Where to get 1/2" Flanged bearings?

[sanddrag]

I need some good quality flanged bearings for a 1/2" shaft. The only places I've found are PIC and Berg. PIC is the cheaper of the two at like $23 ea but we just cannot afford that, we'll be using 8 of them. Please help us find a cheaper source.

SDP, MSC, Small Parts, and Mcmaster don't have them to the best of my knowledge.

Would Motion Industries have them cheaper?

[Andy Brockway]

sanddrag,

We used unground flanged 1/2" ball bearings from True Value Hardware in last year's single speed gearbox. No failures and the grearboxes have plenty of life still in them.

I have switched to an R8 precision bearing for the dual speed gearboxes. This bearing is unflanged, the cost is not that high and they are readily available. I use button head screws on the outside to hold the outer race. I do not feel that the precision flanged 1/2" bearings are worth their cost for application.

[Raul]

Sanddrag,

If you tell us your application, we could suggest what alternatives will work for your application.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Raul

Sanddrag,

If you tell us your application, we could suggest what alternatives will work for your application.

Team 716 style single speed and tranny (I guess Andy Brockway's above post says hardware store ones are fine) and the axles for our wheels. (will they be good enough for this?)

Also, we are planning on using them in our arms. Last year we used the cheap hardware store ones in the same kind of arms but they were 5/8". By the end of two regionals they had really gotten sloppy and had a lot of play. For half a rotation 180 degrees, I wonder if bushings would be good better for this. Take a look at our arms from last year here: http://www.team696.org/forum/image.php?iid=172

[Matt Adams]

I know for a fact that both McMaster-Carr and MSC Both carry 1/2 flanged bearings.

McMaster: 6384K361, $6.21
MSC: 01377266 $3.53 (Cheap-o)

However, for small rotations, bronze bushings aren't a bad move either.

McMaster-Carr # for a 1/2 ID, 3/8 THK Flanged Bronze Bushing.
6338K417

Hope this helps! Good luck!

Matt

[Andy Baker]

If you contact Applied Industrial or Motion Industries and ask them for an inexpesive ball bearing that has a 1/2" bore with a flange, they should be able to find you one that costs at $6-10 each. Ask to have them look for an "import" or a lower quality bearing.

When you ask for any general "import", you are asking for a generic bearing that is cheaply made by just any manufacturer. Of course, many bearing manufacturers import their products to the US, but you need to specify their part # and manufacturer name. In your case, any generic "import" will work. 1/2" bearings can handle a high amount of radial force and a gearbox application in FIRST usually does not come close to overloading a 1/2" id bearing.

The more expensive bearings ($15-20 each) will spin easier since the bearing race is machined more precicely (ground), but an import will work OK.

Good luck,
Andy B.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Matt Adams

McMaster: 6384K361, $6.21

How can I find this on their website? It doesn't show anything when I put in the part number and I don't see any numbers like that on all the ABEC bearing pages.

[Matt Adams]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

an import will work OK.

To me... OK sounds like, "if you can't shell out the $20, this will do good enough."

I'm just wondering, is there any noticable difference in FIRST applications between imports and the super-slick $20 ones? I guess I'm asking for a professional opinion from Andy or anyone else...

Matt

[SarahB]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

How can I find this on their website? It doesn't show anything when I put in the part number and I don't see any numbers like that on all the ABEC bearing pages.

When you put in the part number it should give you the ordering information on the side bar(right under where you type in the search). Right bellow the ordering information is a link to view the catalog page.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by SarahB

When you put in the part number it should give you the ordering information on the side bar(right under where you type in the search). Right bellow the ordering information is a link to view the catalog page.

Oops, I left one character out of the number when I was searching.

Anyway, is McMaster PN 6384K361 the cheap bearing like this

or is it a more precision one like this except with a flange?


Thanks

EDIT: It says double sealed so maybe it's like this but with a flange?


Which of the three pics here is McMaster PN 6384K361 most like?

[Eric O]

You can also check out Small Parts . They have 1/2 inch bearings for around $6 or a pack of 10 for around $45. I do not see it listed with a flange on the small parts site, but I know if you ask for it you can get them flanged. The bearing that they sell is actually already in CAD on the www.firstcadlibrary.com site under the bearings section. You will also notice that the part number on the firstcadlibrary site is the one for small parts.

Eric

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

If you contact Applied Industrial ...

I would highly suggest you contact Applied Industrial and see if they have a local distributer. They usually have fairly knowledgable people working there that can answer all of your questions, help you select the right bearing for the job, and then place the order for you. The turn around time is usually less than a day.

They also sell gears, pnuematics, belts, pulleys, and many other things that we can use on our robots.

We have an Applied Industrial shop in our Industrial Park here in Farmington Hills and they have helped us out tremedously.

-Chris

[Mr. Van]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

For half a rotation 180 degrees, I wonder if bushings would be good better for this. Take a look at our arms from last year here: http://www.team696.org/forum/image.php?iid=172

I'm not an engineer, nor do I play one on TV, but I hope Andy or someone else backs me up on this...

Use a bushing. We used bushings for our arm last year - worked great. In fact, we used NO BEARING/BUSHING on our arm from 2001. (Just a hardened smooth bolt.) It's lasted two complete regionals and continuous demonstrations/presentations/etc. for the past FOUR years and is still going strong.

-Mr. Van
Coach, 599

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Mr. Van

I'm not an engineer, nor do I play one on TV, but I hope Andy or someone else backs me up on this...

Use a bushing. We used bushings for our arm last year - worked great. In fact, we used NO BEARING/BUSHING on our arm from 2001. (Just a hardened smooth bolt.) It's lasted two complete regionals and continuous demonstrations/presentations/etc. for the past FOUR years and is still going strong.

-Mr. Van
Coach, 599

'Got your back, Van.

I agree that with a hardened, smooth bolt you can use a bushing. The key to using a bushing depends on the surface finish of the shaft that is turning inside of it. If it is a polished surface, then a bushing works great. If the surface has some roughness on it (like, from some quick lathe work), then you would be safe by going with a bearing.

Also, it really depends on the application. In these gearboxes, the shafts are seeing thousands of rpms. Since arm joints move much slower (like 10 rpm) then using a bushing is definitely the way to go.

Andy B.