Wildwest Bearings- Your Bearing source

Friday, October 12, 2012

Common causes of ball bearings overheating and failing

Bearings typically overheat when they are improperly lubricated. Improper lubrication can be caused by using a low temperature grease that does not provide enough viscosity for proper operation by allowing for increased friction. Also not re lubricating a bearing can cause it to run hotter than normal by allowing metal to rub against metal and increasing friction and rapidly causing the bearing to overheat. Over greasing can damage a bearing as well. It may cause a seal on a bearing to crack and allow foreign particles into contact with the internal rolling components of a bearing and pit the bearing and or corrode from moisture getting in as well as allowing the grease used to lubricate the inner portion of the bearing to escape the inner compartment of the bearing. XHYZH3X2KYV6 Below are a few pictures over overheated bearings due to improper lubrication.
         

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

What is a ball bearing and what is its purpose?


Have you ever wondered what is the difference in bearings?  Well if you have today I'll give you some insight about what a ball bearing is, and how it can make your life easier!  Ball Bearings are a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing race.  The mechanical purpose of a radial bearing is to reduce rotational friction, and support radial and axial load. A ball bearing achieves this by using at least two races to contain the balls and distribute the loads through the balls. In most applications, one race is stationary and the other is attached to the rotating assembly (such as a hub or shaft). As one of the bearing races rotates, it causes the balls to rotate as well. Because the balls are rolling they have a much lower friction than if two flat surfaces were sliding against each other.
Ball bearings tend to have lower load capacity for their size than other kinds of rolling-element bearings due to the smaller contact area between the balls and races. However, they can tolerate some misalignment of the inner and outer races.
  
Common Elements/Compounds used to manufacture a ball bearing


There are several common designs of ball bearing, each offering various trade-offs. They can be made from many different materials, including: stainless steel, chrome steel, and ceramic (silicon nitride (Si3N4)). A hybrid ball bearing is a bearing with ceramic balls and races of metal.

Common ball bearing designs

Angular contact

An angular contact ball bearing uses axially asymmetric races. An axial load passes in a straight line through the bearing, whereas a radial load takes an oblique path that tends to want to separate the races axially. So the angle of contact on the inner race is the same as that on the outer race. Angular contact bearings better support "combined loads" (loading in both the radial and axial directions) and the contact angle of the bearing should be matched to the relative proportions of each. The larger the contact angle (typically in the range 10 to 45 degrees), the higher the axial load supported, but the lower the radial load. In high speed applications, such as turbines, jet engines, and dentistry equipment, the centrifugal forces generated by the balls changes the contact angle at the inner and outer race. Ceramics such as silicon nitride are now regularly used in such applications due to their low density (40% of steel). These materials significantly reduce centrifugal force and function well in high temperature environments. They also tend to wear in a similar way to steel bearing, rather than cracking or shattering like glass or porcelain.
Most bicycles use angular-contact bearings in the headsets because the forces on these bearings are in both the radial and axial direction.

Axial

The design of axial ball bearings is intended solely to operate with considerable axial load, any radial load is unacceptable for them. Axial ball bearings can accommodate axial loads in one direction only.
As a rule, one of the bearing washers is produced tight to fit on the shaft and the others are loose to be installed in the housing.  Axial ball bearings with flat loose washer do not allow any, even slight, angular misalignment between the shaft and the housing. If it is necessary to provide unit operation with initial angular misalignment, bearings with loose sphered seat washers should be used. Usually  axial ball bearings are produced split, which simplifies their mounting. Some special applications have stamped protective shield, which makes the whole construction undetachable.
Axial ball bearings are produced with pressed steel cages, with machined cages of brass, steel, aluminum alloys or glass fiber reinforced polyamide.
An axial ball bearing uses side-by-side races. An axial load is transmitted directly through the bearing, while a radial load is poorly supported and tends to separate the races, so that a larger radial load is likely to damage the bearing.

Deep-groove

In a deep-groove radial bearing, the race dimensions are close to the dimensions of the balls that run in it. Deep-groove bearings can support higher loads. This style is typically used in precision instruments, low noise motor, automobiles, and motorcycles.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Lonestar Bearings is now Wildwest Bearings and our online store has changed for the better!

It was recently decided that it is in my business's best interest to change from our previous website business name from Lonestar Bearings to Wildwest Bearings. We have also changed our webstore link to http://wildwestbearings.com/bearingstore this new layout will allow us to better organize our catalog and streamline our customer experience and gives you the ability to share products with your friends to your favorite social media with a simple click of a button!!! We are adding more products to our webstore. We have added several special ag bearingsradial bearingstapered bearingsdisc harrow bearings and tapered bearing sets.  We welcome your input on how we can improve our website check back often as we are adding new products all the time!!!