Ball bearings

[Andrew Gabriel]

Any recommendations for ball bearing suppliers? There seem to be loads of them. I need some 608 bearings to replace worn out ones in the fan motors of a couple of dehumidifiers. They're almost 15 years old, and bearings in two of them failed within days of each other.

608 bearings seem to be very common, partly because they're also used on skateboards! One vendor listed about 20 types of 608 bearings, but gave no technical details - just different prices.

I've yet to work out how to get the bearings off the shafts - I haven't tried yet because at the moment I'm keeping them going short term by oiling them, which seems to be working.

[Nightjar]

I always bought bearings from BSL, who were always very knowledgeable and helpful. They now seem to be called Brammer.

[Tim Lamb]

AOL:-)

Type range can be variations of side plates: none, single, double, plastic, metal......

Groove tolerance is another possibility as relaxed tolerance can lead to quieter running for domestic motor use.

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[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Wherever you get them, specify Toyo/Koyo if they're available in the size you want.

[newshound]

+1. They used to be part of RHP (although they stocked all sorts). Decades ago a mate of mine had an E-type, on my advice he went to them for some suspension bearings and ISTR they were less than a tenth of the price of jaguar spares. It was some sort of pivoted link so high precision not required.

I recently replaced all the bearings on the deck of an old ride-on mower and these were also one of the standard skateboard sizes. eBay price for

10 was the same as a single bearing price from some sources (rubber sealed). I refuse to believe that a mower requires any specially high tolerance. OTOH for a fan I would probably go for a branded product as this might well be quieter.

[ARW]

That reminds me of the bloke that arrived at Barnsley A&E with a bearing stuck on his now very sore and purple penis.

The fire brigade were called and they decided to have a trip to Koyo (based in Dodworth) to practice cutting bearings before removing the bearing from the guys knob. This was in 1999 - and I can date that as the bloke from Koyo (only time I have met him) was at my wedding reception and he took great pleasure in telling the story of how he managed to find a piece of penis shaped metal for the fire brigade to practice on.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I'm guessing that was a bigger bearing - the 608 is for an 8mm diameter shaft ;-)

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

For a through hardened inner ring, simply *squashing* in a vice might do. Might need to blindfold the customer:-)

Otherwise the wedding ring removal trick...... bind the *object* with coils of soft string starting from the ring. Then slide the ring along as the binding is unwound.

I think the proper tool for pulling a ball race off a shaft is like a hub puller. The legs ending in a flattened *ball* shape which can be inserted and rotated to grip the races. Clearly this involves first removing the bearing cage and side plate and having the exact size puller legs.

In my experience, electric motor bearings are not hugely tight to the shaft and any hook legged puller will do.

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[newshound]

Having chopped up a fair number of ball bearing races, I have every sympathy with the fire brigade and the victim. Fairly obviously, you need an abrasive grinding wheel and flood things liberally with water to keep it all cool. In a metallurgy lab you use a thing called an Exotom which is a 10 inch angle grinder with a cut / pause cycle and lots of coolant. Even on a "rough" setting which produces lots of sparks and will get through a square centimetre in under a minute, the bulk metal temperature stays below 100 C (as you can tell from the metallurgy).

You can often snap a bearing ring when it is part way through but a complete ring is pretty tough. I would certainly try the string technique mentioned by another poster first.

I suspect the cutting rate of the abrasive saw on a multitool would be pretty low, although this tool has the advantage of being kinder to flesh. In this case I suppose it could all be done under water.

[meow2222]

but if you slip & drop the saw in said water.... doesnt bear thinking about.

NT