeds and tooling.

In some respects, your question is a bit too generic to adequately and properly issue a response to.....

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

rubino 2112,
You might google Rowend www.rowend.com to make sure you have the correct application. This type of bearing is usually used on high load, slow moving and/or high heat applications. There are other applications but then there are other solutions as well.