Bearing care
Some time ago, I thought that bearings with very little lube would be beneficial in terms of speed. So I washed my bearings and lubed them with very little lube. At first, it does feel slightly faster.
But upon my regular checkup, I found that the balls and raceway have slightly turned silver-ish blue. Looked like it overheated and changed colour almost to the point of welding together. So I washed the bearing and lubed accordingly and the dis-colouration disappered.
Conclusion, lube with ample ammount of oil. Meaning 2 drops of oil for each bearing. But for sidewalk/street skating, a thin grease would protect the bearing better. Use roughly the ammount of grease needed to fill three ball pockets aka three blobs of grease the size of three balls.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:00 am
The silverish blue is burnt mark caused by abrasion when no lube is applied. It also means when we put the bearing into an industrial microscope to study the bearing surface, there are wear and scrathes as well. If you intend to use this bearing for competition, take great care of it. It makes a lot of difference in terms of speed and smoothness of use.
April 25th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Here is a popular industrial bearing with ample of information of bearing care and design.
http://www.skf.com/
April 25th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Thanks for the info and link…
But the bearing is still functioning well enough for my abilities.
May 25th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
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