A bearing press is a great tool for pressing small parts such as bearings. You can buy one at most hardware stores or a bicycle store, but it’s also possible to make your own. You can build a plywood press or use an old farm implement, for example.
How to Measure a Bearing
A micrometer or vernier caliper is the most common way to measure a bearing’s outside diameter. However, it’s important to know that these tools can have a lot of runout, or uneven measurement points. For this reason, it’s best to take the measurements at two different points to ensure accuracy.
1. Caliper Method
To measure the bearing’s outer diameter, place the jaws of the caliper on the bearing and close them until they are a good fit but not tight. Next, read the value on the caliper.
2. Sensor Method
To determine the bearing’s thickness, first apply pressure to both sides of the bearing. If the resistance between the inner and outer spacers is the same, it means that the bearing has the same thickness. If it’s different, then the bearing has different thickness.
3. Measuring the Crush of a Bearing
There are several ways to measure the crush of a bearing. A common way is to put the bearing shell in a “cap” or fixture with the same dimensions as the bore that the bearing is intended to be used in. Then, one side of the cap has a stop at the parting line and the other side of the cap has a parting face that is lined up with the parting face on the bearing shell.
Then, push the bearing shell into the fixture until it’s centered in the bore. Then, take the height of the difference between the parting face of the bearing shell and the parting face of the cap and divide it by 6.28 to determine the bearing’s overall diameter.
4. Axle Loading
If you’re using a bearing press, it’s essential to load the bearing before you press it. This is because if you don’t load the bearing properly, the impact will loosen it and the force will be transmitted to the wheels and may damage them or cause them to come apart prematurely.
5. Calculate the Strength of a Bearing
When you use a bearing in an Autodesk Inventor assembly, you can calculate its strength by clicking the “Calculate” button on the lower area of the Design tab. This calculation takes into account the physical properties and dimensional parameters of the bearing, as well as the axial and radial loads that the bearing is subjected to.
The radial and axial loads that the bearing is subjected to should be entered in the dimensional section of the Design tab, as shown in Figure 1. The axial component of the external load should be entered in the axial load box. The radial component of the external load should be entered in a radial load box.
