Cleaning caged bearings

[Major Softie]

Melville, you know how sometimes you just do something because that's how it's done? Then later you think about it and a question mark appears above your head? That's what happened to me with regard to solvent tanks in my shop. After having one for probably four years, I walked into the shop one day and was disgusted by the smell of it. It left almost a "mist" in the air. I thought about how my co-workers and I were breathing in that fog constantly every day. I called Safety-Kleen and had them pick up the tank.
Chuey

Environmental laws have led to most of those systems going to water soluble stuff that doesn't off-gas nearly so bad. Also more expensive, of course.

[ME 109]

They go wheeeee! Then, you can turn them around and spin them the other way. Never seen a problem from it.

Chuey

Chuey, you must need a bigger compressor!

[melville]

Didja ever work with the guy who soaked freewheels in the parts washer and dried them with the air gun? I worked with that guy. We had to give him an extension hose to take that out into the alley. When we weren't pissed off at being bombarded with flung solvent, we were entertained by his musical noodlings.

Anyway, he'd get freewheels spinning to probably several thousand rpm, and the normal operating environment for them is less than 500 rpm. Never had one come apart.

Melville, you know how sometimes you just do something because that's how it's done? Then later you think about it and a question mark appears above your head? That's what happened to me with regard to solvent tanks in my shop. After having one for probably four years, I walked into the shop one day and was disgusted by the smell of it. It left almost a "mist" in the air. I thought about how my co-workers and I were breathing in that fog constantly every day. I called Safety-Kleen and had them pick up the tank. I'll admit they are handy but I started thinking of it in the "quality of life" sense. And it didn't make sense. Besides, cleaning chains in solvent tanks always made them run noisier and people replaced them faster than if they were just wiped down and lubed.

And yes, we have spun some stuff up really fast. Not only freewheels but my favorite is jockey wheels. If you think about it, if it was going to do damage, a simple bushing like most jockey wheels have would be the most likely to be damaged. Dude! They love it? They go wheeeee! Then, you can turn them around and spin them the other way. Never seen a problem from it.

Chuey

In my new life as an amateur wrench I quite enjoy not being around solvent every day. When I do use chemicals these days, I do it outside, try to plan things so exposure is short, and have a respirator handy if I think I need it. In more fun with the air gun, if a job required a test ride and the bike had a cylcocomputer, we'd spin the wheel to reset the max speed to some outrageous number. "Oh yeah, I took that up and down the hill, everything working fine now." Max speed on the cyclocomputer would be 60 or 65 mph....

[Zombie Master]

In my new life as an amateur wrench I quite enjoy not being around solvent every day. When I do use chemicals these days, I do it outside, try to plan things so exposure is short, and have a respirator handy if I think I need it. In

I have the same attitude. Lets face it, a lot of mechanical work is cleaning, and cleaning......

Solvents are bad for us. I try to use simple green. Sometimes nothing but a petro solvent gets the job done within a reasonable time.

[richard t]

]

Melville, you know how sometimes you just do something because that's how it's done? Then later you think about it and a question mark appears above your head? That's what happened to me with regard to solvent tanks in my shop. After having one for probably four years, I walked into the shop one day and was disgusted by the smell of it. It left almost a "mist" in the air. I thought about how my co-workers and I were breathing in that fog constantly every day. I called Safety-Kleen and had them pick up the tank. I'll admit they are handy but I started thinking of it in the "quality of life" sense. And it didn't make sense. Besides, cleaning chains in solvent tanks always made them run noisier and people replaced them faster than if they were just wiped down and lubed.

And yes, we have spun some stuff up really fast. Not only freewheels but my favorite is jockey wheels. If you think about it, if it was going to do damage, a simple bushing like most jockey wheels have would be the most likely to be damaged. Dude! They love it? They go wheeeee! Then, you can turn them around and spin them the other way. Never seen a problem from it.

Safety-Kleen tried to sell us their stuff at work a few years ago, after reading the MSDS we told them NO WAY!
Chuey[/quote]

[Chuey]

I was wrong:

Yesterday, a customer who works for a company that makes pumps for the oil business was in the shop. I asked him about spinning dry bearings with air pressure. He told me that in their tests, under a microscope, there was some evidence of transfer of the softer cage material to the bearings. I forget the term he used. It started with "s" and I had heard it before and knew what he meant.

He said he had heard of people being injured by bearings coming apart in that practice but his company had asked for pictures and had never had seen any. It was concluded that that part is an urban legend.

I have a friend who warned me not to put wood with nails in the fire place or wood stove because the nails can shoot out of the wood when it is burning. Man, I've teased her about that one a bit!

Chuey

[Deleted User 62]

It's called "spalling" which means to split or chip. Think about it; when the bearing is greased and pre-loaded, it supports this load evenly along the length of the rollers. Without the pre-load and grease, and with high speed rotation, the rollers are free to contact in smaller areas, causing chips or dings. While the damage might be microscopic, and invisible to the naked eye, the net result would be reduced bearing life. I'd bet if you took a new shiny bearing and subjected it to this test, you would eventually notice a dulling of the bearing surfaces.

[Zombie Master]

[quote="Chuey"]I was wrong:


No Gold Star for you....You'd never get it started

[Zombie Master]

I was wrong:


He said he had heard of people being injured by bearings coming apart in that practice but his company had asked for pictures and had never had seen any. It was concluded that that part is an urban legend.

Who would be taking pics of a guy spinning a bearing?
Just don't do it.

[Chuey]

I was wrong:


He said he had heard of people being injured by bearings coming apart in that practice but his company had asked for pictures and had never had seen any. It was concluded that that part is an urban legend.

Who would be taking pics of a guy spinning a bearing?
Just don't do it.

No, you don't get it. There was never any indication that the story was true. They concluded that it was an urban legend.

And yes, Tim. That was the word he used. I couldn't think of it when I was writing my post. Admitting I was wrong tied up too many brain cells.

Chuey