Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: thedoc on 10/07/2012 17:52:16

Title: How can we build better bearings?
Post by: thedoc on 10/07/2012 17:52:16

Alan Begg discusses how new materials are changing the field of ball bearings...
Read a transcript of the interview by clicking here (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/2153/)

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Title: Re: How can we build better bearings?
Post by: CycleGuy on 04/08/2015 02:39:46

Ceramic bearings are the way to go. I installed them in the wheels and gears of my scooter, the thing rolls so easily now it's amazing. Before the new bearings, if you grabbed the rear wheel and gave it a good spin, it'd spin maybe 3/4 of a turn. Now it'll spin 3 full turns. And that's with rear gears that are taller than the original ones.

What slows it down now is having to spin the rear gears, whereas before it was a combination of having to spin the rear gears and bearing drag.

The bearings I got were micro-polished and tungsten disulfide coated... very low friction. I got them without any grease in them, and put Royal Purple grease mixed with tungsten disulfide (in the bearings that took grease). For the bearings that are lubricated with oil, I put tungsten disulfide in the oil (which also lowers friction in the gears).