CONTACT US>Design queries
Design queries
1. Can I work out how much axial clearance I have in my bearing?
Most bearing manufacturers never give this information in their catalogues. It is suprisingly inexact and does not fall into any international standards. As a very rough rule of thumb it is eight to ten times that of the radial clearance. We would strongly recommend that the advice of the bearing manufacturer be taken on this as other factors such as heat expansion either locally or ambient, load conditions, rolling elelment type etc will all play a part in the axial movement.
2. I have a sea water application, will stainless bearing work?
Most bearing grades of stainless steel (440C) do not fare well in sea water after a period of time. Richer CHROME content stainless steels are usually too soft for bearing applications. One surprisingly economic solution is THIN DENSE CHROME (TDC). TDC provides an extremely hard and corrosion resistant solution for sea water applications. Combined with Stainless balls and plastic cages. The TDC coating covers 100% of both inner and outer rings with tight control on plating thickness of the raceways. Please ask HCH for what we can do in this area.
3. Do bearings provide an effective pressure seal?
We are often asked this by designers of vacuum applications and the answer is most definitely NO. a separate sealing device will have to be used in order to maintain any pressure differences.
4. How can I keep contamination out in a high speed application?
By use of a labyrinth seal. The labyrinth seal is a non-contact seal with special internal construction which centrifuges dirt back out to where it came. HCH can supply data on these specialist seals if you require them.
5. I have a high vacuum project, what lubricants do you recommend?
If your application is sensitive to outgassing then we would recommend a prescribed solid lubricant only. Most normal greases and oils will exude some form of deposit in low pressure. Imaging satellites are a prime example for the need for zero outgassing tolerance as any vapor on lenses would render the satellite useless.
Most bearing manufacturers never give this information in their catalogues. It is suprisingly inexact and does not fall into any international standards. As a very rough rule of thumb it is eight to ten times that of the radial clearance. We would strongly recommend that the advice of the bearing manufacturer be taken on this as other factors such as heat expansion either locally or ambient, load conditions, rolling elelment type etc will all play a part in the axial movement.
2. I have a sea water application, will stainless bearing work?
Most bearing grades of stainless steel (440C) do not fare well in sea water after a period of time. Richer CHROME content stainless steels are usually too soft for bearing applications. One surprisingly economic solution is THIN DENSE CHROME (TDC). TDC provides an extremely hard and corrosion resistant solution for sea water applications. Combined with Stainless balls and plastic cages. The TDC coating covers 100% of both inner and outer rings with tight control on plating thickness of the raceways. Please ask HCH for what we can do in this area.
3. Do bearings provide an effective pressure seal?
We are often asked this by designers of vacuum applications and the answer is most definitely NO. a separate sealing device will have to be used in order to maintain any pressure differences.
4. How can I keep contamination out in a high speed application?
By use of a labyrinth seal. The labyrinth seal is a non-contact seal with special internal construction which centrifuges dirt back out to where it came. HCH can supply data on these specialist seals if you require them.
5. I have a high vacuum project, what lubricants do you recommend?
If your application is sensitive to outgassing then we would recommend a prescribed solid lubricant only. Most normal greases and oils will exude some form of deposit in low pressure. Imaging satellites are a prime example for the need for zero outgassing tolerance as any vapor on lenses would render the satellite useless.
