I am looking for a small quantity of cotton waste. The stuff is seemingly impossible to find any more. This is a for a restoration of an overhead crane which has waste filled oil cellars. Any leads appreciated.

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You can use the extra heavy 24# or was it 28# cotton mop heads as a temporary replacement (based on suggestions from here about a year ago). It worked great for the bearings under the P&R 910 we just moved to the Ct Eastern RR Museum. I talked with many wool yarn and thread factories and distributors but could not find a source for Untreated long strand wool waste (smaller than 1000-3000 pound orders). Best I could find was a source for dyed wool waste, unfortunately when they dye the wool they add an anti-stain compound which prevents wicking of oils, which is good for cloth but horrible for journal packing.

The 4-1/4 x 8 bearings took 1.5 or 2 mops each (I forget now). I used the ones that had binding in the middle and the ends. I first cut the mop heads in half (through the binding in the middle where they mount to the handle) and soaked them for a week in Lucas cylinder lube (it is a plain oil, with anti-rust additives, without the of the surface adhesion enhancer additives that clog the capillary action of the cotton). I used 1 gallon per 5 gallon pail, could have used more as the pail was dry when I packed the journals and I had almost no oil on the rubber gloves. As I placed them in the pail I poured the oil onto each layer and twice that week I inverted the pail, so any oil that settled to the bottom, would pass though the cotton and soak in if there were still any dry patches.

Before I did the packing I first removed the brasses and cleaned the axle ends with fine emery cloth, and wiped them down with Kroil and paper towels to get all the rust powder and sanding grit. Then I coated the bearing surface with engine assembly lube, figured the stickiness of the assembly lube wouldn't pollute the packing enough to worry about, but wanted to make sure there was oil for the first time it rolled.
***Warning*** do not use sand paper or emery cloth on the babbit surface, and it will be close to impossible to get the crystals out of the surface. If you must clean this surface lightly use a wire wheel or a curved metal scraper.

When I packed the journal cellars, I folded the mop heads so that the cut and looped ends were at the center of the bottom layer (1/4 of the length from each end folded under). This was to prevent the axle from being able to pick up an end and push it into and under the brass. As it was over a year ago, I forget if the journal was deep enough that I needed to place one lengthwise along the bottom of the cellar. To pack it I made a packing iron and coated the forked working end with brass so it would not scratch the axle. The packing needs to be tight and should not extend past the end of the axle. After It was packed I added more oil to the bottom and splashed it down both sides of the axle since the packing was so dry. IIRC I used about 3-4 gallons of the Lucas to do all 8 bearings.

It worked so good that after we got the car off the trucks, to place it on to the trailer, the trucks rolled with two men pushing without straining. After we put her back on her trucks, she practically rolled on her own (a.k.a.: no noticeable drag unlike some other cars we have) when we coupled up to her with the trackmobile to bring her into the museum and to her parking spot.

If anyone finds a good source for long strand wool waste, please let others know as it is almost impossible to get pads (journal pad sewing machine was down at both Hooper and the other place [I forget their name, could be using the same supplier] when I was starting the project), so more museums will be looking for wool waste in the not to distant future to maintain their bearings. I was surprised how easy it was to pack the journal, other people always made sound like some tricky labor intensive job, maybe they just never tried doing it. You just need to be careful and take your time.

So far we have not noticed any problems, (not that they have moved her much, probably 2 miles for the trucks and 1 mile for the coach), but the axles are immediately wet with oil when we start to push her. Also after the trucks had sat for 6 months there was no sign of the bearing surfaces rusting.

Not sure if the Lucas is good for a long term solution as Interlube (http://www.interlubecorporation.com/railroad.asp) still makes Journal Guard, which is the correct oil for the pads and packing.

Unless we can find a source for the wool waste, I would feel confident using the mop heads for the next car, but with the Journal Guard oil instead of the Lucas.

Hope this helps,

Rich Cizik
MoW Foreman
Blacksmith Shop Co-Head
P&R 910 Move project head
Ct Eastern RR Museum
Willimantic, Ct 06226
http://www.cteastrrmuseum.org

For 100% cotton waste, call: http://www.textilebuff.com/waste.html. Textile Waste & Supply Company, 511 Medford St, Charlestown, MA 02129-0001, tel: 617-241-8100. (I haven't bought from them yet, but I did call them 2+ years ago and at the time they did sell 100% cotton waste.)

- Doug Debs

Miller waste Mills sells waste for packing journals. http://www.millerwastemills.com/products/fibers.htm

I bought 50 pounds from this this past spring

For the amount I need (these journal boxes are about 3" cube) the mop suggestion sounds perfect. Probably two cheap cotton mops will supply me with enough waste to do this entire job. Thanks.

Mop heads were used on 6213 during her move (by trailer) to the John Steet Roundhouse.

I've written about the process here:
http://www.trainweb.org/j.dimech/6167/6213-1.html

The Cotton Waste can be attain a Ship suppler in mjr port like Long Beach,CA, Wilmington,CA , Oakland,CA, San Diego,CA, Seattle,WA, New Yory,NY, ect
The is use for pack the shaft on the ship.
The package is about 50 lbs and was just fine for the celler on the Steam Engine
I didn't puck up the item 15 year ago but suppler has faded away in San Pedro,CA

Smile


Owen Stan Paulsen