# AXEL BEARINGS AGAIN



## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ok I just ordered 112 bearins from Aivd. for all my Aristo Stock 

But now I have series of questions Mostly just for information.

For those who suggested the bearins in the wheel instead of the journal

Has any one found a bearing to fit the wheel and axel?

Or?

Do you fit the axel and drill the wheel?

Do you remove the instert on the wheel and fit the bearing to that hole and make axels to fit the bearing? 

I ask these questions mostly as a Brain Storming project not that I am actually going to do this. I an just looking for input.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Fit axle and drill wheel. 

I have not looked closely where the "insulation" is, probably on the axle... 

I tried brain storming, no storm, only a little more humidity!.... guess I need more brains! 

Greg


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Now there is a can of worms. Later RJD


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

John, 

If the bearings are roller bearings with an inner and outer race, for the bearing to work properly both the inner and outer race need to be retained. If you press fit the inner race to the axle, the outer race needs to be fit to the wheel and one needs to have insulation (preferably both). It has been a long time since I purchased any, but drafting mylar is a good insulator in 4 mil thickness, can be cut with standard scissors and is pretty tough. 

Good luck, 

Bob


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Posted By armorsmith on 27 Jun 2009 07:30 PM 
John, 

If the bearings are roller bearings with an inner and outer race, for the bearing to work properly both the inner and outer race need to be retained. If you press fit the inner race to the axle, the outer race needs to be fit to the wheel and one needs to have insulation (preferably both). It has been a long time since I purchased any, but drafting mylar is a good insulator in 4 mil thickness, can be cut with standard scissors and is pretty tough. 

Good luck, 

Bob 
Hey Bob

Insulator from what? Are you talking about making a tube of the Milar and placing it between the outer race and the wheel and the inter race and the axel?

Can you go into a little more detail? 

Thanks 
JJ


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## Trains (Jan 2, 2008)

John,

I think he is talking about track power, you have to insulate one wheel so you don't have a short. If you run all battery power you do have to worry about it, unless to go to someones home with track power.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ just get the right size drill bit and use a pin-vise to drill them. I place tape on the bit to know how deep. I have not done many . just a couple to see if it is worth it.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Marty, I don't think a pin vise will do. The device I know of as a pin vise is a very small handle for holding a very small drill. The wheel needs to be drilled or machined for the outer race. This is way bigger than you can do with a hand held pin vise. In fact, I think drilling an accurate hole with anything less than a drill press and the wheel clamped down will not work. 

To have a precision press fit, you tolerances need to be within .001" 

JJ if you need it insulate the wheels like in a track power situation, you can only insulate one wheel on an axle, and I agree, a thin shim of mylar between the outer race and the wheel would probably be easiest, but now you have 2 different dimensions to drill/machine out the centers of the wheels, one for no insulator, and a few thousandths larger for wheels with an insulator. 

Regards, Greg


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

JJ give me a call some evening.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Insulation is no problem. I run Battery Power. All the people I visit ( Marty's ) run Battery power So isolation is not a problem


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Cool, that makes your job easier. One thing that might allow you to do this without expensive tools could be a precision reamer the right size to open up the wheels to have the press fit to the bearings. 

So, you could use an inexpensive drill press to get the hole close, and then a hand-held reamer to finish it up to exactly the right size to press the bearings into the wheel. On the other part, it might be hard to find bearings that would press onto axles without any machining. You MIGHT be able to get close with a file and doing it bit by bit. 

I have an inexpensive 1 tone press from harbor freight that could do the bearing pressing. 

Hope these ideas help JJ. 

Regards, Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

All ideas are a help. I was looking at that press from harbor freight for a different reason. Any one know what that plastic like stuff is that they use on one wheel for isolation? I am going to turn down the axel to match the iner race then then drill the wheel to match the outer race. This wil will do on my USA CARS. On my Aristo I will just put the bearing on the end of the axel and remove the insert in the journal. I may use some glue to hold the bearing in the journal


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

JJ, the inserts are typically nylon of some time. You can get black nylon, a form of which is called delrin. Nylon has some "give" and stays flexible for a long time, so it can keep that press fit. 

Regards, Greg


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 15 Jul 2009 07:29 AM 
You can get black nylon, a form of which is called delrin. 
Regards, Greg 
That is incorrect. Nylon and Delrin® are two totally different polymers (well, totally different in the materials world - to lay people they are both simply just "plastic"). Delrin® is Dupont's version of polyoxymethylene, or acetal. Nylon is polyamid. Delrin® has a lower coefficient of friction ("slipperier") than nylon and is often a better choice where that is the main requirement. Nylon has some properties that can make it a better choice for other requirements.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Ahh.. well that clears up something, I was told that Delrin was nylon with graphite in it... so it's not true... 

Thanks for the education... 

So JJ you can use nylon or delrin... 

Regards, Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Ok here is a Up Date on Bearings for a buck.

I had a bunch of Aristo Freight trucks.

I took USA steel Wheels and put one end of the axel in a drill and chucked them down. I took a Diamond File Plus a regular File and some emory cloth to turn down the end of the axel where it fits in the journal box. 

After several attemps I got the axel down to where the bearing just fit on the axel. 

I then dis-assembled the Aristo truck and removed the inserts from the journal box.

I took a exacto knife and made a little bevel on the journal hole.

I press the bearins into the hole.

I then re assembled the truck.

I removed the USA trucks from my 5 car articulated container train cars and replaced them with Aristo Turcks.

The seem to roll much better.

Only time will tell how these bearings hold up.

When I get to Marty's I will have three 5 car articulated container sets to run. 

Will Let you know what happens.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Should help a lot on the flat JJ. It should not make much difference on grades or curves. 

Did you re-gauge the USAT wheels? They are almost always under the minimum back to back. 

Now, that would show up mostly on switches, which may not be that "often" on Marty's where you run. 

Let us know. 

Greg


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

Just incase any one is interested.....I got the bearings at


http://www.avidrc.com/

They have a great selection of bearins both standard and Metric for all kinds of hobbiest


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