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pulling a stuck ball bearing

I have an old wood lathe live center. The shank unthreads so then you can push out the tip. That leaves the body, which is a steel cylinder bored to receive a 6201 bearing which has been in there about 50 years. The threaded shank hole in the back is smaller than the bearing bore.

Here's what I've tried so far, with the results:

NOTE: I did several heat cycles interspersed with liberal applications of Kroil first to see if I could get it to work loose. Ha!

  1. turned a piece of scrap to about .0005" clearance in the bearing bore and threaded in the shank (making the bearing bore effectively a blind hole) and filled the hole with light grease and tried to punch it out using the hydraulic force of the grease. You never saw such a thin sheet of grease extruded, wish I could have taken a picture. Bearing 1, Grant 0

  1. cleaned bore and scrap piece immaculately by boiling in TSP followed by a hot water rinse and a quick acetone wipe with a Q-tip, then glued the scrap piece into the bore using Gorilla Glue. After setup time, the arbor press promptly broke the glue joint. Bearing 2, Grant 0

  2. made a "washer" slightly bigger than the bearing bore and ground 2 flats on its edges and filed a bevel around the crown until it just snapped down into the little crack between the bearing and the back of the body. Arbor press easily dished out the washer and popped it out. Bearing solidly in place -- Bearing 3, Grant 0.

I'm considering taking my piece of scrap, cleaning off the monkey glue, pushing it a bit into the bore, and *welding* it to the bearing bore using 3/32" 7018 lo-hy rod at about 60 amps. I'm also considering grinding randomly with a carbide burr in a die grinder inside the bearing bore to roughen it up, and try gluing again, maybe with JB Weld.

Final solution is to remake the body. I can't let this bearing win, though!!

Ideas?

Grant Erwin

Reply to
Grant Erwin
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Since a 6201zz is about $6, walk it off with an air chisel.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Destroy the cage and remove the inner race & balls, run a bead of weld around the inside of the outer race, said race will fall out by the time you've finished welding.

Tom

Reply to
Tom

What he said.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

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Reply to
Wayne Cook

Sorry about my responce...synapses mis-firing, I like the weld idea from the "smart" Tom.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Ok - I read the others and here goes: Make or use an expanding mandril. Place it through the bearing. Screw down on it to grip tightly. Screw on the Morse shank position a bolt (make one likely) that you can attach to the toolpost or like.

Hold the shank end in the headstock tightly. back off from the head pulling the shell off the bearing.

(I would have done the grease method - that has worked for me - Maybe you need to seal off the area so the grease can't form the sheet...

If results = bad, blast it out :-)

Mart> I have an old wood lathe live center. The shank unthreads so then you

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

Grant, I just "overhauled" three of those for the school. I made a bearing puller with wedge shaped right angle teeth "thingies" on the ends of two L shaped peices and positioned them on opposite sides of the hole and then pushed a rod down between them and forced the wedges out between the bearing outer race and the body. It forced the beraing away from the bottom of the cavity. Then pushed on out with a press. ...lew...

Reply to
Lewis Hartswick

it and it's slicker than a greased string up a hog's butt. Race just fell out on the floor at just about the same time the smile hit my face..... Ken.

Reply to
Ken Sterling
*Now* they tell us.

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Yup.... gotta agree with the bead around the inside trick... I've done it and it's slicker than a greased string up a hog's butt. Race just fell out on the floor at just about the same time the smile hit my face..... Ken.

--Len

Reply to
Winston

Up one level in technology: Use a carbon electrode to run a 'puddle' instrad of a bead. All you need is a little surface melting. Same result and no spatter. Much easier cleanup.

Ken.

Reply to
Ken Davey

Reply to
yourname

works on just about any internal fit , I used that technique once to remove a cylinder liner that was 7.5 o.d and 30 inches long

Reply to
williamhenry

Can this be done on both races ??? inter and outer ???

Reply to
kbeitz

Can this be done on both races ??? inter and outer ???

Reply to
kbeitz

No. As it is a shrinking process this won't work on inner race.

Reply to
Ken Davey

In the end, I welded a bit of shaft into the inner race and then pushed the bearing out from the back -- the press bore on the shaft welded into the bearing. Messy weld, what with the grease still in the bearing, but it only had to hold for a few seconds, and it did. That bearing had been in there for maybe 50 years, and it was *in there*.

GWE

Grant Erw> I have an old wood lathe live center. The shank unthreads so then you

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Reply to
Glenn

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