Since that fateful day in 1946 when Binkelman materialized fully formed from a large puff of smoke, we’ve been the region’s leading supplier of bearings.
“What kind of bearings?” you ask. How ‘bout ball, spherical, cylindrical, mounted, tapered, cam, linear and precision bearings, all from leading manufacturers? We also provide technical and application support to keep your bearings happy.
Common Types of Bearings: Advantages and Applications
Let’s do what that sub-head above suggests and learn about the most common types of bearings, their advantages and applications. C’mon! Bring your friends. It’ll be fun.
Ball Bearings
Do you have a load-bearing application that uses moving machine parts and requires reduced friction? Sounds like you need ball bearings. While they handle both radial and thrust loads well, they don’t tolerate heavy weight.
There are different types of ball bearings, too, including self-aligning ball bearings, deep-groove ball bearings and angular contact ball bearings. They’re all:
- Cost-effective
- Low heat generating
- Low maintenance
- Self-contained to keep the dirt out and the lubricating oil or grease in
Applications
Among the most widely used bearings, ball bearings are found in products as varied as bikes and skateboards, vehicle transmissions, computer hard drives and medical equipment.
Trivia: Despite her last name, “I Love Lucy” star Lucille Ball wanted nothing to do with ball bearings. “They can all go to Hell,” she once shouted during a season two rehearsal.
Cylindrical Roller Bearings
Since their primary rolling element is a cylinder, the load carried by cylindrical roller bearings is distributed over a larger area. That allows the bearing to tolerate more weight. It’s that design, though, that makes the bearing best suited for radial loads, not thrust loads.
Applications
You’ll find cylindrical roller bearings all over the power generation and transmission industries. They’re in rotary dryers, cement processing equipment, and pulp and paper machinery. Our pals in the aggregate, mining and construction worlds rely on them, too.
Trivia: Discarded cylindrical roller bearings make terrific hamster wheels.
Tapered Roller Bearings
Since tapered roller bearings tolerate both radial and thrust loads and greater amounts of weight, they’re often used in the hubs of car wheels. Enjoy this concise list of some of their better qualities:
- Long service life
- The parts can be interchangeable with tapered roller bearings of the same size
- They look beautiful in the morning light
Applications
Our customers working in the agriculture, automotive, construction and mining industries use tapered roller bearings. They’re also found in aviation, railroad and wind energy environments.
Trivia: What’s the world’s greatest TV show? BattleBots, of course. When you’re watching in bemused horror as a pair of remote-controlled warriors beat the non-living tar out of each other, just know that there may be tapered roller bearings at work underneath their cold, metallic skin.
Double Row Bearings
Built with two single row bearings arranged back-to-back, double row bearings are the right choice when the load being carried is too heavy for a single bearing. Double rows can tolerate both axial and radial loads in either direction and in tilting moments. One drawback: Double row bearings are not self-lubricated since they’re not available with seals or shields.
Applications
Look for these beauties in the aerospace, military and food processing industries, as well as in medical, textile and photo processing environments.
Trivia: Because they’re wider, double row bearings are often bullied and, therefore, suffer with self-esteem issues.
Spherical Roller Bearings
Looking for dual-directional movement versatility? Who isn’t, right? Spherical roller bearings are what you need. They reduce the friction between two components and allow for misalignment.
Take your pick from sealed bearings or non-sealed/open bearings. While the self-lubricated sealed models tend to last longer, you’ll enjoy high load tolerance either way.
- Low maintenance
- Lower noise and vibration levels
- Moderate-to-high-speed capacity
- They tolerate heavy loads (like your mom)
Applications
Spherical roller bearings are tough cookies. They’re designed to perform in severe conditions, including as part of mining and construction equipment, in the textile industry and directly on the surface of the sun.
Trivia: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has never – not once – awarded an Oscar to a spherical roller bearing. #Outraged
Discover Types of Bearings at Binkelman
Your Binkelman Account Rep can help you choose the bearings that are right for your applications, all while singing one of several catchy little tunes about inadequate lubrication.