bandsaw lower guide bearings?

[ken carroll]

Just picked up a second band saw which has double roller bearing guides top and bottom. In another thread later I'll talk about WHICH band saw I bought so that some here can lose their dentures in disgust - but that is for a later story! :D

The bearings are all 6202Z which are shielded bearings - a strange choice I think. The uppers were fine, but the lowers were in various states of tight condition and in the rear single bearings case frozen solid!

I was thinking of replacing all of the bearings under the table with 2RS sealed bearings. Any reason why this would not be a good idea - presumably the manufacturer had a reason for using shielded bearings but I can't think what it would be?

thanks.

[Tom M King]

sawdust goes mostly down on a bandsaw. Carter Guidall's? http://www.carterproducts.com/band-saw-products/band-saw-guides/guidall-600-roller-bearing-models/guidall-model-600-extra-wide

[Bruce Wrenn]

Economics, economics. Shielded were cheaper than sealed, but with the influx of Asian made bearings, this is no longer true. Fastenal carries sealed for less than $2 each. Buy several, as these are "wear items."

[ken carroll]

Tom,

Thanks, those look neat but I just want to replace the 6202 bearings with new ones - but stock shielded, or sealed?

[Tom M King]

I was just wondering if those were the guides on the machine. I bought a new, different than stock lower guide setup for a Centauro 600, and remembered looking at that one. No reason not to spend a few bucks more on sealed bearings for your own stuff.

[ken carroll]

Thanks Guys,

Sealed bearings it is.....

[paul dyar]

Sealed bearings are not good for high speed applications. Not sure if the bandsaw will spin them too fast. Also sealed bearings are very stiff when new and the amount of pressure the blade applies may not spin them. Let us know how they work.

[Allan Speers]

Sealed bearings are not good for high speed applications. Not sure if the bandsaw will spin them too fast. Also sealed bearings are very stiff when new and the amount of pressure the blade applies may not spin them. Let us know how they work.

Typical modern sealed bearings (Nishi, etc) are good for around 6K, IIRC. No bandsaw goes quite that fast.

Also, virtually all modern BS's use sealed bearings.

One advantage of shielded bearings is that they can be cleaned & repacked with relative ease. Sealed bearings not so much, and they DO go bad over time.