[modeleng] Re: Needle roller bearings

Hi Ron and All,

I have often thought about fitting needle rollers but where do you obtain 
the actual needle rollers?

Regards

Clif
>
> I have fitted drawn cup needle roller bearings to all the axles of my
> 2½" 4-8-4 Helen Long. The bearings run straight onto silver steel axles
> and the usual side play is allowed so the axle can float from side to
> side. I don't think you will have any wear problems - the axles and
> bearings will outlast the rest of the loco! Most of todays loco
> designers use this combination.
>
> There was some discussion about needle roller bearings on another forum
> and some members seemed concerned about the life of plain silver steel
> axles. As a result of this I conducted an experiment using a 10mm bore
> bearing running on a silver steel axle as fitted to Helen. I connected
> the axle to a motor running at 1440rpm and hung a 16.5 pound weight on
> the bearing to simulate the load. This was the equivalent of a 2½" 0-6-0
> loco weighing 99 pounds - a much greater loading than in real life
> (Helen weighs about 45 pounds). The 'axle' was left running for a total
> of 230 hours which in Helen's case would have equaled a distance
> travelled of 3,400 miles! After this, there was no measureable wear on
> the axle at all, only a slightly matt finish to the bearing surface. You
> can see the experiment here:
>
> http://www.baggo.copperstream.co.uk/me/locos/25inch/helen%20longish/helen19.htm.
>
> I intend to fit needle rollers to my Simplex axles which are 3/4"
> diameter and will again be silver steel.
>
> John
>
> Ron Head wrote:
>> Hi chaps
>> Does anyone have experience of fitting needle roller bearings to 
>> locomotive axles, that they would like to share?
>>
>> I want to fit drawn cup sealed needle roller bearings to a 5" gauge 
>> battery driven diesel shunter.  Ideally, I'd like to fit hardened sleeves 
>> to the axles, but there isn't space to do this.  However, the axles are 
>> of silver steel.
>>
>> The loco has six wheels, and so the middle axle will need to have some 
>> side play.  If the axle is allowed to float through the bearing, there 
>> will be sliding instead of rolling contact between the rollers and the 
>> axle, and I wonder if there might be a problem with wear on the axle?
>>
>> Would it be better to constrain the bearing on the axle in some way, and 
>> allow the axlebox to move in the horns?
>>
>> Over to you guys!
>>
>> Regards
>> Ron
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>>
>>
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