Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Mike
Needle bearings must be run on hardened and ground shafts. If the shaft is soft or has a keyway there are sleeves that can be used as an inner race.
|
Hmm, so definitely a no-go on a 7075 aluminum shaft? Too bad. No way around it? I'll look into the liners. Shame it takes the size up a bit, though. Interesting, though, McMaster only mentions the "use on hardened and preground shafts" thing on the high precision ones. (
EDIT: Scratch that, I just noticed it.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Stiltner
I agree with most all of the above comments, but wanted to add that if you are that limited on space, a good plain bearing(also called bushings) will work most of the time. My team used bronze bushings on the drive axles one year and had no issues with them. The increase in friction did not seem to be a major issue either as the loads on these bearings is pretty low.
|
I won't deny that space is a concern here. The smaller I can get the OD on this, the closer to the bottom of the box tubing I can pull the bearing blocks, and the smaller the wheels I need. I'm not going to harp on the advantages here, they've been discussed a lot already, but single stage gearboxes are one of my thoughts. However, I'd prefer to use bearings, since they are more efficient. Thanks for the input, though.