Ball Bearings

[Harry Niemann]

Has anyone had success relubricating shielded ball bearings? It seems my bandsaw blade bearings
are getting noisy too soon after replacing.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Harry
Buy sealed bearing it is easier to pop off seals then shielded bearings. On my RAS the carriage bearings where shielded, I pop shield off but it was much harder to do. If you do this fill the
bearing full of grease in will keep saw dust out. But they do run a little hotter full. Tom

[Jim Andrew]

I have drilled a tiny hole in the metal part of the seal and used a grease gun with a point to push grease in sealed bearings. Usually a failed bearing is caused by no lubrication. My dad used to just start up a machine and use a squirt oil can and he could get enough oil in them to quiet down noisy bearings.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Fastenal will sell you SEALED bearings for about a $1.00 to $2.00 each. If for the thrust bearing, get a handful, then when you need another, you will have them. I try to keep an extra set of bearings on hand for my tools.

[Dennis Ford]

Once they start to make noise, they are worn pretty bad. Might as well replace them.

[Richard Coers]

I've used router bearing lube. It's thin enough to wick into the bearing.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Once they start to make noise, they are worn pretty bad. Might as well replace them.

+1, Dennis is right.

[Jeff Duncan]

How soon after you replaced then did they start making noise? My first though is that if they were recently replaced and are making noise then something is wrong, and it's probably not the lubrication. Could be how they were installed, or any number of other possibilities. A good sealed bearing on a moderately used, well tuned machine should last for many years. I have many bearings that have been going for decades! So if they are failing soon after being replaced there is most likely something wrong besides lubrication.

All that said there are some who will try to re-use bearings....I'm not one of them. If a bearing goes I buy a new one. However if you really want to get into trying to re-lube them try the guys over at OWWM as they have discussed this subject several times over the years.

good luck,
JeffD

[Steve Peterson]

My bandsaw uses skateboard bearings. They are cheap enough to not worry about re-using them.

Steve

[phil harold]

I have freed up cruddy bearings by soaking them in transmission fluid...
but I would a agree with Jeff
something else is wrong or you got a bad set of bearings

[Gus Dundon]

Your bearings are shot. Try oiling them or purchase new ones.

[Ronald Blue]

If they were fine after you first installed them and just recently developed noise then they are dry. You might be able to work grease into them with a needle greaser. Do a search on Grainger for this part number 1ZTC7 or just search for grease gun needles. However depending on the cost of the bearings you might be better off to just replace with new. What brand are your bearings? While you may get by with a China made off brand you do get what you pay for. If you end up trying to drill a small hole be advised that to much grease can pop the shield out. Another option is to drill a small hole and use a chain saw tip plunger style grease gun that is for the bearing in the bar tip. They are relatively cheap and come loaded with a light bearing grease. Just some food for thought.

[Jim Andrew]

After a bit of thought, this kind of reminds me of problems I had on a piece of farm machinery. I replaced bearings every year, and the same bearings were bad year after year. Some companies were just building crappy bearings, and the machine company may have been buying 2nd grade bearings. When I traded that machine off, the newer machine has run for years without replacing many bearings at all. All about quality control.