While you may not know it, we owe a lot to bearings. Many of the things we take for granted today would not be possible without them. This includes vehicles, home appliances, and massive industrial equipment. We want to take a closer look at them today. Then, if you want to order high quality BS1400 PB1 phosphor bronze to make bearings and bushes, you can rely on us.
Controlling movement
Movement is essential for a huge array of different products. However, this presents issues. Most notably, how do you ensure there is control of the direction? You will always need to restrict it in some sense or it becomes chaotic and dangerous.
Let’s consider an example. Think about a sliding door. You only want it to be able to go horizontally, left or right. If it can go any way it wants, it won’t work for your needs.
Bearings have the solution. They can restrict the movement, only allowing it in the directions you predefine. You can be incredibly precise here. This allows complex equipment to move only tiny amounts if necessary.
Addressing issues
While the ultimate goal of bearings is to control movement, they also address the main problems that occur when things move. There are three crucial issues; friction, heat, and wear and tear. The combination of them can impact efficiency, performance, noise, maintenance costs, and the lifecycle of equipment.
What you should consider here is if you have two pieces of metal in contact and need them to move, it will be very inefficient. You will get friction between them rather than smooth movement. It will generate heat and the action will slowly wear away both parts.
Bearings have the solution. They allow a smooth, efficient, low-friction roll instead of a slide. This requires less energy and produces far less negative side effects, particularly heat and wear.
Types
Broadly, there are two types of bearings; ball and roller. You can use BS1400 PB1 phosphor bronze for different parts of both.
Ball bearings
Firstly, as you can tell from the name, ball bearings have balls as the rolling element. What you have is two races, typically an inner and outer ring. You then have the balls between them, often with a cage or retainer for separation.
There are numerous different styles of ball bearing. For example, you can choose deep groove, angular contact, self-aligning, or thrust bearings.
There are some fantastic advantages with ball bearings. Firstly, they have really good wear resistance because the balls can move with ease and very little friction. They can be very cheap, offer a long services life, and don’t need much lubrication. Crucially, they can achieve high speed movements because there is low resistance and the balls move easily.
There is an important thing to keep in mind here though. Because the balls concentrate the force onto small points, you typically can’t use them for heavy loads. If you do, it could cause the races or balls to deform.
Roller bearings
Here you have rollers between the races rather than balls. They can also have a cage or retainer to keep them separate.
There are even more different options to choose from here. This is because you have a broader choice in terms of the shape, size, and length of the rollers. Cylindrical is the most common choice, but you could also go for spherical, needle, or tapered.
The massive advantage here is the load bearing ability. Whatever shape you choose, there will be bigger points of contact with the races. As a result, it spreads the load more effectively. So, they can support higher loads without failing.
There are several other benefits with roller bearings too. For example, they can ensure great accuracy and typically are low maintenance. They tend to have lower vibrations too.
The drawback here is they tend to be more costly. It is important to think of this and if the extra costs for the higher load bearing is necessary.
BS1400 PB1 Phosphor Bronze
Steel is one of the most common choices for bearings. However, you can also use alternative materials too. Phosphor bronze can be an excellent choice. It is tough, strong, and durable. Crucially, it has good corrosion resistance and can resist shock loading.
Do you want to order quality materials?
Brindley Metals is one of the best suppliers in the UK. We source a massive array of materials from reliable producers around the world. This includes different types of steel, aluminium, titanium, and more. We even have BS1400 PB1 Phosphor Bronze in different forms. If you are thinking about bearings and bushes and want to use it, you can contact us to learn more and place your order.