Custom Special Bearings

Besides high precision angular contact bearings and radial deep groove ball bearings, we can manufacture special bearings which can be matched bearings with spacers and oil supply rings or we can manufacture bearing units ready to install.

Bearing Material Choices

You can choose between:

• Standard bearing steel
• Special material like: High temperature tool steel or various non-corrosive stainless steels like AISI440C

Standard bearings with different dimensions are available on request.

The cages of these bearings are produced in accordance to the inner design of the bearing and correspond to the application. We use either standard materials or special materials like VESPEL, TORLON, aluminum, bronze or NiBe2.

Bearing Units

We offer complete bearing units ready to install.

We also offer various coatings like solid lubricants or protection layers. Please look at our vacuum technology page for more details.

Please note: To manufacture and ship special bearings or bearing units, it is best to have quantity to drive down per piece costs, but low volume production is also available.

Technology

For certain applications, it is impossible to use standard ball bearings due to limited space, special lubrication, guidance and sub-functions that often do not allow additional machine parts.

When this happens a standard bearing has to be adapted to a specific application.

Our “Special Bearings” department assists in these adaptations and are fully experienced engineering rotating components for a wide range of applications and industries. We produce bearings to our customer’s specs plus any associated components, like spacers with and without oil feeding, complete bearing units and respective sub-assemblies.

The special bearings and bearing units are produced on special machine tools with the utmost precision.

Benefits of Our Special Bearings

GMN''s combination of super precision manufacturing and available engineering talent, make GMN the perfect partner for highly customized bearings or bearing units that may include custom shafts and/or housings.  Consistent super precision bearing unit production and assembly is something only a few companies can execute effectively, and GMN is at the top of the list.

Many parameters of a customer’s specific application will support the determination if a complete bearing unit or a customized product is required.  This includes, but is in no way limited to, cleanliness, RPM, life requirements, envelope available, etc.

Applications

Example One

Special design of the outer ring for a precision linear guide.

Example Two

Special design of the outer ring and a special cage design for a vacuum pump.

Example Three

Extra wide bearing with shields for a spray gun n= 40,000 rpm

Example Four

High Frequency Spindle bearing combined with spacer and respective oil feeding rings to increase the spread and improve oil supply

Example Five

High precision special bearings for nautical gyroscopes are approved for low and constant running torque, long life time and utmost reliability.

Example Six

High precision special bearings for turbo molecular pumps are approved for low noise, high running accuracy and highest reliability..

 

Special Bearings FAQs

What qualifies as a custom bearing?

Any deviation from what would be considered a 'catalog' product that can be seen within standard parts lists.

When should I choose a custom bearing instead of a standard one?

Any time the application has demanding characteristics where either a single customization or multiple customizations can greatly support a longer life of the application.  For example, this can be a unique loading scenario where a custom contact angle could increase life, or maybe a high RPM application where a custom preload could increase life. Combinations of both of these adjustments are also common to fully optimize for a specific application.

How do custom bearings perform compared to standard bearings?

This is application specific. However, depending on the specific parameters and coresponding values, the life can be multiplied many times by engineering a custom solution.

Can you make bearings with special preload, tolerances, or internal clearance?

Yes, these are some of the most common customizations and usually can be delivered within standard manufacturing lead times or faster.

What specialized materials are available?

Special ring materials are common, usually for higher temperature applications. These are typically high strength tool steels like the ubiquitous bearing material SAE 52100 or M50 or similar.  It is also very common to manufacture precision ball bearings in stainless steels, such as 440C or 304.

How is the custom bearing's compatiblity validated for my application?

Validation can usually be done with a bearing calculation by a GMN Bearing USA engineer.

Are there quality certifications for custom parts?

This will vary depending on the customoziation, but Certificates of Conformance can always be provided upon request.  Also, as always, the manufacturers' quality cerfications would apply to all products produced at the applicatble plants.