Making Cam Follower Roller Bearing Races

schmidtmw · Mar 22, 2017

I am interested in making roller wheels for automotive cam followers.

The material of the samples I have are 9310.
Bores are about 0.4 dia x 0.5 long.

The axles and needles are fairly easy to find, the wheels are so far impossible to find at a practical price.

The part that I am not familiar with is finishing the inside of the rollers. My best guess is that I will need to buy a Sunnen honing machine and hone the last 0.001" or so.

Does anyone have any knowledge about if honing is the way to finish these and if so, any specifics like what grit stones?

moonlight machine · Mar 22, 2017

schmidtmw said:
I am interested in making roller wheels for automotive cam followers.

The material of the samples I have are 9310.
Bores are about 0.4 dia x 0.5 long.

View attachment 194468

The axles and needles are fairly easy to find, the wheels are so far impossible to find at a practical price.

The part that I am not familiar with is finishing the inside of the rollers. My best guess is that I will need to buy a Sunnen honing machine and hone the last 0.001" or so.

Does anyone have any knowledge about if honing is the way to finish these and if so, any specifics like what grit stones?

What makes yours different or better than the millions of them made each year? If you think you are going to hone .001 out of every roller and make any money at it I think you are in for a rude awakening.

Parkerbender · Mar 23, 2017

I think they are hardened and ground... If you want to make them for the open market, good luck I guess? If you want to make them for your own consumption or make special custom ones, I would honestly get a sharp boring insert on a good rigid carbide bar, and just get the best finish you can in there, and test one out... I would bet with a little graphite or grease in there they would last years if you can get a beautiful finish, being's the fine spiral the cutter makes. I can't see it making much trouble if your tolerances on everything are right.

If you figure that out, why don't you figure out how to swage me some spherical bearings... Skf gets a damn mint for those!

schmidtmw · Mar 23, 2017

If honing will work for the finish, I will be far ahead of any option available to me.
There are no off the shelf rollers of the dimensions I need.

The most economical way to do it now is buy OEM cam followers and take the rollers out of them. The design is exactly what I need though anyhow.

Having a custom piece like that made by a bearing mfg has been a no quote for anything less than 5,000 sets, $25K order. I am not ready to lock-down on a design at this stage.

If I can finish the inside by honing, I will be way ahead of that.

I have an ID grinder and could make a fairly quick setup to finish them but I guess a hone may still be required. From the looks of the finish, I think the stones are 200 grit or finer.

Red James · Mar 23, 2017

Honed finish will work just fine. In fact, the 'swirl' finish will assist in holding lubricant. You will find your money being spent on gaging the close fits required for bearing surfaces.

3t3d · Mar 23, 2017

Try calling some of the better known custom engine builders.
Jessel, and Crane was a wasted call.
I built custom valve trains for a couple of CAT3208 motors. Running 90 lbs of boost, Triple Turbo setup.

Rollers, axles, cups, tips, etc were all available from some of the engine builders, Friendly and helpful.
Roller Lifters and roller rockers, custom push rods.
You could barely buy material for what you can buy rollers, axles, snap rings, and parts.

I do forget Who I all worked with but it was about four vendors for the whole valve train.

adamm · Mar 23, 2017

In commercial standard bearings, the race ways are all honed after grinding. I'm not sure off hand what grit is used. If you have a Sunnen hone available, I'd hone them.

magneticanomaly · Mar 23, 2017

For a non-commercial or prototype quantity I would be looking at shrinking a tire/pressing bushing on/in a standard non-automotive cam-follower

L Vanice · Mar 23, 2017

If you can ID grind or bore to .0001-.0002 undersize, a lap would be an economical way to get the surface finish you want.

http://boyar-schultzsmt.com/copper-head-laps.htm

I suppose the rollers will be case hardened before finishing the bore.

Larry

PmGRacer · Mar 23, 2017

You could try calling Performance Bearing in Arizona. Racing Ceramic Bearings - Performance Bearing They make all kinds of custom bearings. I found them in National Dragster. They made a set of angular contact bearings for my 9". I forgot the gentleman's name but he was friendly and helpful. Not sure if he raced anything himself but sure loved to talk about bearings![emoji3] They might be the kind of shop you need to talk to.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

schmidtmw · Mar 29, 2017

Thanks, I will try them

schmidtmw · Mar 29, 2017

So far, from what I have researched, single pass diamond hone looks the most promising.

Search

Largest Manufacturing Technology Community on the Web

Search

Making Cam Follower Roller Bearing Races

schmidtmw

Plastic

moonlight machine

Diamond

Parkerbender

Stainless

schmidtmw

Plastic

Red James

Stainless

3t3d

Diamond

adamm

Cast Iron

magneticanomaly

Titanium

L Vanice

Diamond

PmGRacer

Aluminum

schmidtmw

Plastic

schmidtmw

Plastic

Similar threads