VexPro Bearings

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by kbrowncny

You mentioned getting the fit right is important when you turn down hex stock to use thunder hex bearings (13.775mm round). When using the thunder hex stock are there any tips and tricks to get the right diametrical clearance, understanding the oversizing from the manufacturer? When working on the lathe and a 3 jaw chuck we had to try a few times and experiment to get the fit a "slight press fit". As soon as the tool started removing material from the part was too much to get a press fit. We also tried a live center to keep it straight. It took a couple times and some scrap material to finally get it right. When we were able to turn down the shaft to achieve the correct fit the cuts were still inconsistent. This may have to do with the lack of eccentricity of the part vice thunder hex stock, I'm not sure how to get it perfect. It is unfortunate that the thunder hex stock still requires precision machining to get the "slight press fit". This burned a lot of our manufacturing time this year.

Did you try using some emery cloth instead of a cutting tool to take off the necessary material?

We've done that for all of our thunderhex this year and it just takes a few seconds. You could even chuck the thunderhex in a drill press, mill or hand drill and take off the necessary material with emery cloth, no lathe required.

-Mike