Quote Originally Posted by Kip View Post
Irving, My thoughts are that the shim (shown in red) needs the ends trimming to the yellow line to allow a fast and full fill, I think with that modification you will have success.

One uninterrupted pour till metal flows out of the vents (funnels?) maybe use a plumbers mat under the work area to catch the excess metal.

You'll know when you have overheated the metal...Fumes and smoke will start to emanate :)

Keep safe and enjoy the experience matey
I think you may be right, but if that was the case why did it work OK at the other end? Maybe something to do with heat distribution... and when I did have the gap in the shim it failed to fill OK on the other side????

Obviously I'm not chanting the right incantations when i do the pour. The main issue with cutting the shim is that it makes the shaft very hard to remove if its solid metal round it. What I might do is taper the shim back towards the outside so that there is a full gap by the shaft and I can get a junior hacksaw blade in the slot to remove the metal where the shim tapers to fully slot the bearing to remove the shaft

I did have one uninterrupted pour... it flowed out four of the 5 vents but not the last one as the pictures show!

Funnily enough I was thinking on the lines of a wooden dam and it would be easier to make into the right shape - what I actually need are two 50mm x 3mm discs with a ~37mm dia x .5mm deep recess and a 32mm central hole with some cutouts for vents... maybe I should make some up...