6202 bearings, local source?

[John Coloccia]

The bearings on my bandsaw need replacing. I ordered a bunch of bearing that won't be hear until next week. Anyone have a local source or some ideas for finding these 6202ZZ bearings? 6202 is the size (15mm ID X 35mm OD X11mm) and ZZ just means shielded both sides (Z would be shielded one side :) )

[Chris Fournier]

There must be several local bearing suppliers in your neck of the woods. I had the same problem because my local suppliers only stocked the $$$ high end bearings and I couldn't jsutify the cost for B-saw guides.

As an off chance call a motorcycle shop, a KTM shop would be great as I know that 6202s are common on their smaller dirt bikes. I worked at a KTM dealer and we always had a dozen of these bearings in stock but typically RS not ZZ - rubber not steel shields. We carried KTM bearings and cheaper offshore ones as well.

[John Coloccia]

Thanks Chris. I can often get stuff like this from my local hardware or from Fastenal, Grainger, etc. Grainger is WAY too pricey. Fastenal is great except it's a discontinued item. The store closest to me is out. The other store closest to me has them, but they're moving the store and they're boxed up somewhere. The other ones would put me out about 1 1/2 hours by the time I fought rush our traffic.

I tried my local outdoor equipment supplier. He would normally has some but he's out. I tried Carquest. We had a good chuckle when he asked where it goes in the car. "I don't know where it goes, but it probably goes somewhere."

"So let me get this straight, sir. You need a bearing for your car but you don't know where it goes??"

ROFL. After I explained, we laughed for a bit over that, he spent some time trying to cross reference it to something he could lookup with no luck, and then offered to start opening boxes to match it up. I told him not to go through the trouble.

I know 6202s are used in ATVs at least, but as you said they're normally rubber sealed, and that's not really what you want on a bandsaw.

I ordered 10 online for $12, and I expect them next week. In the mean time, I cleaned the ones I had really well, lubed them up best I can, and will just use them until then.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Incidentally, these are the lower guide bearings on my Grizzly GO514X2. They are totally trashed. There really needs to be some sort of shield around them to keep the constant assault of sawdust off them. I think what I'll do on the new ones is go around the bearing shield with some grease to try and trap the dust before it makes it into the bearing. Sort of like bearing mucous (yuucckkk).

If anyone else has other ideas, I'm all ears. Maybe something like, "Ohh, those are here in a bicycle, so try a bike shop". That's a throwaway because I happen to know they're used no where on a bicycle :)

[Rod Sheridan]

John, I used sealed 6202 instead of shielded on my bandsaw, made all the difference, now the guide bearings actually last.

I think the NTN bearings were about $5 each............Rod.

[Peter Quinn]

There is a place in Brookfield CT that carries all kinds of bearings called http://www.samueldallas.com/. We use them at work. Not sure what part of CT you are in John.

[John Coloccia]

There is a place in Brookfield CT that carries all kinds of bearings called http://www.samueldallas.com/. We use them at work. Not sure what part of CT you are in John.

I'm in Bolton, so that's about 75 miles. If I don't find anything closer, and if we don't get another storm, I may just very well check them out. Thanks!

[John Coloccia]

Rod, you know I thought about using sealed BB, but they have higher friction than just the shielded ones. Since you're recommending them, I gather that you haven't noticed any problems. I thought they would cause problems and maybe not work very well. Maybe I need to rethink that on the next round of replacements.

[Mikail Khan]

The lower guide bearings on my 514X went after about 2 years. I replaced mine with sealed as well. No problems so far. $4 each for NTN from an auto parts store.

MK

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

Motion Industries carries 41 different flavors of that bearing costing from $5.11 to $12.63....there is one located in East Windsor. I used their Berry Bearing Company exclusively when I worked in the Chicago area.

[Rick Moyer]

..so that's about 75 miles If I don't find anything closer, and if we don't get another storm, ...

Dun, dun, dun , dun .... better get them before Friday! another storm coming.
I found a local bearing place here, and we don't have much around here. You probably have one closer than 75 miles I would suspect.

[Floyd Mah]

John, I have the same BS. I've had trouble with the bearings also. Sawed a lot of pine for windows and the bearings generally get frozen in a short time. I tried some replacement bearings, but while I had the bearings out, I soaked them in acetone. After a while, you can get them to spin. But after the acetone evaporates, the bearings will freeze up again. At this point, I bought some spray lubricant from Ace Hardware and sprayed them onto the edges of the shields and worked the bearings (spun them) until the lubricant soaked in. Anyway, this works. I consider it part of the regular maintenance for this saw. I'm afraid that unless you can find some miracle bearings that are completely sealed, you would be faced with a repeat of the problem. I guess an alternative is to use non-spinning blade guides (Laguna type).

I also bought some bearings online (same quantity, same price) that turned out to freeze up even faster than the original set, so I would try to clean the originals first unless the contact surface is destroyed already.

[Peter Quinn]

I'm in Bolton, so that's about 75 miles. If I don't find anything closer, and if we don't get another storm, I may just very well check them out. Thanks!

They stock a lot so worst case if they put them in a USPS envelope its pretty much next day in state for no special shipping charge. I recall my FIL using a place in East Hartford though the name escapes me, and with his alzimers, it escapes him too unfortunately. Something near Pratt, on the Manchester side?

[John Coloccia]

Fastenal carries them, but it happens to be a discontinued item and they have no more left. They're in East Hartford so that's probably where he was sourcing them. Fastenal has saved my bacon many times, but not this time :)

[Rich Tomassetti]

Try here.
Ball Bearings:Miniature bearings:Ceramic Bearings:Bearing (http://www.vxb.com/)

[Chris Jackson]

John, I happen to be a pump engineer by trade and do a significant amount of bearing failure analysis and purchasing for the power plant where I work here in MD. McMaster Carr, Grainger and Fastenal are all definately good hits...you'll also find that if you google the direct phone numbers to several Fastenal stores/outlets they may have some discontinued stock sitting on their shelf. As far as discontinuing a 6202, someone is feeding you a line...SKF and Timken have been making that bearing for over 50 years and won't be stopping anytime soon...and Fastenal supplies them directly to several folks in mid-Atlantic region here I know for a fact. Let your fingers do the walking and pull up a couple of Fastenal store phone numbers the next state over and I'll put good money on you finding what you're looking for... If you can't find them in the next day or 2 PM me and I'll put you in touch with the right folks.

Chris

[John Coloccia]

No no, sorry. It's only discontinued from their stock, and they're blowing them out for $1.50 each. That's pretty cheap for Fastenal :). 6202s are all over the place and will be made for years to come :D I ended up just ordering them from VXB and rehabilitating the ones I had to get me through tonight. That ended up being a waste of time anyhow because the my new Woodslicer has a bad weld and wobbles all over the place. It's been one of those weeks in the shop where everything seems to need adjusting, returning, modifying or replacing. Tomorrow I'm replacing the knives in my jointer....we'll see how that goes :)

[Kevin Lucas]

I'm not sure what bearings I have on the craftsman 10 in but I looked locally for 3 of them. They ended up about 18$ plus tax and the guys advice was its cheaper online than retail shops. Shopping around may pay off.

[JERRY BRINKMAN]

Any business in your area that repairs automotive alternators will have plenty of these on hand. We generally have 20 in stock as they have been used forever. Same bearings in my Jet jointer.

[Mike Barney Sr]

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMPXNO=1873045&PMT4NO=101395576 is MSC's listing for premium electric motor bearings. They should last a day short of forever being motor duty. They do stock lesser expensive ones. With MSC, they will ship next day if you get your order in before a certain time; no waiting a week or so.

When I need bearings, bushings, or any other parts, I usually check out eBay first. The bearings went out in my Hitachi chop saw and I got replacements on ebay for real cheap. I had to buy a set of 10 so I have spares.

[Bob Wingard]

ACE and LOWE'S carry some of those more popular sizes in their "SPECIALTY" hardware bins.