🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <36020011@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM> cfb@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM (Charlie Brett) writes:
>   For those of you considering using a water based solvent for cleaning
>bearings, please be sure to make sure your bearings are dry after cleaning.
>You can use a variety of methods to dry them (ie. oven, compressed air,
>water displacing lubricant). I just seized up 4 bearings because I did not
>use enough care. I will probably go back to using mineral spirits to avoid
>this mess again, but that's not to say water based cleaners are bad. They have
>the advantage of being more enviromentally friendly, but it's hard to get
>over the $15.00 it cost me.
>

	On that note....I know it's been getting old on cleaning bearings
but....

	Over christmas I went blading with a friend of mine (Who signed 
pro October!! :).  We were talking about cleaning bearings.  He gave me the
best method I've been able to find.  Take a jar and put whatever fammable
material you can find in it (gas, oil, Jack Daniels, Rocket Fuel, etc...).
Once you have your wonderful formula, you need a drill.   Put a pen or pencil
on the end of the drill in place of the drillbit.  Put tape around the pen
until a bearing will fit tight over the pen and tape.  Put the pen in the
solution, and spin the drill for about a minute (I recommend a Makita batter
operated model :).  You can keep the same solution for cleaning at least 5
different times.  It works wonderfully!!  I was able to get totally frozen
bearings to run clean this way, and these bearings had sand and everything
in them (I used to skate on the beach, and all the sand got into my bearings)

					-Jeff

-- 
   'Some girls you want to go out with, some you just want to bag' -Rebecca
* Jeff Schreiber ***********   __     While people are dreaming of flying,  ***
* aka - "Spectre"  *********  / /__   Birds are dreaming of Rollerblading!  ***
* jss@kepler.unh.edu ******* /____/ They can only take my Rollerblades when ***
* j_schreiber@unhh.unh.edu * 00000  they pry them off my cold, dead feet!!! ***
*******************************************************************************
*              My opinions are mine and only mine. I don't care               *
*              if they are wrong and you can't have them anyway!              *

jss@bofur.unh.edu (Spectre) writes:
|In article <36020011@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM> cfb@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM (Charlie Brett) writes:
|>You can use a variety of methods to dry them (ie. oven, compressed air,
|>water displacing lubricant). I just seized up 4 bearings because I did not
|
| [...use drill to spin bearings in cleaner...]
|different times.  It works wonderfully!!  I was able to get totally frozen
|bearings to run clean this way, and these bearings had sand and everything
|in them (I used to skate on the beach, and all the sand got into my bearings)

Good idea.

From repairing many, many bearings, here's what I'd do.  (These repairs
were done at a rink, so there wasn't the grit that exists outside.  Adjust
as needed).

Remove the bearings from the wheel, remove one of the bearing caps with
a knife, icepick, etc.  (These are your average NMB bearings,etc).
Soak the bearings in cleaner (Varsol, gas) to loosen crud, free bearing.
Use an air compressor to blast the bits out.  Hold the bearing with
thumb and index finger in one hand, use the other hand to blast the air
onto the bearing, spinning it.  This frees up the junk *real* fast and
dries the bearing at the same time.  When the bearing begins to dry and
it's not clean, soak it some more -- you don't want to run the bearing
at a few thousand rpm without any lube too long.  Once the bearing is
clean, add your favorite lube (grease, light oil, whatever).  

Since the bearing caps usually are damaged when removed this way, you
can't replace them.  Make sure you install the bearings open-side facing
inward.  The bearings are slightly more susceptible to contamination
now, but this technique has worked surprisingly well.  When you need to
clean some 16 bearings, this technique takes about an hour or so.

On my mountain bike I've used Phil Wood waterproof grease.  It's a thick
green grease that seals the bearings ("until penetrated by dirt" ;-).
The next time I need to work on skate bearings, I'll use this grease.
I know light oil exists (for speed) but this Phil Wood grease nearly
liquifies once the bearing is used a bit.

-Brent
-- 
+-------------------------+
| Brent Burton    N5VMG   |    
| bpb9204@tamsun.tamu.edu |  
+-------------------------+ 

One more variation: I use a water spray instead of
compressed air (the average kitchen sink accessory type) and
follow up with a dip in acetone to remove water followed by
sewing machine oil, 2 drops only. I used to use Phil Wood
and Park's lithium grease, but after is liquefies, it leaks
out of the bearings and attracts grime. I've even tried
chain wax, the type you melt and dip chains in, but I wasn't
pleased with the reduced speed performance although grime
attraction was least of all methods tried.
Carl
carl@csn.org

cfb@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM (Charlie Brett) writes

>For those of you considering using a water based solvent for cleaning
>bearings, please be sure to make sure your bearings are dry after cleaning.

I use acetone to dry the bearings after cleaning with aqueous solvents.
Soak the barings in a cup of acetone, remove the bearings, and let
the residual acetone evaporate, the water will go with it.
The acetone is flamable, but it is less of an environmental hazard
than fluorinated solvents.  By the way thats pure acetone, not nail
polish remover.

RICK RATEICK
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
RICHARD.G.RATEICK.1@ND.EDU    RRATECK@IRISHVMA.BITNET

In <1k7upoINNbgj@tamsun.tamu.edu> bpb9204@tamsun.tamu.edu (Brent Burton) writes:

>jss@bofur.unh.edu (Spectre) writes:
>|In article <36020011@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM> cfb@hpfcmgw.FC.HP.COM (Charlie Brett) writes:
>|>You can use a variety of methods to dry them (ie. oven, compressed air,
>|>water displacing lubricant). I just seized up 4 bearings because I did not
>|
>| [...use drill to spin bearings in cleaner...]
>|different times.  It works wonderfully!!  I was able to get totally frozen
>|bearings to run clean this way, and these bearings had sand and everything
>|in them (I used to skate on the beach, and all the sand got into my bearings)

>Good idea.

>From repairing many, many bearings, here's what I'd do.  (These repairs
>were done at a rink, so there wasn't the grit that exists outside.  Adjust
>as needed).

>Remove the bearings from the wheel, remove one of the bearing caps with
>a knife, icepick, etc.  (These are your average NMB bearings,etc).
>Soak the bearings in cleaner (Varsol, gas) to loosen crud, free bearing.
>Use an air compressor to blast the bits out.  Hold the bearing with
>thumb and index finger in one hand, use the other hand to blast the air
                                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>onto the bearing, spinning it.  This frees up the junk *real* fast and
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!!!
I know of two people who have had bearing parts surgically removed from
their body (head & shoulder) after the bearing broke from over stress.
These bearings were not ment to spin at the rates that compressed air will
cause.  DON'T do it!

[ Rest of artical deleted. ]


>-Brent
>-- 
>+-------------------------+
>| Brent Burton    N5VMG   |    
>| bpb9204@tamsun.tamu.edu |  
>+-------------------------+ 


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