Question: I have an aluminium bearing holder attached to one end of an aluminium plate as follows:

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/026xMl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/026xMl.png)

The bearing holder is attached to the plate by two bolts on the bottom. The intended setup is to attach a relatively heavy load to the right hand side of the shaft. To reduce stress on the two bolt holes in the plate, is it a good idea to have a lip on the plate as shown? Will it actually have any effect? Ideally I'd like to fasten the bearing holder through the lip, but I'm trying to avoid machining from the side and stay away from 4-axis machining.

Are there better ways to reduce the stress on the holes?

Any advice appreciated.

Answer: 
Lead can be held safely... Just don't eat it and wash your hands. If it is old, is most likely contains some trace amount of lead, as it was a common additive to make machining easier.
your tests suggest that the pipe is just iron or steel and safe to hold. Certain special steel alloys called *free-machining steel* or *ledloy* have lead in them but they are not used to make pipe.