At work we used to use CA104 aluminium bronze for parts that were going to be rubbed because it is very resistant to being rubbed away. It is more expensive though and harder to machine than brass.

If you are not a metalworker how are you planning to get them made? You may get a volunteer here if you give some rough idea of your location.

Martin C

The CA104 was not used for bearings but things that rubbed against each other in some situations but not all the time. One of the major uses was for the rubbing contact surfaces of pipe bending mandrels and wiper dies on pipe bending machines. Sometimes the mandrels had hard chromed bodies but follower balls made of CA104. Sometimes the mandrel was just a plug made of CA104. Someone in one of our machine shops made some £1 coin slugs out of it and fed them into a slot machine in a pub near the factory. They never found out who it was but they did an audit of all the material that was bought and issued out and I had to account for all the material that was in the tooling racks for the pipe bending machines. They changed the pound coins to two materials soon after that (don't think there was any cause and effect here) so that never became an issue again.

On some of the industrial bandsaws we used for cutting pipes the blade wipers were ceramic blocks. It would not be as pretty as nicely polished metal but may do a similar job if you can find some. We had Pedrazzoli machines in the pipe shop and they were Italian so maybe something from them may work.

Martin C