Bearing packing

[Brian Weber]

I've always packed bearings by the old "palm" method, messy, but it's always seemed effective. A plant engineering friend of mine recently suggested a method he's used for years. I'm a bit sceptical, so I'll lay it on you guys for comments. He heats the bearing grease to the point of it liquefying, then soaks the bearing in the liquid for about 15 minutes. After removal and cooling, he claims the grease returns to it's normal viscosity, and the lubrication is more complete than that achieved with hand packing. Supposedly as long as the grease doesn't boil it's chemistry is unaffected. Does anybody buy into this? I'm not a chemist, but it seems to me that if the grease is heated to the point of liquid, the chemistry has to be adversely affected. Brian Weber TC 10080

[Stan Kurzet]

It is assumed that the packing is preceded by a thorough cleaning, either in an ultrasound degreasing tank or some suitable other method that guarantees removal of all old grease and the minute metal particles in it. Any degreasing solvent that leaves no residue is OK so long as it is thoroughly dried out before packing. While the bearing is bone dry, it is important to check it for smoothness and excessive wear. Hand packing done with care will put in as much grease as a packing cup. Use of the appropriate type of grease is also important. As for the matter of soaking in melted grease, the benefits are primarily psychological. If it makes you feel good, do it. From a metallurgical and lubricity point of view, in my opinion, so long as you rotate a race a few turns while packing, you gain nothing vis a vis a well packed bearing which escaped such anointment. Stan TC 7382 & 2569 ==================================================================

> > I've always packed bearings by the old "palm" method, messy, but it's

always

> seemed effective. A plant engineering friend of mine recently suggested a > method he's used for years. I'm a bit sceptical, so I'll lay it on you

guys

> for comments. > > He heats the bearing grease to the point of it liquefying, then soaks the > bearing in the liquid for about 15 minutes. After removal and cooling, he > claims the grease returns to it's normal viscosity, and the lubrication is > more complete than that achieved with hand packing. Supposedly as long as > the grease doesn't boil it's chemistry is unaffected. > > Does anybody buy into this? I'm not a chemist, but it seems to me that if > the grease is heated to the point of liquid, the chemistry has to be > adversely affected. > > Brian Weber > TC 10080 > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > >

[Ed & Kris Curtis]

The March, 2001 issue of Plant Engineering just happened to have following in its "Simple Solutions" column: Problem: Hand packing ball or roller bearings is a messy job. And what happens if you don't have an expensive bearing packer? Is there a cheap, easy way to do the job? Solution: Take a Zip-Loc clear plastic bag of sufficient size to hold the bearing. Add grease in one corner and lower the bearing into it. Add grease around and into the bearing (add more grease if necessary). Remove as much air out of the bag as possible. Give the corner of the bag a couple of twists to form a pouch so that the bearing is completely sealed and enclosed by the grease. Massage the pouch 15 - 30 seconds to work the grease into the bearing. Remove the bearing from the pouch, wipe the excess grease off, return the lubricant to the pouch, and seal the bag for the next packing job. Use a marker to write the grease name on the bag. Ed Curtis curtis@novagate.com

----- Original Message ----- From: "Stan Kurzet" skurzet@msn.com> To: "Brian Weber" candomo@netcom.ca> Cc: "MG TABC List" mg-tabc@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 2:19 AM Subject: Re: [mg-tabc] Bearing packing > It is assumed that the packing is preceded by a thorough cleaning, either in > an ultrasound degreasing tank or some suitable other method that guarantees > removal of all old grease and the minute metal particles in it. Any > degreasing solvent that leaves no residue is OK so long as it is thoroughly > dried out before packing. While the bearing is bone dry, it is important to > check it for smoothness and excessive wear. Hand packing done with care > will put in as much grease as a packing cup. Use of the appropriate type of > grease is also important. > > As for the matter of soaking in melted grease, the benefits are primarily > psychological. If it makes you feel good, do it. From a metallurgical and > lubricity point of view, in my opinion, so long as you rotate a race a few > turns while packing, you gain nothing vis a vis a well packed bearing which > escaped such anointment. > > Stan > TC 7382 & 2569 > > ================================================================== > > > > I've always packed bearings by the old "palm" method, messy, but it's > always > > seemed effective. A plant engineering friend of mine recently suggested a > > method he's used for years. I'm a bit sceptical, so I'll lay it on you > guys > > for comments. > > > > He heats the bearing grease to the point of it liquefying, then soaks the > > bearing in the liquid for about 15 minutes. After removal and cooling, he > > claims the grease returns to it's normal viscosity, and the lubrication is > > more complete than that achieved with hand packing. Supposedly as long as > > the grease doesn't boil it's chemistry is unaffected. > > > > Does anybody buy into this? I'm not a chemist, but it seems to me that if > > the grease is heated to the point of liquid, the chemistry has to be > > adversely affected. > > > > Brian Weber > > TC 10080 > > > > > > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > > > > > > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > >

[C Sherriff]

Message text written by "Ed & Kris Curtis"

>The March, 2001 issue of Plant Engineering just happened to have following

........................ wipe the excess grease off, return the lubricant to the pouch, and seal the bag for the next packing job. Use a marker to write the grease name on the bag. Being the March issue this was clearly a lead into an April 1st joke Clive

[joecurto@aol.com]

Hey Guys Here in my shop we pack bearings like a man (grunt-grunt), except we use rubber gloves(wimper-wimper), no need to make a federal project out of a once every ten year job. Curto