Knockoff Bearings

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LIALLEGHENY
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:36 am
Location: Bohemia, NY

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by LIALLEGHENY »

Price always plays a factor into any purchase, but doesn't dictate it. If price were the only concern, any manufacturers bearings would do, but I always look for OEM's with a good reputation, Timken SKF, NTN, Fafner etc. That goes for anything I purchase, machine tools , cutting tools, accessories, etc. I will spend more $$$$ to get good quality. At the same time, if a bargain can be found , even better. There is an enormous amount of merchandise sitting on shelves collecting dust, or in someones garage , basement, hut, what have you...With sites like Ebay, many businesses and individuals have been able to unload this merchandise and we in turn can many times get a good bargain. Yep, it is buyer beware, but Ebay, Amazon and the like usually have very good return policies. It's all spelled out when you make the purchase.
FYI - do date, I have saved well over $1000 "shopping" for bearings for my forklift. I'm not in a hurry to put it together, so I can wait till a bargain comes along.

On a side note regarding Ebay....if your willing to wait, eventually whatever it is you are looking for will be listed. Over 20 years ago I was given a Black diamond drill grinder with all the collets, but I was missing one thing...the master collet holder. I wasn't about to fork over $600 + dollars for one, so the unit has been sitting on a shelf ever since. A month ago I finally found one listed on Ebay...$100. Done!

Nyle
Magicniner
Posts: 532
Joined: Thu May 30, 2013 4:40 am

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by Magicniner »

If it's branded and unusually cheap and there is no chance I will ever meet the seller face to face my "Spidey Senses" start tingling ;-)
pete
Posts: 2518
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by pete »

True, but I'm sure most of us have tried it before finally learning that almost always results in either poor results and/or spending even more money to do the job right. I used to. Were not alone in that, many companys do the same because of corporate policys and management or the bean counters setting out rules that encourages buying at the lowest possible price.
Magicniner
Posts: 532
Joined: Thu May 30, 2013 4:40 am

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by Magicniner »

pete wrote: Thu Mar 01, 2018 10:36 pm True, but I'm sure most of us have tried it before finally learning that almost always results in either poor results and/or spending even more money to do the job right.
Who didn't buy a cheap set of tools in their teens? Not everyone learns from it though ;-)
pete
Posts: 2518
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by pete »

LOL,(uggg!!!) I just had an instant flash back to that first set of cheap ratchets, sockets and wrenches I bought in my teens that I haven't thought about in years. :-) Most of the sockets broke at least part of the side wall out under less than normal tightening torque and I think I finally tossed the rest after buying a lot better and still use with zero breakages.

Us HSM types are probably the worst for trying to go cheap and maybe not learning what we should from past mistakes I guess. I see numerous examples of recommendations for cheap mill vises, collets, cutting tools etc mentioned on a lot of forums all the time for people just starting out with a new machine. Given my own experiences I always think, verses what other examples have they ever tried? Or have they even tested what they actualy recieved? Lately Youtube has had quite a few videos posted about cheap ER collet sets with less than stellar runout numbers to word it nicely when they have been properly checked. I've got drill chucks and even 3 jaw lathe chucks that can do better. And while the two cheap mill vises I bought were actualy ground parrallel to the table they were pretty much bondo smoothing off the blow holes under the paint and over cast semi hard cheeze at best. Probably a set of cheap endmills should be bought while first learning and that's what I did. But I've mentioned on a few posts on other forums that after that initial learning curve simply buying one good brand name end mill and testing it against a cheap one of the same size. That costs very little to do but I doubt many or maybe even any have bothered to try it. For one time or low use cheap will likely work well enough to get the job done. For other items I can't seem to afford cheap any more. Surprisingly I do have a couple of cheap screwless or grinding vises and a set of 123 blocks that check out pretty damn good under a 10ths indicator but that's about it. Maybe luck?

Different industry but the ideas the same, open pit mining taught me a lot about the need to test a cutting tool. They constantly record the time each blast hole takes and the total footage is always recorded that each carbide tipped drill bit does from new and to when it wears out so different brands and the costs per foot can be plotted. They'll even try some cheaper ones once in awhile, I haven't heard of any of them lasting nearly as long going by what the drillers have to say because there not real enthused about getting out on the deck and into the cold to change the bit. From my reading the larger and maybe better run parts manufacturers also run tool life tests on there cutting tools.

Cheap verses expensive? Watching the Sandvik Coromant video on YT about how carbide metal working tips are made should make it more than obvious to anyone that a low price has to mean one or more items had the quality reduced either in the materials and/or one or more steps were skipped. It's not an easy or cheap process to do it right and it can be almost fully automated so any labor costs have pretty much no effect.
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warmstrong1955
Posts: 3568
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 2:05 pm
Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by warmstrong1955 »

Pete,

You remind me of days gone by. I started in the mining biz, working after school, and summer, greasing equipment, doing equipment repairs, and grinding drill bits. Percussive drill bits, not rotary, and back then they were either 'X' or cross bits, and could and were intended to be sharpened 3 or 4 times.

Dirty thankless job. Dusty & dirty. I wore out many a wheel and stone dresser when we went from driving drift in limestone.....to quartzite. Became a full time thing....and then an overtime thing trying to keep up. We hit some rock so abrasive & hard, we were getting only one, maybe two 14' holes per bit. about 45 holes per round....you get the picture....

One of the best inventions I ever saw, was the button bit. They wear out, and you throw them away! The guy I was working for bought a bunch of 'em. Hallelujah!

Back to your regularly scheduled thread on el-cheapo bearings.

;)
Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
pete
Posts: 2518
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:04 am

Re: Knockoff Bearings

Post by pete »

Yeah Bill minings a bit different. :-) Hard to explain how everything gets done to those that have never really worked in the industry and minings general "additude" but I'm sure you know what I mean. Today and for the large vertical rotary drilled blast holes 10"-11" in diameter I don't know of any bits that arent using the buttons. Percussive drlling is a whole nother world for sure and I know very little about it. Have run the big rotarys a few times maybe 20 or so years ago, but it wasn't something that appealed to me so I stayed away from it as much as possible. Wow one or two 14' holes per bit is really expensive and abrasive rock. Slows the footage as well doing that many bit changes over a shift. Kemess had mostly soft rock, 1/2 - 3/4s of an hr for 15-17 meter holes. Newmont and later on Princeton Mining here in town is quite a bit harder. Generaly poor fracture results sometimes since there working through a lot of very old underground stopes and drifts.
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