One of the worst wear environments for a ball bearing is for it to have
small oscillatory motions. As in a rotator infrequently used and
subject to wind oscillations. This breaks down the oil film and starts
fretting corrosion/wear. When you see the dimples in the races or flat
spots on the balls it is time for a major fix. The rotary actuator disk
drive guys have struggled with this problem forever and use $$$
lubricants to reduce the problem (and the drive micro code now and then
runs the actuator full stroke).
If it is possible have occasional rotation to mostly rotate each ball,
then the oil film is re-established. That means running the rotator end
to end a few times a month.
A race weld filling plus lathe work is a tough project, I got by in
rebuilding a used Yaseu 2800 with dimples by wet sanding the races and
replacing the balls with stainless ones and it seems to work ok so far
(1.5 years).
Grant KZ1W
On 3/2/2013 9:40 AM, Ro Grrr wrote:
Jim Lux wrote about:
Re:Thrust bearings
There's no wear without motion.
I write:
Jim, while I agree with you on this item, I had a tower up years ago that had a
TH3 on top of a KR2000 rotor. I was qrt for several years and never gave it any
thought. Eventually the tower was taken down in a storm and I simply saved the
usable remnants until I moved to my new qth.
I decided to put up the tower at the new place and noticed that the TB3 did not
turn. I disassembled it to find that the little motion over the years had
ground the bearings into the races.
I agree with you about no movement = no wear but how many rotors, other than
some worm-driven rotors or prop pitch rotors have no movement.
I had the races of the aluminum bearing welded, filling the races completely up
and planned to recut the races in my lathe. In the interim, I have picked up a
different thrust bearing, a FAFNIR that is steel so with grease and a
enclosure/seal to keep the weather out, I doubt I'll ever have to worry about
it again.
Roger
aka RoGrrr
KC8HZ
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