Needle bearing oil holes

[gwrdriver]

Assuming that I don't have access to an EDM, what would be the next best and safest (for the bearing) way to put a 1/8" oil hole in the shell of a standard Torrington needle roller bearing (#BH1612)?

Torrington has discontinued oil holes in some needle bearings or doesn't make them except to special order for others, like mine. I made a nationwide check for shelf stock w/oil holes but found nothing, however Torrington quoted they would gladly do a run of bearings with oil holes! for $43.00 each!

[timekiller]

Have you considered grinding a slit or notch with an abrasive disc?

Ray [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img]

[Andypullen]

Ih Harry,

A carbide drill bit will go through those sleeves. I've had good luck with the "spade" type. You don't need much hole in there. 1/8" will work...Stone the burs off as best you can....

Andy

[gwrdriver]

Andy,
I've got one of those, but I was concerned about not being able to control drill breakthrough, and the possibly damaging the rollers. I was also thinking about using a carbide burr. I have still not ruled out the possibility of rigging up some kind of electrical supply and etching my way through.

[Andypullen]

Harry,

I must have misread you....You want to "drill" into the bearing itself? I wouldn't recommend that. There's no way to protect the rollers from damage unless you have a removable cage. I still wouldn't even do an EDM type operation to burn a hole in there. You wouldn't be able to get all of the residual stuff out of there which in turn would cause premature bearing failure.

I was suggesting drilling the sleeve that runs inside the roller assembly. That's what I did with mine. I have an oil hole cover pressed into the axle ends and lube through those.

I am guessing you want to do this on your steam locomotive axles/journal boxes. My locomotive and tender both run on Torrington needles.

Andy

[gwrdriver]

Andy,
Yes I'm talking about drilling the outer shell and I realize it's a marginal situation any way I look at it. I have a bad bearing I'm going to experiment with first and if that doesn't look good I won't attempt it on the good bearings.

[Rich_Carlstedt]

Thats exactly what I would do, use a Dremel and a thin wheel at right angles to the rollers, so the cup maintains hoop strength.
I would jig it with two compression plates(rubber gasket) fill with oil , then pressure it with air, so that when you perferate the cup, all the grit is flushed out.
grinding at right angles means if you do touch a roller, no harm is done.
Wear Eye Protection, and maybe a shield to keep dry.

[mbensema]

Have you checked with INA to see if they have a comparable bearing? www.ina.com They have a large range of needle bearings and may have what you are looking for.

[gwrdriver]

First I thoroughly washed the preservative/lubricant out of the bearings with laquer thinner and blew them dry with air, and then closed off the sides of the bearings with tape. I removed the lubricant so that should any errant metal dust get into the bearing it wouldn't have anything to stick to inside.

Using a Dremel grinder and some of those really cheap little diamond burrs (like ones I saw recently at Harbor Frt) I spotted the oil hole location with a ball-end burr and continued until I had a fairly deep dish, almost all the way through at the center. Next I used a flat-ended burr to take the entire hole area almost all the way through, making sure that the edges were ground nearly through.

I discovered that when the metal remaining at the bottom of the hole is only a thou' or two thick, and ready to break through, it begins to turn blue from the minute amount of localized heat. When that bluing occurs I stop grinding, and with the point of a thin scriber pop the remaining thin disk of metal out like the lid off a tin can. Quick, easy, clean.

[GREYBEARD]

CHECK YOUR LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR FOR TORRINGTON JH-1612-OH, SAME DIMENSIONS, SLIGHTLY LESS LOAD, MORE SPEED. IF THEY DONT HAVE THEM, ASK THEM TO CHECK WITH BAKER BEARING (800-875-6211) SELLS TO DIST. ONLY.