Bearings
What is a bearing and why do they exist? Bearings are made of various materials, including steel, plastic, ceramic, bronze or other exotic compounds. A bearing's chief responsibilities are:
- To reduce friction
- To separate two components (such as a shaft and housing) to prevent their wear
- To allow for consistent, smooth, and accurate rotation of a component (usually a shaft)
- To aid in the dissipation of heat from other components
- To be a cost-effective and easily available replaceable part
Bearings are selected for a particular application based upon many factors. Among some of the differences among commonly used bearings are:
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Most bearings that you may have seen are considered anti-friction bearings, in that they have balls or rollers of various shapes. For a given application, multiple factors will be taken into account to make a proper selection of a particular bearing type and size.
Manufacturers:
- EPT (McGill, Rollway, Sealmaster) - cam followers and needle rollers, cylindrical and spherical rollers, mounted bearings and rod ends
- Isostatic - plane bearings (bushings)
- Kaydon - thin section and turntable bearings
- Koyo - full line ball and roller bearings
- NSK - full line ball and roller bearings
- NTN - full line ball and roller bearings
- RBI (RBtech) - imported ball, roller, and mounted bearings
- Schaeffler (Barden, FAG, INA) - full line ball and roller bearings
- Setco - precision spindle repair
- Timken (Fafnir, Torrington) - full line ball and roller bearings