TechArchive

Original article date: March 1999

The world’s most trusted bearings are on the internet

Customers seeking their nearest SKF authorised distributor in Great Britain and Eire can now, by entering the SKF (UK) web site and entering their own postcode, obtain the name and address of the four nearest distributors and how close they are to the requested location.

Then, by selecting the most appropriate distributor, the web site will relay a map, directions, full address and contact telephone numbers. In addition, through a reciprocal link, customers can then dial into the web site of the selected distributor to gain any further information.

Created over the last two years, the SKF web site is very comprehensive with a focus on user friendliness covering some 190 ‘pages’ with 517 illustrations. It has been developed in the UK based on local experience to provide the widest possible customer information directory. As well as details of all the products and services available in the UK from SKF, the site contains the key people for customer contact, help and advice with contact names and addresses for specific industry segment support under the heading: ‘Your Industry’.

For those wanting to know what’s new, a ‘News and Media Section’ allows access to all recent press releases. This same section provides information on events and exhibitions and, via a further ‘link’, the main SKF.com Group web site can be accessed where financial information is available.

A large section has been dedicated to students and people in training where they can gain information such as the history of SKF and details of how a bearing is made and assembled. A students’ competition is on the site too. In addition, the glossy and highly informative SKF quarterly publication Evolution is available on-line which covers a wide range of interesting engineering related subjects prepared by leading journalists around the world.

By registering on the site, 50 of the most popular SKF catalogues, CD-Roms or videos can be requested at no charge and a novel ‘Developers Page’ contains a template of an SKF UK web site page to help any web developer create a reciprocal link to the SKF UK web site.www.skf.co.uk

Singl e ball hybrid bearing able to repair raceway damage

A self-healing ball bearingincorporating a single ceramic ball is able to repair any minor damage to its raceway and is able to reduce wear in steel bearings by almost 90%. Developed and patented by SKF, the single-ball hybrid bearing uses a single silicon nitride ball in an otherwise all-steel bearing. Its greatly improved wear properties are comparable to those of a conventional hybrid bearing consisting of silicon nitride balls in steel raceways.

Although the price is twice that of an all-steel bearing, it is only 20 per cent of a conventional hybrid version. This makes it cost-effective in wear critical applications such as gearboxes, conveyors, woodworking machines and automotive bearings where all the benefits of a full hybrid are not required.

The single-ball hybrid was invented following SKF wear tests on bearings with steel rings and ceramic balls. The use of just one ceramic ball was found to give almost the same low wear results as using a full complement of ceramic balls. Under tests, wear was measured by the precise weight loss of the bearing ring. For the single-ball hybrid this was nine times lower than the all steel bearing. Wear was also measured by determining the axial displacement of the bearing. In this case, the bearing with the single ceramic ball showed a wear factor 17% of the steel bearing type.

• SKF
• Industrial Sales & Service Divisions
• Telephone 01582 490049
• www.skf.co.uk

< p class="received">March 1999