Adding bearings to a contact wheel?

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
Hello peoples!!!!
Been along time since I posted here in Shop Talk!!
I need your advice on a problem I have concerning a contact wheel. I bought it online and had it retired by Contact Rubber so it's in excellent condition. The only problem is it doesn't have any bearings in it. I guess it was made to hook up to a motor or a shaft. I'm building a belt grinder and need a wheel with bearings in it so there's my dilemma.
I have an idea for putting bearings in the contact wheel, I'm just not sure if it makes any sense or if it would be a waste of time.
I was thinking I could get a pair of flange bearings with the same size center bore as the wheel and bolt them all together to get them lined up. Then drill holes through the wheel to bolt the bearings and wheel together. Remove the bearings, drill the center hole in the wheel a little bigger for clearance and then bolt it all back together.
Does that sound like it would work?
My main worry is would everything be balanced enough to be able to grind.
Thanks for checking out my thread and any help you can give me!!!
 
I'm guessing you mean that it's designed for a keyed shaft?

Why don't you identify the bearing you need for the shaft/bolt you intend to use, take both to a machine shop, and have them bore out the center for the bearings?
 
I took a Grizzly 10" wheel, made for a 5/8" shaft to a local machine shop and had bearing pockets milled in it, and the bearings pressed in. I was only charged 30.00 for the job. I have run this wheel at over 9000 sfpm with no excessive vibration.
 
Just a hack machinist here but I would think bolting bearings to the wheel is asking for trouble. Things like balance and concentricity ( centering ) come into play and could render the wheel as so much junk.
Two options come to mind :
1) as mentioned before have the wheel bored for bearings
2) Build a bearing or pillow block to mount the axle shaft into and mount the wheel to the shaft as it was intended. Basically the same as the KMG uses for the drive shaft except you'll mount it to your tool arm or where ever. This can easily be done with flange bearing and won't be so critical that everything is dead right. I guess if you really wanted to, you could even mount 2 hole flange bearings to opposite sides of the tool arm and drill a 3/4 hole between them for clearance, then just add the appropriate spacer to move the wheel into alignment with the rest of the machine.
Any of this is likely to yeild better, faster results than trying to put flange bearings on the wheel yourself.
 
I bought a wheel off ebay,and a couple of weeks ago had a friend at a machine shop that I use to work,bore it out and press in the bearings.Works great.

God bless,Keith
 
Thanks guys!!!
The wheel isn't very thick in the center, about 5/8", and I don't think that's enough to bore out and put bearings in the wheel.
I have a lathe and can do that myself if it would work. :confused:
 
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