When the Landscape Director from N T Killingley contacted us about sliding a planter in and out of a glasshouse at RHS Chatsworth, our Technical Sales team listened to his specification and suggested various options. Their requirement was a system that was simple to install and robust enough to carry the weight of a laden planter, but most importantly would not cost a fortune as the display was temporary.
The combined roller bearing system met this criteria. By using the rails upturned, there was very little set up involved and the bearings and mountingplates were simply bolted to the underside of the planter.
The end result was a system that was discreet and could be operated with very little effort. The display formed part of the “Garden for a Changing Climate” at RHS Chatsworth in June 2017 and featured on BBC’s Gardeners World.
The RHS video of the garden can be viewed here. And the BBC Gardeners World episode can be viewed here (approximately 41 minutes in).
If you need help to specify a linear sliding system, please contact us. We have a team of Engineers & Designers who can guide you through both selecting the most suitable product and specifying the correct size.
Combined roller bearings can be used in a huge variety of applications. In the simplest arrangement (4 bearings & 2 rails) they can be used to make a forklift mast (vertically), a telescopic slide (horizontally) or just to slide something from A to B.
Combined Roller Bearings and Mating Steel Profiles (Rails)
The main advantage of a combined roller bearing is the small axial roller that helps to keep the system running parallel and prevent it from jamming or crabbing. The combi bearings come complete with a weldable hub so they can be welded directly to your structure or, for ease of maintenance, they can be purchased pre-welded to a mounting plate. This mounting plate is simply bolted on with 4 bolts.
Used together with the mating steel channels (rails), the combined roller bearings offer a simple and cost effective way to make a heavy duty linear slide system. The smallest bearing diameter is 52mm, and the largest Jumbo bearing is 390mm. The rails are available in both C and H (or I) sections.
What Products are Available?
Standard Range
Precision Range
Jumbo Range
Precision Range: For heavy duty applications requiring high precision, the Precision Combined Roller Bearings offer a reduced clearance between the bearing & the rail and consequently minimise the play in the system. The rail is machined in the web and the bearing diameter is increased to match this, with a tolerance of 0.2mm – 0.4mm.Click on an image to visit the relevant webpage.
Jumbo Range: For ultra heavy duty applications, the Jumbo bearings can offer an affordable solution.
Corrosion Resistance: In some environments (e.g. Offshore) it can be beneficial to use a corrosion resistant system. The Thin Dense Chromium coating withstands salt spray and can considerably improve the operating life. We can offer all of the ranges with coating.
We supply a large range of components which can be used for assembling a linear motion system using hardened round shaft for a variety of configurations. Some examples are shown in the image above.
Our ball bushings range includes open and closed type bushings, tandem length versions and both square and circular flanged ball bushings. Many types are also available in stainless steel. Other types available include compact and super ball bushings- please see our website to view the complete range.
We supply the hardened & ground shaft (Cf53) and stainless shaft(X90CrMoV18) that these ball bushings should be run on. We can drill and tap the shafts, if required.
The shafts can be supported on end supports or fully supported on our rail supports. These components are all available in aluminium. Our end supports are also available in cast iron (WB55) and stainless steel (WB59) as well as aluminium (WB56 or WB57).
We supply both aluminium and cast iron housings, either as standard or tandem length versions. These are supplied with our standard ball bushings but can also be supplied with our stainless steel ball bushings (KB50 or KB53).
And we also offer both an open type complete system and closed type complete system which comprise of two shafts, one housing and two end supports. There are two different end supports available depending on whether they will be fixed down (with the carriage sliding) or if the housing will be fixed down. These systems can be supplied with stainless shafts and stainless bushings.
Above is a selection of the metal / rubber anti-vibration mounts that we supply, ranging from small to large bumpers and buffers through to cone mounts and heavy duty machine mounts. More types can be seen on our website here.
Many of these products are available to buy from our online shop.
We can supply a number of sizes of Male-Male Buffers in stainless steel (part number MMSS). And also Female-Female Buffers (part number FFSS).
If you cannot see what you are looking for on our website please email a drawing or a photograph with dimensions.
We have over 25 years experience of making and supplying fork truck mast bearings and carriage bearings. We hold extensive stocks for all the popular makes of fork trucks, including Linde, Nissan, Toyota, Clark, Komatsu etc. We also supply the Chain Roller bearings which carry the mast chain on fork trucks.
If required, we can make specials or we can modify bearings. And we can often solve problems for users of older machines when parts are no longer available.
We can identify bearings from dimensions alone. Please use our ‘drawing index’ to identify the style of your bearing or email photos along with the dimensions. Tell us the inner diameter, outer diameter and width (in millimetres). More information is available on our ‘guide to identification‘ webpage.
Or you can use our online mast bearing database to search for the correct bearing.
So please talk to us about any mast bearing, carriage bearing or chain guide roller that you require.
Our Euro-Vee Bearings are available in 4 sizes which can take radial loads from 100kg up to 800kg. A cost effective linear sliding system can be built using our corresponding T Rail and Euro-Vee Bushings for applications requiring either vertical or horizontal movement.
The bearings are sealed and lubricated for life and so will tolerate being used in dirty environments. The Vee Bushings are used to mount these bearings. We have both concentric and eccentric bushings on stock, in both imperial and metric sizes.
A typical system would use a pair of rails with a minimum of four bearings acting as wheels for a carriage. Half the number of bearings would be mounted on the concentric bushings and the other half mounted on the eccentric type. All the bearings are held in position on their bushings by a bolt fixed through the centre of the bushing. By rotating the eccentric bushings it is possible to tighten the bearings onto (or off) the track. The eccentric bushings have a hex head so that they can be rotated with a spanner before their fixing bolts are tightened back up. The system should be designed so that the main loads are taken by the bearings on the concentric bushings.
The T Rail can either be drilled and bolted down (to a square edge) or it can be welded into position. The body of the rail is soft so it can be easily drilled. The top edge of the rail (where the bearing runs) is induction hardened and polished.
It is also worthing knowing that our Euro-Vee Bearings can be run on round (hardened and ground) linear shaft.
Example applications include:
packaging machinery
laboratory automation
woodworking machinery
vending machines
sliding doors (eg machine tool doors)
Our Euro-Vee Bearings are also available in stainless steel.
Our Combined Roller Bearings consist of a radial bearing, an axial (face) bearing and a weldable hub. The main radial bearing can take very high loads and the axial roller takes side loads and prevents the bearing from crabbing in the channel. Used in conjunction with their mating steel channel it is possible to design and build a heavy duty linear sliding system, for either horizontal or vertical motion. More complicated systems can be built using the bearings and channel to create telescopic and cantilevered solutions. We can help you to select the correct size for your application. Our bearings range in size from an outer diameter of 52.5mm all the way up to 390mm (Jumbo CR range).
The hub of the bearing is weldable so that the bearing can either be welded directly to a structure or to a mounting plate. We keep the standard mounting plates on stock and we can supply the bearing welded to its plate. The standard mounting plates have both threaded holes and thru holes so that the plate can be fixed from the front or the back. We can fabricate bespoke mounting plates to your design.
We also offer a range of combined roller bearings that a have an eccentric adjustable face roller. The height of the face roller can be varied by removing the front face plate and rotating the shaft of the axial bearing, the ends of which are splined. More information on our website here: Eccentric Adjustable CR Bearings
If your application does not require the axial (face) roller then you could use our Radial Bearings which offer all the advantages of our Combined Roller Bearings and are designed to run in the same steel channels.
A Tolerance Ring is a corrugated metal strip which is used to act between two cylindrical objects to create an interference fit. The corrugations act like springs, fastening the two objects together. They can also be used for torque control and can provide overload protection using torque slip.
They fall into the general category of friction fasteners. They are made from spring steel or stainless steel.
There are two different types of tolerance ring. Our AN type are used to hold an object into a housing. Our BN type is used to hold an object onto a shaft. If for example the object is a bearing then you would use the AN type on the outer diameter and you would use the BN type in the bore.
The use of a tolerance ring can reduce assembly times, permit larger machining tolerances and can compensate for misalignment and thermal expansion between components. A tolerance ring also allows for disassembly.
This blog is being developed to provide you with more information about our product range. Each blog will focus on a product range. The aim is to highlight the advantages it offers and give you an overview of typical applications.
When the Landscape Director from N T Killingley contacted us about sliding a planter in and out of a glasshouse at RHS Chatsworth, our Technical Sales team listened to his specification and suggested various options. Their requirement was a system that was simple to install and robust enough to carry the weight of a laden planter, but most importantly would not cost a fortune as the display was temporary.
