Bearings Provide Smooth Motion for Delicate Jobs

By PYC Bearings
©2004-2008

A press manufacturer had a bearing problem on its latest design machine. The decision had been taken early in the design to go with a 15mm diameter Needle Roller Bearing, however the costs, lack of alignment and excessive mounting area associated with a custom-machined mounting block caused the company a number of problems.

The company's products deliver, rotate, notch and feed lithographic printing plates into the printing press.These plates are produced from extremely soft aluminium and therefore must be handled with care and precision.

For this reason their engineers pay great attention to bearing selection as they are a key element in creating the smooth shaft motion at both the shaft ends and at the intermittently located pulleys and drive belts.This smooth motion is an essential element in delivering the plates to the press undamaged and accurately located.

The Spyraflo Self-Aligning Needle Roller bearings, which have +/-5 static self-alignment, proved to be the suitable solution.The ability of the bearings to effortlessly accommodate variances in shaft orientation and mounting surfaces proved invaluable, resulting in combined cost savings with enhanced performance.