If you’ve ever hunched over an oily machine body towards the end of a three-shift week, you know: bearings are not toys. The little bugger makes big trouble. And then you ask, “What the heck is this thing broken again?”
Most of the time, it’s because it’s been put back in like it’s a rubber candy, not a precision machine part.
Let’s take a look at the bearing failures we see every day – and the ones that make even the most experienced maintenance man scratch his head.
No need for nuclear physics: if your bearing is getting hot, it’s either over-tight or not getting enough lubrication. A typical mistake is hammering the inner ring onto the shaft with a hammer, as if it were a pipe release. Then we wonder why the inner ring gets microcracks and the lubricant oozes out like good broth.
Prevention: mounting with a special tool e.g. Simatool and Simatherm, precise tightening with normal torque – no need to pull from biceps.
Reaching into grease with an oil stained finger is like putting a sterile needle back in the mud. Dust, rust, metal filings – they all get in and grind. And the mirror-smooth track of the bearing will look like you’ve put plaster on it.
Prevention: clean environment, gloves, and don’t spray the bearing with a compressor on the floor, or you’re done for.
Many times a bearing dances on the shaft like it’s going to a disco. Other times it can only be removed with a flex, it’s clamped on. The end result is the same: premature death. One wears, the other cracks, but both are dead.
Prevention: micrometers are not spared. Fitting table, ISO standard, no abdominal thrust. It’s not drywall, it’s “it’ll be fine that way”.
This is the fault that many people don’t see coming. An electric motor bearing can develop a micro-arc if the insulation or earthing is not in order. Then the roller burns out the raceway nicely and the bearing can go in the bin.
Prevention: insulated bearing or grounding carbon brush.
It’s not uncommon in machine shops for the mechanic to take the inner ring and hammer it onto the outer ring. This is how the bearing becomes wrought iron.
Prevention: only apply pressure where it is needed. Inner ring = shaft, outer ring = housing. What’s in between is just the soul of the bearing, don’t hurt it.
The bearing does not tolerate sloppiness. Those who fit accurately, cleanly and professionally rarely change. But for those who think a hammer will do the job – there’s always a supply in the warehouse.
Simatherm and Simatool bearing installation tools and equipment have been developed precisely to make life easier for maintenance technicians and to make tedious tasks clean, precise and fast.